Thursday, October 1, 2026
The margin for error to qualify for the Nassau Class AA girls’ basketball playoffs is practically down to zero for Hewlett following a 55-45 home defeat to Glen Cove last Friday night.
Brooke Simmons, who last spring led Glen Cove’s softball team to a historic county championship as its star pitcher, was in the zone against the Bulldogs with a game-high 28 points, including a perfect 11-for-11 performance from the free throw line.
“It was a long bus ride and we were just trying to stay quiet and focused,” Simmons said. “We knew it was a big game but sometimes a rowdy bus ride can get you tired. Hewlett has two good guards and we knew we needed to find a way to overcome what they do.”
Isabella Santiago added a career-high 16 for Glen Cove, which shot 17-for-20 from the line and led after every quarter.
Junior Mia Koloden had 25 points but it wasn’t enough as Hewlett (3-5) slipped behind the Big Red (3-4) in the Conference AA-2 standings. The teams meet again this Saturday at Glen Cove at 2 p.m. with a playoff berth likely going to the winner.
“Simmons had a great game but No. 10 [Santiago] really hurt us, that wasn’t on the scouting report,” Hewlett head coach Alex Palatto said. “Defensively, we didn’t close gaps quick enough on their outside shots in the first half. Offensively, we moved the ball better than we did last game but we missed some layups.”
Koloden, the team’s lone double-digit scorer on the night, hit a trio of three pointers in the opening quarter as the Bulldogs jumped to an 11-7 lead. The Big Red closed the quarter scoring nine straight, including 7 by Santiago to lead 16-11 after one.
Koloden nailed another trey on the first possession of the second quarter to make it 16-14, but Hewlett was unable to create a lead change over the last three quarters.
Simmons and Santiago had plenty to say about it. They combined for 15 points in the second quarter, offsetting 3-pointers from sophomore Angelina Batista and senior Ella Fahy to allow Glen Cove to take a 33-26 halftime lead.
Coming off a 29-27 victory over Roosevelt three nights earlier snapping a four-game slide, the Bulldogs still had no answer for Simmons in the third quarter as she had 8 points and went 6-for-6 from the line to help extend Glen Cove’s lead to 49-36.
“We’re in a tough league and we don’t want to roll over for anyone, we want to win,” Simmons said. “We had two great practices leading up to this game and played really well.”
Koloden’s two technical foul shots and subsequent basket brought Hewlett within 50-45 with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, but it wouldn’t score again.
In the win over Roosevelt, Batista (game-high 12) and Koloden (11) combined for all but six of the team’s points.
