Keegan twins lead SWR to second county championship in school history

Facing a 10-point deficit with just six minutes remaining in the Suffolk County Class A championship, Shoreham-Wading River didn’t back down. Even with all five starters having four fouls each, making aggressive defense nearly impossible, the Wildcats kept fighting.

The momentum was with No. 1-seeded Mt. Sinai, and by the looks of it, there was little that could be done to stop the Mustangs. 

But the Wildcat seniors, led by the Keegan twins, felt otherwise.

Shoreham-Wading River erased the 10-point deficit within three minutes and snatched a 44-41 victory on Friday afternoon at Stony Brook University to earn the school’s second Suffolk County championship.

“You feel that moment of a loss for a second,” guard Kady Keegan said. “It starts to creep into your head. But you don’t want to sulk for the rest of the game. We had a whole quarter left. Were we just going to make this a boring quarter? No. We were going to fight.”

With just two minutes left and the game tied, Kady got into the passing lane and came up with steals on back-to-back possessions. A give-and-go with her sister, Anabel Keegan, gave the Wildcats a 41-38 lead with just 32 seconds left to play. 

“The twin telepathy thing is true,” Anabel said. “We really know where each other are at all times, whether it’s on the basketball court or the lacrosse field.”

If it wasn’t Anabel, it was Kady, all afternoon long. Major plays, guts, resolve and toughness — they showed it all. Anabel finished with 16 points and 16 rebounds. Kady had 12 points, five steals and three assists.

“Being seniors, we really put it on ourselves to step up,” Kady said. “You have that maturity and experience being in these moments before. We’ve been here and lost before, so we know how that feels. Obviously, it’s our senior year, and we don’t want it to end.”

Shealyn Varbero had one of the biggest moments of her basketball career in the final seconds of the game. The junior came up with a steal on the next defensive possession and was fouled. She hit a free throw to put the Wildcats up by four, making it a two-possession game with 20 seconds remaining.

Mt. Sinai, however, refused to go away. On the other end of the court, Alexa Cergol launched a three-pointer and hit nothing but net to put the pressure back on, making it a 42-41 game. Varbero was fouled again on the inbound play. This time, she hit both free throws, and Mt. Sinai missed the final three-point basket with a chance to tie the game.

The final seconds ticked off the clock. 

Absolute anarchy ensued. The Wildcats rushed the floor to celebrate. Shoreham-Wading River just knocked off the top seed and punched its ticket to the Long Island championship. It was no longer a dream.

“We never die,” SWR head coach Christian Coster said. “We never quit. I believe in us. They believe in each other. We have a philosophy and a concept. We have our identity, and we have stuck with it all year, thick and thin. It wasn’t just one person today. It was a full team effort.”

The Wildcats will look to make school history on Wednesday, March 11, when they try to win their first Long Island championship against the winner of Plainedge/Floral Park. The title game at Stony Brook University tips off at 3 p.m. 

“This is what we came for,” Anabel said. “This is what we worked for. And here we are, Suffolk County champions. Another goal checked off the list. Now, we’re after history.”