Thursday, October 1, 2026
Top-seeded MacArthur’s perfect season and county championship dreams were dashed Saturday afternoon in the Nassau Class AA girls’ basketball title game by No. 2 Garden City, which used a strong second half to hand the Generals their only defeat after 22 consecutive wins, 63-45, at Farmingdale State College.
The Trojans pulled away over the final 16 minutes after holding a 28-27 lead at intermission, thanks in large part to a three-headed offensive monster (Kennedy Palmer, Grace Brantuk and Marissa Patrissi) and a stifling defense from senior Elizabeth Gaffney
“Defense, defense, defense,” said Patrissi, who had 11 points before fouling out with 4:01 remaining and Garden City holding 53-42 advantage. “MacArthur has some great players that we knew we had to stop,” she added. “We made some halftime adjustments to fix the little things and had a great second half.”
Palmer scored a game-high 24 points and Brantuk added 12 points and 18 rebounds for the Trojans (19-4), who won their first county title in 13 years and advanced to face Westhampton (21-2) for the Long Island Class AA title Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Stony Brook University.
Senior Meaghan Campbell led MacArthur with 17 points and senior Gabby Nicolini added a dozen. Campbell’s free throw to open the second half pulled the Generals even for the final time at 28 before Garden City scored 11 of the next 13 to build a 39-30 lead.
“It’s not the way we wanted the best season in program history to end,” MacArthur head coach Dave Radtke said. “It was an incredible season really. Garden City plays a physical game and gave us a hard time on the boards. We also had a tough shooting game.”
The Generals, who eliminated Jericho in the quarterfinals and Manhasset in the semis, trailed the Trojans by as many as five in the first quarter but responded with their best surge that resulted in their largest lead of the game at 23-20 late in the second.
Campell and Nicolini scored four points apiece to lead an 11-3 run that was capped by senior Ysabelle Perillo’s jumper in the lane. But Garden City regained the lead with treys from Patrissi and junior Lia Costa and never trailed thereafter.
“We focused on defense all week in practice:” Garden City head coach Steve Bilello said. “The girls really turned up the pressure in the second half to get it done.”
The Trojans, who knocked out Calhoun in the quarterfinals and South Side in the semis, flexed their muscle after halftime and closed the third quarter with three important points to regain momentum after the Generals inched within 39-34.
Gaffney, who Bilello credited with containing Nicolini, beat the third-quarter buzzer with a layup for a 42-34 lead.
“She did an amazing job defensively today and also had some key baskets,” Bilello said of Gaffney, who had 8 points.
MacArthur was seeking its first-ever county title. It reached the semifinals in each of the past two seasons and got over the hump into the finals but was unable to get to the top of the mountain.
“We had 10 seniors who were a big part of the program and they’re going to be deeply missed,” Radtke said.
