Cold Spring Harbor girls basketball basks in glory of winning first Nassau title with win over Wantagh
Cold Spring Harbor teammates celebrate after their 45-24 win over Wantagh in the Nassau Class A girls basketball final at Farmingdale State College on Monday, March 4, 2024. Credit: James Escher
The long-awaited moment arrived at last on Monday night — at the final buzzer, the crowd roared and the No. 3 Cold Spring Harbor girls basketball team rushed the court in exultant joy to celebrate the first county title in program history.
The Seahawks claimed the championship with a 45-24 victory over No. 4 Wantagh at Farmingdale State in the Nassau Class A final.
After falling to Lynbrook in last year’s county title game, this was a moment for the Seahawks to savor.
“We prepared so much for this, and we just really wanted to take it home for not just us, but for the community,” said freshman Olivia Mulada, who finished with nine points.
Cold Spring Harbor will face Kings Park (18-5) in the Long Island Class A championship at Farmingdale State at noon Sunday.
Cold Spring Harbor (20-3) played a close game against Wantagh (18-5) earlier this season. In that game, the Seahawks built an eight-point lead at halftime but allowed Wantagh to score 18 points in the final quarter. Junior Maggie Spehr scored five points in the last two minutes to help give the Seahawks a 52-50 win, but the close matchup taught them that they would need to stay aggressive this time.
“We knew this wasn’t going to be an easy game,” said junior Ryan Reynolds, who led Cold Spring Harbor with 12 points on Monday night. “They’re an incredible team and we’ve learned from playing them earlier in the season that they could come back at any time.”
Cold Spring Harbor led 11-4 after the first quarter. Reynolds, who was often interrupting passes and going coast to coast for layups, hit one of her three three-pointers to help the Seahawks take a 26-15 lead at halftime. .
Cold Spring Harbor continued to roll in the third quarter, adding nine points while the defense held Wantagh to four points.
Kylie Mannix and Juliana Cerasi led Wantagh’s offense, scoring eight and five points, respectively.
Cleo Dallaris, who scored 10 points for Cold Spring Harbor, said: “Today, we weren’t afraid of anything. It was about a chance to make history and spend another week together watching film and preparing to do it again.”
