Sewanhaka in semis after topping South Side

For the second time in three seasons, the Sewanhaka girls are headed to the Final Four. Senior Carly Bolivar scored a season-high 26 points, and Flo Hunte added 21 points, six assists, and five steals to lead the Lady Indians to a 63-50 win over visiting South Side on Feb. 20.

With the victory, No. 4 Sewanhaka advanced to the penultimate round of the Nassau Class A playoffs where it will meet top-seeded Island Trees on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Farmingdale State College. Junior Katie McMahon led the Lady Cyclones with 19 points.

Sewanhaka head coach Alex Soupios was proud of his team, especially his seniors. “You don’t always get a second opportunity to get to this point,” Soupios said. “The leaders of this team went through this as sophomores. They played with a real sense of urgency, today. They don’t want it to end.”

When breaking down the game, one could cite many factors that enabled the Lady Indians to emerge victorious. But, in simplest terms, their shots just kept on falling, while No. 5 South Side missed bunny after bunny.

Bolivar, who is best when she’s ripping past opponents and taking it hard to the rack, hit three rainbow shots from behind the arc. She scored 11 points in the opening quarter as the Lady Indians jumped out to a 26-16 lead.

Hunte did everything but drive the team bus. When the senior captain wasn’t scoring, she was putting teammates in position to score or wreaking havoc on the defensive end.

The Lady Indians held an 11-point lead at the break, and ended any hopes of a South Side comeback by outscoring the Lady Cyclones 17-9 in the third quarter to take a commanding 54-37 lead into the final eight minutes. Senior Ashley Cattle (16 points, seven rebounds) was a terror on the boards on both ends of the court for Sewanhaka.

“Give them all the credit, they came out and shot the ball really well,” South Side head coach Dan Ferrick said. “One of our issues all season long was missing shots from inside three feet. That hurt us today. We had our opportunities.”

Sewanhaka, which improved to 16-5, will face an undefeated Island Trees team that averages 71 points per game. “They do a lot of things really well,” Soupios said. “They like to press, get up and down the floor, and shoot the three. We’re going to talk a lot about how to prepare to play a team like this on a larger court. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

The Lady Cyclones, who beat two-time defending county champion Elmont in the opening round, finished at 17-4.

“It’s a disappointing loss, but the future bodes well for us,” Ferrick said. “We lose our two seniors, Kelsey Barrett and Erin McElwain. They’ll be sorely missed. But we return three starters, a few others who got big minutes, and the junior varsity was 17-2. We have a lot to look forward to.”