SWR girls’ basketball advances to county semifinals
When it comes to the playoffs, experience is what matters most. The intensity of the defense, the value of every point, the never-say-die attitude. The playoffs are simply a different beast.
It’s not something one can prepare for. It’s either you’ve been there, or you haven’t.
The Shoreham-Wading River girls’ basketball team has seen a lot of turnover throughout the years, but one thing that has been a constant: The team making the playoffs year after year. The seniors on this year’s team have been there before — not once, not twice, but most of the key players have been there three times now. And that experience is what vaulted the Wildcats to a first-round victory in the Section XI Class A bracket over No. 3 Bayport-Blue Point on Thursday, Feb. 19, by a score of 48-28.
In front of a home crowd, the No. 3-seeded Wildcats took control of the game immediately and never looked back.
“We had two great weeks of practice leading up to this game,” first-year head coach Christian Coster said. “We had some great scrimmages against some tough teams. We prepared and fought really hard in practice and didn’t let up. And obviously, today we played with high energy.”
Seniors Leslie Jablonski and Anabel Keegan led the way for the Wildcats. Jablonski scored a game-high 18 points and Keegan added 13. Shoreham-Wading River (18-2) applied immediate pressure from the tip-off and finished the first quarter ahead 17-6.
“There’s just an infinite positivity on this team,” Keegan said. “There’s not one person on the court or on the bench that is not there for one another. Everyone wants to win, and we all have the same goal to make it to the Counties.”
Defense has been the motto all season long for the Wildcats, and they showed time and time again how no passing lane is safe against Bayport-Blue Point. SWR collected 18 steals over the course of the game, and Jablonski led the team with six.
“Before the game, we had a good hype up,” Jablonski said. “If we miss a shot, it’s OK, high-five her or pat her on the back. Keep going and keep your head up. To play well in games like these, you have to play free.”
Shealyn Varbero, a junior, who also had that taste of the playoffs from last year, connected on four field goals for 11 points.
“We found another level as a team,” Coster said. “We’re moving the ball on offense. We let up the second fewest points in Suffolk County on defense this season. We held them to 11 points in the first half, and that’s a very well-coached team with athletes and studs everywhere in their lineup.”
SWR will now head to the semifinals, where they will match up against No. 2 Kings Park on Wednesday, Feb. 25. In the sole matchup during the season, Kings Park emerged with the 53-51 victory despite a massive comeback by the Wildcats in the fourth quarter.
In years past, it was Ryan Currier giving the Wildcats fits from the center position. In 2023, the Wildcats defeated Currier and Kings Park for a Suffolk County championship. The following year, Currier got her revenge and knocked the Wildcats out of the playoffs. Now it’s her sister, Riley, a freshman, ready to carry the Kings Park torch. Currier scored 25 points in the game against SWR this season.
“Kings Park is excellent,” Coster said. “They have one of the best centers in Suffolk County. She’s a fantastic player, so we’re going to try to frustrate her as much as possible. They beat us at our place, so that’s a game we had marked in the hopes we would see them again. Now we get our shot.”
