Baldwin wins seventh straight county crown

A game everyone was anticipating since November lived up to all the hype Sunday evening when a rematch between six-time defending champion Baldwin and top-seeded Syosset for the Nassau Class AA girls’ basketball crown came down to the wire.

The Lady Bruins returned only four points from last year’s county final and rode a tenacious defense to the title game, but it was their offense that took over the second half and paved the way to a thrilling 60-52 victory before an intense crowd of more than 2,500 at Nassau Coliseum.

“This feeling never gets old and I’m so excited these girls were able to write their own script,” Baldwin head coach Tom Catapano said. “They’ve worked tirelessly since the summer league and I couldn’t be more proud. Not a lot of people expected us to be here.”

Senior Dana Elcock scored 15 of her game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter, and senior Roxana Gayle (11) and freshman Dallysshya Moreno (10) also scored in double figures as Baldwin (17-5) won its seventh consecutive county championship and 10th in the last 11 seasons. It was just the second defeat in 21 games for Syosset, which held a seven-point lead midway through the third quarter.

“We graduated a lot of Division I talent the past few seasons and everyone counted us out,” Baldwin assistant coach Anthony Bolden said. “We went through some struggles but this group worked so hard and we got better every game.”

The Lady Braves, who returned 45 points from last year’s title game, got 19 points from senior Caroline Ruggiero and 18 from sophomore Lilah Grubman. Back-to-back treys from Ruggiero and senior Kendall Halpern provided Syosset with its biggest lead — 35-28 — with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter and forced a Catapano timeout.

“We probably watched video of 10 of their games and knew the kind of talent they’ve got and what they like to do,” Catapano said. “I think becoming more aggressive on defense helped turned the game around along with Dana’s shooting of course.”

Sparked by an Elcock trey and four free throws from Gayle, Baldwin enjoyed an 11-5 run following the timeout and trailed by only a point heading into the final quarter. With Halpern saddled with four fouls, the Lady Bruins continued their momentum into the fourth and took command by scoring 11 of the first 13 points of the quarter to build a 50-42 lead. Elcock drained two clutch shots from behind the arc, sophomore Paris Nosworthy added a bucket and Gayle a traditional three-point play to account for the scoring during the crucial run.

Syosset cut the margin in half thanks to four points from Ruggiero, but Baldwin scored the next seven and its defense forced two turnovers and a 30-second violation in the process. Elcock scored the last eight points for the Lady Bruins, who’ll travel to Northport for the Long Island Class AA championship game this Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

“We’re more than just a basketball team,” Elcock said. “We’re a family and we wanted to keep the winning tradition going.”