Destiny Samuel’s quick start helps Baldwin girls to Nassau AA title
Destiny Samuel was the only player with tears in her eyes, even though the Baldwin girls basketball team had been in this position so many times before.
The defending state champions and top-seeded Bruins knocked off No. 3 Massapequa, 60-24, Saturday afternoon at Farmingdale State. They held the Chiefs to five second-half points en route to their fifth straight Nassau Class AA title and eighth in the last nine years.
Samuel, a senior who transferred to Baldwin this year after playing for Long Island Lutheran, basked in the moment . . . even if her teammates were ho-hum on the accomplishment.
“It feels great. I actually was the only one crying because it’s my first county championship,” said Samuel, a 6-2 forward committed to Temple. “It’s an amazing feeling to be with a family and actually do it. I love it.”
She was a catalyst in the first quarter when Massapequa (14-8) started fast, scoring six of her eight points. Baldwin led after the first quarter, 15-13, and held Massapequa to just 11 points the rest of the way with an incessant full-court pressure defense.
Jenna Annecchiarico led all scorers with 16 points. Aziah Hudson had 14 points and Kaia Harrison had 13 points. Baldwin (21-1) scored 24 points on free throws, and Annecchiarico said the Bruins were prepared for Massapequa’s physical, aggressive defense.
“In practice, we go at it at each other all the time,” she said. “This was nothing new. Four years in a row playing against them, we knew what they were going to do to us.”
That physicality was a factor in slowing Baldwin’s offense, which thrives in transition. Coach Tom Catapano, whose first-year at Baldwin coincided with the start of its nine-year run, said he’s hoping for more efficiency when the Bruins play Commack in the Long Island Class AA championship game at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at SCCC-Brentwood.
“We knew this was going to be hard,” Catapano said. “It’s a county championship. It’s Massapequa. Those kids don’t quit.”
Samuel could prove to be the “X-factor” moving forward, Catapano said, because of her defensive versatility and energetic style of play. She said she has played with some of her other Baldwin teammates in AAU for Catapano, helping make her transition to the Bruins mostly seamless.
“I’ve actually been playing with the starting-five girls since I was in seventh grade, so playing with them is like playing in a park,” she said. “So, when I play with them and the rest of the girls, it’s just like playing outside.”
Despite familiarity with her teammates, she was unfamiliar with the feeling of raising a county championship plaque. With five fingers raised high to signify the Baldwin dynasty, she couldn’t help but wipe away a few tears.
