Brentwood girls basketball team captures first Suffolk title with Class AAA victory over Whitman

Even the most optimistic person within the Brentwood girls basketball program probably couldn’t have imagined a two-win team capturing a county title two years later.

But the more they played together, the more that seemingly impossible feat became achievable.

On Sunday, Brentwood accomplished the once-unthinkable by becoming the first team in program history to win a county championship. Top-seeded Brentwood beat No. 2 Whitman, 41-32, to earn the Suffolk Class AAA championship at Farmingdale State College.

“If you told us 10th-grade year we’d be here right now, we’d laugh at you,” senior guard Jada Hood said. “But I’m proud of everyone here. I wouldn’t have wanted to do this with any other group.”

“Two years ago, I could not imagine a win like this,” senior forward Chantelle Larbi said. “But we put in the work and delivered the results we’ve worked so hard for. Nobody was there or believed in us when we were 2-17. We believed in ourselves and we stuck together.”

Brentwood (21-2) will play Syosset (20-3) at 6 p.m. on Saturday at Farmingdale State College in the Long Island Class AAA championship/ Southeast Regional final. Two-time defending county champion Whitman finished 18-5.

Hood, a six-year varsity player, had 20 points to lead Brentwood. Her ability to create late made a significant difference.

Hood drove past the defense and found Alivia Fuller in the corner for a three-pointer, and on the ensuing possession, she found Angela Williams for a jumper to give Brentwood a 36-29 lead with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter. Hood also was 6-for-8 from the free-throw line in the final quarter.

“I trust them, that’s the thing,” Hood said. “Whenever I’m not hitting, I don’t fret about it because I know I have them. Everyone looks at it like, ‘Hood did this’ or ‘Hood did that,’ but no, you have to stop all of us. I can’t do this by myself. We all put our all into this.”

“She’s just a kid that’s willing to do whatever it takes to win the game,” coach Keith Greene said. “Her ability to keep her mindset focused on the game and not the individual, I think it permeates through our team and allows us to play through tough times.”

The first three quarters featured a defensive battle, with Brentwood leading 15-11 at halftime and 22-18 entering the fourth quarter. Whitman never led in the second half.

“If you are holding the two-time defending county champions to 11 points at the half, you’re doing something right,” Greene said. “So when you get into these situations later in the season, you don’t really worry about how you’re getting it done. We just tell everyone to keep a clear mind, stay in it, keep believing in each other, and we know we put in the work.”

After trying times for the program two years ago, Brentwood looks to continue its historic run.

“We stuck with each other and we put in the work together for each other and at the end of the day, we’re playing for each other and playing for our coaches,” Williams said. “We really stayed together and trusted each other.”

“We made history,” Hood said. “That was the goal. We had goals in the beginning of the season and we took them one by one. And just the fact that we made history made us push even harder.”