Thursday, October 1, 2026
After a six-year drought, the Class C title has returned to East Rockaway.
Junior Alessia Drevnyak scored 15 points and pulled down 17 rebounds to lead the Lady Rocks to a 40-36 victory over Pierson/Bridgehampton in Long Island Class C girls’ basketball championship game played on the campus of St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue. Freshman Brooke DeGiulio added nine points including clutch free throws down the stretch.
East Rockaway held point guard Nia Dawson, Pierson/Bridgehampton’s leading scorer, to just seven points. DeGiulio’s layup with 1:38 to play gave the Lady Rocks a 37-35 lead with 1:38 to play. Drevnyak extended the lead to four and put the game away in the waning moments. It was the ninth Long Island championship in program history.
East Rockaway head coach Karin Leary was thrilled with the victory. “It was a terrific game, and a big win for the program.” Leary said. “We started out slow on offense, but made some big baskets when it counted. We defended well and shut down their top scorer.”
The victory gave the Lady Rocks a spot in the regional final where they drew Pine Plains. East Rockaway got 17 points, 20 rebounds and 14 blocks from Drevnyak and nine points from freshman Juliet McCarthy, but fell to the Lady Bombers, 48-38, last Friday night at St. Joseph’s College. Junior guard Frances Snyder led Pine Plains with 19 points — 18 of which came on three-point field goals
“We missed a lot of layups and turned the ball over too many times,” Leary said. “They were big inside, so we tried to keep their big girls from beating us. Snyder killed us from the perimeter. She hit a lot of big shots. We played hard, and never quit. You want to win, of course, but the girls should hold their heads high.”
Drevnyak earned All-County honors, while DeGiulio and senior Caitlin O’Mara earned All-Conference recognition.
ER boys drop L.I. title game
The East Rockaway boys gave it everything they had, but in the end, the Stony Brook School had too much for the undersized Rocks. Senior guard Danny Fusco capped off his career with a game-high 22 points, but the Bears pulled away late and walked off with a 52-33 win in the Long Island Class C boys’ basketball championship game played at Suffolk Community College’s Selden campus.
Fusco finished with a school-record 1,355 points. His Long Island-leading 29.6 point per game average helped him earn conference MVP honors and All-County recognition. Fusco scored a school record 43 points in a Senior Night win over Cold Spring Harbor.
