Westhampton girls basketball's Kate Sweet guides Hurricanes to Suffolk Class AA girls basketball title
Kate Sweet of Westhampton holds the championship plaque minutes after a victory in the Suffolk Class AA girls basketball championship against Harborfields on Friday March 6, 2026, in Stony Brook. Credit: Michael A. Rupolo Sr.
Life has been sweet for the Westhampton girls basketball team in recent years.
Add another year to the Hurricanes’ reign.
Junior guard Kate Sweet scored a season-high 28 points to lead No. 2 Westhampton to a 67-43 win over No. 4 Harborfields in the Suffolk Class AA championship game Friday evening at Stony Brook University.
It’s Westhampton’s third straight Suffolk AA title.
“Kate has shown so much maturity, not only with X’s and O’s, but she’s just dialed in from the mental side of the game,” Westhampton coach Katie Peters said. “I’m really proud and excited to see everything click for her.”
Sweet scored 21 points in the first half to help Westhampton to a 37-24 halftime lead. But it was the Hurricanes’ smothering defense that helped them separate in the second half.
Early in the fourth quarter, Sweet stole a pass at midcourt, ran the break and finished a lefthanded layup through contact. Her ensuing free throw gave the Hurricanes a 53-32 lead with 6:09 left.
“If our defense is off, our offense is most likely going to be off,” Sweet said. “We all love to run the break and push it. One player can just have the hot hand offensively, but defense takes the entire team, so it gets everyone dialed in. It’s how we keep everyone involved.”
Sandra Clarke had 13 points and Angel Leader and Chloe Blowes each added seven points.
Westhampton (21-2) will return to Stony Brook to face the winner of Saturday's MacArthur vs. Garden City Nassau AA final in the Long Island championship game at 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The Hurricanes will be looking for their first LI title since 2005.
“The goal was to win a third Suffolk title, but the ultimate goal is to finally win the LIC,” said Clarke, a senior.
Freshman Maren Korsh had 18 points and three blocks and sophomore Maddie Michalopoulos had 17 points for Harborfields (18-5). In the semifinal a week earlier, Korsh had 38 points and 15 rebounds to knock off top-seeded and previously undefeated Northport.
“They’re a young group of fighters that played as hard as they could,” Harborfields coach Jason Brittman said. “We were just overmatched by three-time Suffolk champs with poise. We’re a team that’s still finding our feet. This is a great year to build on. We’ll be back next year.”
The young Harborfields team looks awfully familiar to Peters.
“I look at them as where we were at when my current seniors were freshmen,” Peters said. “They have a really bright future ahead of them. That’s a good situation to be in.”
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
