Mia Betancourt rallies Mount Sinai past Islip in Suffolk girls Class A final

Mia Betancourt was imploring her teammates in the locker room to stay confident. “It’s only seven points,” she was saying. “It’s only seven points.”

The Mount Sinai junior guard was keeping her teammates positive at halftime despite trailing entering the break. Betancourt knew the Mustangs could rally in the second half and she was determined to lead the charge. Betancourt scored the first six points of the second half, making three baskets in the first two minutes, as second-seeded Mount Sinai went on to defeat No. 4 Islip, 47-40, in the girls basketball Suffolk Class A final at Farmingdale State College on Sunday afternoon.

“I just knew I had to do something different,” Betancourt said. “Shots weren’t falling, coaches told me to keep going to the hoop and I did. It was a great feeling to get everyone’s spirits up, everyone in the stands up and keep us pushing forward to the win.”

Betancourt scored 18 of her 26 points in the second half to lead the Mustangs to their first county title since 2019. The junior scored 11 of Mount Sinai’s 13 third-quarter points when the Mustangs cut Islip’s lead to 35-32 after trailing 26-19 at halftime.

“She’s insane,” senior forward Kyla Orlando said. “I will never understand how she does it, but she’s just literally insane.”

Mount Sinai (19-3) plays the winner of Wantagh versus Lynbrook at 8 p.m. on Saturday at Farmingdale State in the Long Island Class A championship/Southeast Regional final. Islip finished 14-9.

“[Championships] are not easy to come by,” coach Jeff Koutsantanou said. “This year we had a core back with a goal and it wasn’t even just making the playoffs. It was winning the championship, so I commend them for that.”

The Mustangs outscored Islip 15-5 in the fourth quarter but never led until Alexa Cergol knocked down a three-pointer off an assist from Betancourt with 3:33 left to break a tie at 37.

“I knew I could shoot and when it went in, it just lifted everyone,” Cergol said. “We just knew we were going to get this win.”

Cergol had a better than front-row seat the last time the Mustangs won a county title. She was a water girl on the bench as her sister, Brooke, played a key role for the championship team.

“It was crazy, I remember they were so excited and I just saw how fun it looked,” Cergol recalled. “I really wanted to get this win.

Betancourt went 5-for-5 from the foul line in the fourth quarter, including completing a three-point play to tie the score at 37 before Cergol’s triple. Mount Sinai closed the final 6:35 on a 13-3 run and is now one win away from its first Long Island crown in program history.

“We’re not done yet, we want to win the whole thing,” Orlando said. “We’ve talked about wanting to win this so much and leaving a legacy here.”