Manhasset girls win first county title in 30 years

The Manhasset girls basketball team was focused on March since the very first practice. The student-athletes didn’t have many previous teams to emulate. They wanted to be the ones to emulate and be inspirational for years to come. 

Top-seeded Manhasset did just that with a 53-38 victory over No. 2 Lynbrook in the girls basketball Nassau Class A final at Hofstra’s Mack Sports Complex Saturday afternoon. It was the program’s first county title since 1993 and the first Class A crown in program history.

“It’s such an amazing feeling,” senior Caitlin Barrett said. “We’ve been waiting for this moment for such a long time and we’ve been working so hard to get here and this win just shows how far we’ve come.”

“We’ve talked about this moment literally the entire season,” junior Mia LoPinto added. “And for it to be here and us to win, everyone played their hearts out. It’s really starting to hit that we are actually here.”

Manhasset (23-1) advances to play Shoreham-Wading River (24-1) in the Long Island Class A championship/Southeast Regional Final at Farmingdale State Saturday at 2 p.m.

Coach Lauren Sadeh said she felt this could be the team to win that first county title in 30 years.

“At the beginning of the season I said to them, ‘We have so much potential with so many talented players coming back and talented young players as well and I had it in the back of my mind that if we were going to do it, this could definitely be the team to do it,” Sadeh said. “So it’s just super rewarding to see it all come together like it was supposed to.”

Manhasset utilized a balanced scoring effort Saturday. LoPinto led with 13 points, Ali McIntyre had 12 points and Nicoletta Tsiamis and Barrett added 11 points each.

“Anybody can step up at any time and you never know who it’s going to be,” said Barrett, who converted 7 of 8 foul shots over the game’s final 1:48. “And everyone stepped up today.”

Manhasset never trailed after taking a 3-2 lead following Lynbrook’s opening basket. Manhasset led 19-13 after the first quarter and 24-20 at halftime. Manhasset outscored Lynbrook, 19-9, in the fourth quarter.

“We were just all able to come together and everyone played their best game,” LoPinto said. “That led to our best game.”

Lynbrook (20-3) cut Manhasset’s lead to 40-35 with 3:20 left in the fourth quarter. But Manhasset extended its lead with efficient free-throw shooting and closed on an 11-3 run. Kaelynn O’Brien had 11 points for Lynbrook.

Sadeh also credited assistant coach Chuck Collyer, who was the head coach in the 1993 championship season, for the team’s ability to win another title.

“We just got that feeling that everything was coming full circle this year,” Sadeh said. “He’s been so tremendous, I can’t speak enough about him helping me get this crew here and get them ready to play at this level.”

            But Manhasset wants a taste of more history as the players look forward to the Long Island Class A championship.

“We’ve come so far and I really don’t want to lose now,” Barrett said. “I don’t think anyone wants to. We’ve worked so hard and by winning this, we know we want more. We’re really excited for the LIC.”