As the preseason winds down, here’s a look at what the Porters girls and boys basketball teams are looking to accomplish this season. The Greenport/Southold girls lost six seniors to graduation last year so will be looking to some younger players to step into leadership roles. On the boys side, a trio of returning seniors will look to avenge last year’s playoff loss to arch rival Southold.
Young Porters girls team has high hopes
A year older and a year wiser, Francesca Santacroce enters her junior season with the Greenport/Southold girls basketball team as the leader.
The 5-foot-10 point guard applied herself well in her sophomore year with an 11.6 points per game average while running the Porters’ offense, but she is expecting more of herself this campaign.
“Last year was a big year for me, definitely in terms of learning my own personal strengths, and getting over my own problems and confidence on the floor,” she said. “I’m over that now. I’m definitely excited to be more of a leader this year. I really just want to lead the team. We all just want to win games.”
With Greenport losing six seniors to graduation, Santacroce will be one of the leaders on a younger team.
Santacroce has been a member of the squad for the past three years and head coach Ev Corwin has seen her growth since her freshman season.
“This is Fran’s third year, and it’s my third year with the girls,” he said. “We’ve come through together here. Her first year as a freshman, she kind of surprised us, just taking big shots in big spots. We saw that she loved basketball. She was fearless. Last year, she was the one that had the ball in her hands and the one to take some pressure off of Lilly.”
That was Lilly Corwin, the All-Suffolk County guard who averaged close to 20 ppg and who graduated in June.
“We talked about [how] teams are going to game plan around her,” coach Corwin said. “She plays basketball pretty much year-round. She’s a year older, mentally and physically, She’s stronger. I expect her to take another step, which is a good thing, because she was darn good last year.” Santacroce’s teammates understand what she has meant to the Porters.
“I learned so much from Fran last year,” junior guard Madison Smith said. “Just by watching her and seeing how she plays, how she passes and just her knowledge of the game, I learned a lot.”
Senior guard Lindsey Bednoski added: “She brought so much to the team. She’s a really good scorer. She’s good on defense. She’s just a positive person overall, which lifts up the team.”
Both Smith and Bednoski are 5-foot-2 back court players who specialized on defense last season.
“They spearheaded any kind of good defense we played last year,” Corwin said. “I’m hoping they can chip in with some points.”
Guards Maria Gavalas and Semar Bell round out the three seniors on the squad.
Sophomore guard Emily Manwaring, who filled in as an emergency goalkeeper on the Mattituck/Southold/ Greenport girls soccer team that reached the playoffs, is expected to see plenty of playing time.
Even with a young team, Corwin still has set his sights for the grand prize.
“I tell them I want to win the last game of the year,” he said. “I want to win the league. I want to win the county. I want to win Long Island. I want to get upstate and go to the Final Four. If I had a team just devoid of talent, maybe I wouldn’t say that. But basketball is a funny game. You get the right chemistry, and people grow up quickly. You can get on some sort of run. So why not start dreaming big right now and go for it?”
The Porters will find out soon enough. They open their season at Glenn in a non-league game on Saturday, Dec. 7, at 10 a.m. They will play at Mattituck, the defending Class B county champions, two days later on Monday, Dec. 9, at 5:45 p.m., before hosting the Tuckers on Jan. 16 at 5:45 p.m.
The rivalry with Mattituck is certainly a unique dynamic because several players from both teams are on combined soccer and lacrosse squads.
“It’s definitely an interesting and fun dynamic,” Santacroce said. “It’s really hard to go from best friends [to] enemies, from like, off the court, on the court, but it’s fun. I like all the girls.”
Santacroce noted that she played with several Mattituck players on the MSG soccer team who will compete in basketball this winter.
“I think we all agree that we can fight each other on the court and then just be friends later on,” she said.
Greenport boys squad aims to get back to county finals
When you have three returning seniors who averaged double figures the previous season, big things are expected from your team.
Taiquan Brumsey, Nelson Shedrick and Kal-El Marine are a formidable and talented trio for the Greenport High School boys basketball team this season.
There is plenty to be excited about for the Porters, who lost in the Suffolk County Class C final to archrival Southold last year.
This year, they want to win the title.
“That’s the plan,” head coach Justin Moore said.
“This definitely is the best team that I will ever be on,” Marine said. “I’ve been talking to Taiquan and Nelson since we were sophomores, about, ‘Oh yes, we’re good this year, but imagine how good we’re going to be in our senior year.’ We have to keep that same attitude and mindset. It’s really going to be an amazing season.”
All three players enjoyed successful fall campaigns. Marine and Shedrick were members of the Porters soccer team, which reached the Class C Southeast Regional, while Brumsey played on the Greenport/ Southold/Mattituck football team that earned a playoff spot for the first time since 2013.
“Kal and Nellie were big parts of leading the soccer team to the Class C championship,” Moore said. “So, we’re hoping that we can do a similar thing in basketball.”
Brumsey has some lofty goals this season.
“Not lose a game,” he said. “I know a lot of kids on the other teams. I know how it goes,” he added. “We have a big chance. Some of the teams that we lost to last year lost some players, and teams that we beat last year, awesome players. I believe we have the schedule and team to do it.”
Shedrick has similar aspirations. “The goal is to win, go upstate and try to go as far as we can, if we do end up beating Southold in the county championship, win regional finals and regional,” he said. “I’m just ready to go upstate.”
On Nov. 9, the Porters were eliminated by North Salem, which went on to capture the Class C state soccer title. Nine days later on Nov. 18, Shedrick and Marine were on the basketball court for preseason.
“I really never stopped playing basketball,” Brumsey said. “I always played basketball even after practice in football. But it’s kind of different getting back into basketball mode after playing football.”
Each player brings something different to the court. Shedrick, a 6-foot-1 shooting guard, led Greenport in scoring, averaging 15.0 points per game. Brumsey, a 6-2 forward, was next at 14.1 ppg, followed by 5-foot-7 point guard Marine at 12.5.
“Kal-El, Nelson and Taiquan were our go-to players last year,” Moore said. “They really carried us offensively and defensively. They are the key to our team. We expect them to come out and lead as seniors.”
But Greenport is far from a three-player team. Senior guard Jeremiah King-Smith is a defensive specialist.
“What he gives us on the defensive end, we couldn’t ask for much more,” Moore said. “He guards the team’s best players.”
Daniel Rivas, a co-captain of the soccer team, also will be relied upon, Moore added.
Rivals Greenport and Southold will play each other three times in League VI again this season. Greenport hosts Southold on Dec. 13 at 5:45 p.m. before the Settlers welcome the Porters Jan. 13 at 6 p.m. The third game will be played back at Greenport on Feb. 1 at 3:45 p.m. Southold defeated Greenport in last year’s county final, 57-41.
Moore gave the Settlers respect. “They are the better team until we go out and prove otherwise,” he said. “I feel like all of my players that experienced that loss last year. It was tough for us all. Everybody was hungry in the off-season. We’ll see what happens this year. Hopefully, we can come out victorious.”
If things work out, they will meet in the Class C final at St. Joseph’s University on March 2 at 3 p.m.
“It’s just all about that winning mindset and going out there, giving it all,” Shedrick said. “It’s getting back to what happened last year.”
Marine said that winning two county championships in the same academic year “would mean everything to us, especially since they took us out last year. Soccer was a great accomplishment, but that’s in the past. Now, I’m just completely focused.”