After winning its first county title since 2009, the Syosset girls basketball team fell short in the Class AAA Long Island Championship on March 10, 2024. The Walt Whitman Wildcats kept control of the game the whole way through, never relinquishing the lead. Syosset lost 38-29.
Syosset struggled to get good shots up on the offensive end and defensively ran a zone that the Wildcats’ Iris Hoffman was able to break through at will. Hoffman led her team with 10 points and three threes. Carly Greenbaum led Syosset with 14 points. The first quarter ended with Syosset down four points after closing the period with five quick points but in the second quarter, the Wildcats outscored them 11-5, giving Walt Whitman a 10-point lead at halftime. They maintained that lead through the third and into the fourth quarter. Syosset went on an 8-2 run at the beginning of the fourth to bring them within four points. Kallie Eichner hit a three, stopping the run and icing the game for her Wildcats, securing their first Long Island Championship.
Syosset found themselves down 13-4 in the first quarter but withstood the pressure and buckets from Kate Nelmes and Greenbaum brought the score to 13-9. Hoffman made her presence felt with a three and a beautiful cross-court pass from corner to corner, assisting on an Eichner three.
In the second quarter, Syosset fell into its biggest deficit of 13 points. The Wildcats scored the first nine points of the quarter, earning a 22-9 lead. A three from Greenbaum stopped the drought and Syosset went into the half down 24-14. Syosset found themselves overcommitting in their press, allowing for Walt Whitman to get open buckets.
Syosset couldn’t gain any ground during the third quarter. They had plenty of opportunities but due to turnovers and missed shots, they just couldn’t get themselves fully back in the game. A jumper from Kathleen O’Mara at the end of the period kept the 10-point lead for the Wildcats at 31-21.
Down ten with the Long Island Championship slipping away Syosset got to work quickly, forcing turnovers that created points for them. Samantha Schneider and Greenbaum scored four points each in the 8-2 run that brought them back into the game. Eichner’s three halted all the momentum Syosset had built and Hoffman made two free throws out of four to lift them over Syosset.
Syosset finished their season 18-6 but it was an impressive season nonetheless after ending Baldwin’s run of nine straight county championships.
