Kamal Pasha, the outside referee immediately came forward to confer with his colleague Larry Datz, who made the initial call for Huntington. After about a minute, the call was reversed.

“I wasn’t too sure if it was off me or Emily,” said Yearwood. “It was in the heat of the moment, and I thought she had touched it last, so I’m glad they got the call correct in the end.”

Northport made the most of this reversal of fortune.

Sophomore guard Kennedy Radziul had the ball at the foul line and was quickly trapped in a double team. She lost the handle ever so slightly but managed to muscle the ball to fellow sophomore Brooke Kershow, who was open behind the three point arc, a few feet away from the Lady Tiger bench.

Without hesitation, Kershow launched the shot heard ‘round the County. The Lady Tigers regained the lead 44-42 and Huntington would never score again.

“The change of the call really got our energy up and got us going,” said Kershow, who came off the bench to score 10 points. “When I hit that shot, it was unbelievable because I knew I helped the team by putting us in the lead.”

The Lady Tigers might have been bewildered as to why they even needed these fortuitous events in the final minutes. They were up 15-6 after one quarter and took that nine-point bulge into the half.

But when the bell rang for the 3^rd quarter, Northport’s lead melted faster than the day’s morning snow. Junie Nocile, who stands 6’6”, opened the half with an easy layup.  Then it was Plachta showing why she’s a shoo-in as an All-Suffolk County selection, as she hit two free throws, stole the inbound pass, hit a layup and was fouled. Plachta and Nocile, who together scored 85% of Huntington’s points for the day, completely wiped out the Lady Tiger lead in all of three minutes. Plachta, who scored her 1,000th career point against Sachem North on Feb 17, had a game-high 27.

“It was very similar to the last game we had against Smithtown West,” said Castellano, in reference to the Feb 17th quarter-final game in which the Lady Tigers saw a big lead evaporate. “We unraveled there a little bit. I think the collar got a little tight around the girls’ necks in the third quarter, we had a couple of turnovers and it snowballed.”

At the end of that quarter, the snowball came to a rest with the two teams in a 34-34 tie. The winner of the next eight minutes of basketball would gain a berth in the Suffolk County Championship game.

After Castellano gave his address to the team during the break between quarters, co-captain Sophia Bica also spoke to her teammates before they broke the huddle.

I told the girls that defense was going to win this game,” said Bica, who led the Lady Tigers with 17 points.  “I saw how the game was going and both teams were finishing their shots. Emily (Plachta) just kept driving, and I thought the two offenses were simply going to cancel each other out.”

“I knew we had another gear that we hadn’t used yet,” the Captain said. “I wanted my teammates to know that what was going to win it for us was defense and hustle. Once we kicked it into that gear, using the ‘16’ defense, we took control of the game.”

Although renown for her mental acuity as much as her athletic ability, the 16 defense to which Bica refers is not a chess strategy – but a back court press that puts big-time pressure on the opponent trying to cross the midcourt line.

“We held Plachta to two points in the 4^th quarter,” said Castellano. “Kennedy did a good job defending her and didn’t allow her to make a three pointer the whole game. And she averaged almost 3 three-pointers a game. I might have waited too long to use it, but when we went into our halfcourt trap, it gave Plachta too much responsibility. She had to bring the ball up and act as their primary scorer. It took them out of their offensive rhythm.”

The Lady Tigers outscored the Blue Devils 15-8 in the 4^th quarter and amplifying the pressure defense, was Allison Soule being able to take better control of the glass when Nosile fouled out. Soule had another monster game with 16 rebounds, six emphatic and nasty blocks and a huge bucket to tie the game with six minutes to go. Soule, who managed 8 points, but struggled from the field and at the line for much of the afternoon, was happy to get that big bucket after all her hard work on the defensive end.

“It was a confidence boost to finally get one to fall,” said Soule, who was also fouled on the play. “I had missed a couple, but it felt good because I knew (scoring that hoop) was a big boost to the team at that point in the game.”

But Huntington recaptured a three-point lead at 40-37 after Soule’s lay-in. Yearwood, who had sat out somewhat lengthy stretch in second half, re-entered with four and a half left.  She made an immediate impact with two quick steals that led to points, hit three important foul shots and grabbed the offensive rebound that led to Kershow’s heroics.

Bica, who for the last month has been money at the free throw line, especially at the end of games was 13 for 16 against Huntington and 8 for 8 in the 4^th quarter. She is 47 for 57 or 83% over her last eight contests. Most guys in the N.B.A. would kill to have numbers like that.

“Right now, she’s the best free-throw shooter in the county, probably the Island,” said Castellano of Bica. “And Yearwood was big at the end of the game, doing all the little things, Kennedy made that pass to Brooke and made Plachta earn her points, and Ally Soule did all the dirty work that she usually does. But Brooke having the confidence to take that shot is one of the greatest aspects of our team. We have a lot of seniors and a lot of star players, but Brooke knows that if she has an open shot, she should take it no matter when that chance comes.”

So now it’s another date with long time post-season foe Longwood.  The Lady Tigers will now have faced the Lions three of the last four years in the Suffolk County Class AA championship game.  Longwood won in 2019, Northport in 2020 right before most of us knew what a pandemic was, and now a third act which will take place at Smithtown East High School in St. James, NY.

Northport, 21-1 overall, is the highest scoring offense in the county at 66.8 points a game and Longwood is second at a shade under 61. The Lions record is now 20-1 in 2022 after their 42-29 win over Whitman in the other semi-final.

“We all want this championship bad,” said Yearwood, along with Bica, guards Emma Kezys, Natalia D’Onofrio, Payson Hedges and Rachel Mincone and forward Sara Morawski were on the team that was victorious against Longwood in 2020. “We’ve seen Longwood a few times and I have a lot of confidence in this team. It would mean a lot to us if we can pull out with a win.”

After their win in 2020, both the Long Island Championship game and the tournament for New York State was cancelled. Castellano remembers vividly, on a Friday the 13^th, when The Lady Tigers were watching film of the Nassau Champs Baldwin, when he learned that all further post-season action was cancelled and he was tasked with delivering the news to his team that was so eager to play for the Long Island title.

“Telling the girls that the season was over was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do as a coach,” said Castellano. “I hope we get another chance. We’ve had a lot of battles with Longwood over the years.  They won in 2019, we won in 2020 and now we have the rubber match. It’s gonna be a great game.”