Thursday, October 1, 2026
The roof of Baldwin High School nearly blew off the gymnasium as the stands were packed for the Conference AAA girls’ basketball rivalry between the Bruins and Massapequa Jan. 29.
The undefeated conference season lives on for defending state Class AA champion Baldwin after lights-out shooting performances from senior Alyssa Polonia and junior Chinaya Okogeri led to a huge third quarter, as the Bruins beat Massapequa, 58-31.
“I thought we were playing hard from the jump tonight and the difference was in the first half; we just weren’t making our shots,” Baldwin head coach Tom Catapano said. “In the second half, we settled in, and then once we started making shots, the game was going to pop open for us. I thought our effort was tremendous all night.”
The Bruins (11-2 overall, 9-0 in conference) used a 21-4 run in the third quarter to seal the outcome. Elizabeth Hill and Ajeya Nicholas added 5 points apiece, and Akua Bonsu chipped in 4.
Polonia knocked down four shots from three-point land and recorded her fourth 20-plus point performance as she finished with 20 on the night. The guard averages 15.1 points per game.
“I started off shaky, but I just have to have trust in the work I put in and keep shooting,” Polonia said.
Okogeri, who averages 9 ppg, finished with her second-highest point total with 14, while sophomore guard Malia Robinson added 10.
“They [Polonia and Okogeri] have a ton of experience,” Catapano said. “Both were brought up as middle school players. As a coach, it feels really good to know you have those two in the back court.”
Massapequa head coach Billy Herr was able to take some positives from the game. The Chiefs are 13-3 overall, 8-2 in conference.
“After the game, the first thing we looked at was the positives,” Herr said. “Baldwin’s known for its pressure, full-court press, and I think we did a really good job of breaking that. We may not have scored as well as we wanted to, but there weren’t a lot of turnovers in transition.
“I don’t think we did a good job of limiting their transition offense,” he added. “So that’s something we’ll take with us moving forward. We reminded the girls that they got a lot of shops up, which is tough to do against this team.”
Junior Olivia Morgan had active hands-on defense, creating offensive opportunities for Massapequa in transition and finished with 8 points.
“She’s our lead guard,” Herr said. “She’s a spark that drives us defensively at the top of our zone and when we’re in man guarding the opponent’s best ball handler, she works really hard. She had a really great defensive game and did really well getting to the basket.”
The Chiefs are known for their elite size. Catapano knew that would be a challenge coming in, but he and his staff prepared their kids for the tough matchup and have now put a target on their backs.
“This was a great win for us,” Catapano said. “They’re absolutely humongous. Nobody has more size than Massapequa does. We lost six seniors this year, who all went on to play college basketball and came off a state championship. Everybody thinks this is going to be a down year and we’re slowly finding our footing, and I think we’re ready to make a deep playoff run right now.”
The Chiefs’ ‘humongous size’ came from seniors Savanna Appleton (12 ppg), Maeve Schiereck (6 ppg) and sophomore Sienna Erker (7.7 ppg.) Those three clogged the paint and held the Bruins to just 16 points in the first half.
Baldwin is back in action on the road against Oceanside this Friday at 6:45 p.m., while Massapequa heads to South Side for a non-league tilt this Saturday at 3 p.m.
