Thursday, October 1, 2026
Baldwin had its hands full with Syosset and Nassau County’s scoring leader Samantha Schneider during the regular season, but Sunday’s rematch in the Class AAA semifinals was a different story.
The top-seeded Bruins exploded for 28 first-quarter points and cruised to a convincing 72-40 victory at Farmingdale State College. Juniors Ajeya Nicholas (14) and Chinaya Okogeri (13), and sophomore Malia Robinson (13) all scored in double figures as Baldwin advanced to face No. 3 Massapequa in the championship game Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on the same court.
“We’re peaking at the right time,” said head coach Tom Catapano, who last season guided Baldwin to the Class AA state title. “People tend to forget we graduated four starters from last year’s team. But these girls work incredibly hard and I really like how we’ve progressed,” he added.
Schneider, who scored 28 in Syosset’s 65-57 loss to Baldwin Jan. 10, was held to 12. She finished her senior campaign averaging a Nassau-best 26.6 ppg.
“She’s an excellent player and was the focus of our defensive game plan,” Catapano said of Schneider, who had a 45-point performance against Freeport and a 40-point effort against East Meadow. “We put Chinaya and Elizabeth [Hill] on her, and our help defense was phenomenal,” he explained.
Keeping with tradition that’s resulted in 10 county titles in the past 11 seasons, Baldwin’s swarming defense sparked its offense in a dominant display from the opening tip.
Nicholas (8), Robinson (7) and senior Alyssa Polonia (7), its lone returning starter, combined for 23 points in the first quarter and the rout was on. Senior center Leah Williams starred in the second quarter, scoring 7 of her 9 points as the Bruins (19-3) build a comfortable 47-21 halftime lead.
“We have three All-County guards [Polonia, Okogeri and Robinson] who played great today, but I also feel our forwards were exceptional,” Catapano said. “This is how we need to play against Massapequa. They’ll have a huge height advantage over us.”
Junior Jaylah McKay led fourth-seeded Syosset with 13 points.
“Our halftime speech was about keeping our foot on the gas because they made a comeback and made it real close against us last time,” said Polonia, who averages a team-high 14.2 ppg.
Okogeri and senior Aku Bonsu had five points apiece in the third quarter as the lead swelled to 63-33 entering the fourth. Catapano rested the starters for the final 5:34 as the focus turned to ‘Pequa, which rallied with a strong second half to top Uniondale, 50-41, in Sunday’s other semifinal.
Baldwin downed the Chief 58-31 in the regular-season meeting Jan. 29 behind 20 points from Polonia.
“They have four 6-footers in the starting lineup and another few bigs off the bench,” Catapano said. “They’ll be a problem on the glass. We have to use our defense and our speed to offset that.”
