Locust Valley captures county title

Locust Valley High School’s record-tying 52nd straight victory was nothing short of dominant, and also came with two major bonuses — a repeat county title and a long-anticipated trip to the Long Island championship.
Senior Lindsay Hogan had a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds, junior Payton Tini added 14 points, and junior Olivia Del Tatto and sophomore Reily Roberts chipped in 9 apiece as the top-seeded Falcons soared past No. 2 Cold Spring Harbor, 56-16, in the Nassau Class B girls’ basketball championship game at Hofstra University on Wednesday.
“We started off a little slow offensively, but our defense carried us until the shots began to drop,” said Hogan, the Conference B/C Player of the Year, who has averaged 21 points and 6 rebounds per game. “We’ve done a great job of taking things one game at a time, and now we’re hoping to win Long Island and go upstate, because our team from two years ago didn’t get that chance.”
The Falcons (21-0) won the Nassau Class A crown on March 7, 2020, but never got a chance to take the next step, as Covid-19 forced the cancellation of the remainder of the season. Last winter they won all eight games in a pandemic-shortened campaign that didn’t allow for playoffs.
“It’s been a long two years, but this feels amazing,” senior defensive standout Amber Linden said. “We stayed focused and brought the energy and fed off the crowd.”

Locust Valley, which tied the Long Island girls’ basketball record for consecutive wins set by Hempstead from 1980 to 1983, will face Greenport/Southold in the L.I. Class B title game next Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Shoreham-Wading River High School.
“We’ve been a strong defensive team all season,” Falcons head coach Mike Giudone said. “Amber sets the tone and everyone else really works hard on defense, too. It’s a total team effort.
“Cold Spring Harbor was here for a reason,” he added. “They won 15 games and had us bottled up in the first quarter before we got the offense going.”
Locust Valley led just 6-3 after the opening quarter, but scored 16 points in the second to lead by that many at halftime. Tini exploded for a dozen points in the third as the Falcons didn’t let up, and pulled away to a 47-10 lead.
“Fifty-two wins in a row is crazy to think about,” said Hogan, who scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season and will continue her hoops career at the University of New Haven. “The winning streak is nothing we’ve really talked about a lot, but getting upstate has been on our minds since the season began. It would be great if we can make it happen.”