Mount Sinai girls basketball's Alexa Cergol leads victory over Kings Park in Suffolk Class A semifinal
Mt. Sinai's Alex Cergol (15) looks to put one up while covered by Kings Park's Gianna Zawol (3) in the third quarter during Suffolk Class A semifinal between Mt Sinai and Kings Park on Monday, March 3 2025. Credit: Bob Sorensen
Mount Sinai sophomore Alexa Cergol watched from the bleachers as her sister won the county title in 2019. Now she’s ready to experience it herself.
She’s one step closer. The No. 2-seeded Mount Sinai girls basketball team defeated No. 3 Kings Park, 47-40, in the Suffolk Class A semifinals on Monday night at Centereach High School. Cergol contributed 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists and four steals.
“Lexi is one of the best clutch players I’ve ever coached,” coach Jeff Koutsantanou said. “She was completely dominating inside.”
Cergol’s sister Brooke scored 26 points in Mount Sinai’s last county championship win, a victory over Westhampton in 2019.
“It feels awesome being in the same position my sister once was,” Cergol said. “She’s been giving me tips, and now I hope to win it like she did.”
This was a familiar matchup for the Mustangs (18-3). They already had faced Kings Park (16-6) twice this season, and both games were close. Mount Sinai lost, 52-44, in January and won, 51-45, in February. But junior captain Mia Betancourt said it didn’t matter who the opponent was because they were just focused on winning.
“We lost in the semifinals last season, and that feeling of losing, I had it in the back of my mind all game,” Betancourt said. “Regardless of who we were playing, I wasn’t going to feel that feeling again.”
The Mustangs trailed 13-9 after the first quarter and 19-15 at the half. Cergol opened the third quarter with a three-pointer that sparked a 14-8 run and put Mount Sinai up 29-27 going into the final quarter.
Seven points from Kings Park’s Gianna Zawol (14 points) helped keep it close until Betancourt and Cergol went back-to-back on three-pointers. Betancourt and Cergol totaled all 18 points in the fourth quarter.
“Those two really led today,” Koutsantanou said. “They score, they hustle back and play defense and they steal.”
Betancourt finished with 18 points, six rebounds, five steals and four assists.
“Mia’s amazing,” Cergol said. “I can trust her with anything: to make shots, to make a great pass. She always can bring us up when we’re down.”
On Sunday, Mount Sinai will face the winner of No. 1 Shoreham-Wading River vs. No. 4 Islip at Farmingdale State at noon.
“We’ve been saying we wanted to get here since the season first started. It feels insane to now actually be here,” Betancourt said. “We worked so hard and put in a lot of practice, and it’s all paid off.”