Mt. Sinai girls basketball’s Alexa Cergol leads victory over Kings Park in Suffolk Class A semifinal

Mount Sinai sophomore Alexa Cergol watched her sister win the county title from the bleachers in 2019. Now, she’s ready to experience it herself.

She’s one step closer. The No. 2 seeded Mount Sinai girls basketball team defeated No. 3 Kings Park, 47-40, in the Suffolk Class A semifinals on Monday night at Centereach High School. Cergol contributed 20 points, five assists, four steals and seven rebounds.

“Lexi is one of the best clutch players I’ve ever coached,” coach Jeff Koutsantanou said. “She was completely dominating inside.”

Cergol’s sister Brooke scored 26 points in Mount Sinai’s last county championship win against Westhampton in 2019.

“It feels awesome being in the same position my sister once was,” Cergol said. “She’s been giving me tips, and now I hope to win it like she did.”

This was a familiar matchup for the Mustangs. They already had faced Kings Park twice this season, and both games were close. In January, the Mustangs fell, 52-44, and in February, they turned it around and won, 51-45. But junior captain Mia Betancourt said it didn’t matter who the opponent was because they were just focused on winning.

“We lost in the semifinals last season, and that feeling of losing, I had it in the back of my mind all game,” Betancourt said. “Regardless of who we were playing, I wasn’t going to feel that feeling again.”

The Mustangs trailed 13-9 after the first quarter and 19-15 at the half. Cergol opened the half with a three, which sparked a 14-8 run in the third and put the Mustangs up by two, 29-27, going into the final quarter.

Seven points from Kings Park’s Gianna Zawol helped keep it close until Betancourt and Cergol went back-to-back on three-pointers. Betancourt had 10 points and Cergol had nine points in the fourth. Zawol finished with 14 points for Kings Park (16-6).

“Those two really led today,” Koutsantanou said. “They score, they hustle back and play defense and they steal.”

Betancourt finished with 18 points, four assists, five steals and six rebounds.

“Mia’s amazing,” Cergol said. “I can trust her with anything: to make shots, to make a great pass. She always can bring us up when we’re down.”

On Sunday, Mount Sinai (18-3) will face the winner of No. 1 Shoreham-Wading River and No. 4 Islip at Farmingdale State at noon. “We’ve been saying we wanted to get here since the season first started. It feels insane to now actually be here,” Betancourt said. “We worked so hard and put in a lot of practice, and it’s all paid off.”