Whitman girls hang on to win Suffolk AAA semifinal

The Whitman girls basketball team appeared on its way to cruise into another county final after three quarters on Wednesday. But the Wildcats knew it likely wasn’t going to stay that easy.

Whitman had its 12-point lead after three quarters cut to as little as two points in the final period. But the second-seeded Wildcats outlasted the late push by No. 6 Northport in a 44-39 victory in a Suffolk Class AAA semifinal at Comsewogue on Wednesday night.

“We knew Northport wasn’t going anywhere,” Whitman coach Dan Trebour said. “They are a well-coached, talented team and they play that tough half-court trap. So it was nice to be able to hang on, we did enough good things.”

Whitman (18-4) seeks its third straight county title when the Wildcats play top-seeded Brentwood (20-2) at 4 p.m. on Sunday at Farmingdale State in the Suffolk AAA final. Jazmynn Julien led Whitman with 20 points.

“We just had to stay strong,” Julien said. “It came down to the wire. We knew we had to play gritty, go for those rebounds, and we didn’t let down.”

Whitman led 25-13 after the first quarter and had a double-digit advantage until Jill Ryan’s three-pointer with 6:54 left in the fourth quarter started an 11-1 run to cut Whitman’s lead to 40-38 with 2:22 left. Whitman’s Paige Hiller found Madi Richter open under the basket for a key layup with 2:05 left to give the Wildcats a 42-38 advantage.

Ryan had 18 points for Northport (14-9). Brianna Verga, the only senior on Whitman, added seven points and had a key rebound with eight seconds left and made a foul shot for the game’s final point. Hiller and Richter added six points each.

“I think this kind of validates the hard work you put in all year,” Trebour said. “A lot of the kids are very passionate about basketball, they are all-in on the team. They play hard for one another, so it’s great we can come back to the championship game and reap the rewards of their hard work.”

Brentwood advances

Brentwood is one victory away from history.

Top-seeded Brentwood defeated No. 5 Huntington, 60-44, in a Suffolk Class AAA girls semifinal at Comsewogue on Wednesday night to move one win away from winning its first county title in program history.

Angela Williams had 22 points, Janessa Love had 13 points and Jada Hood had 11 points for Brentwood. Sabrina Boyle had 16 points for Huntington (16-6).

Brentwood used a 10-3 run for the first six minutes of the second quarter to open a 24-11 lead before entering halftime ahead 29-13.