FLORIDA – Sometimes, despite the best of efforts and planning, there is simply no answer. For the Sullivan West Lady Bulldogs, the key to beating Seward, as they had previously done on the Lady Spartans’ home floor, seemed to be limiting Seward senior standout Shannon Sgombick’s offensive verve. Holding her to 14 in an early season SW road victory certainly proved effective then. Especially since Seward’s other prime weapon, Kayla Valenti struggled against the Lady Westies’ aggressive defense. 

When Seward came to Sullivan West for the regular season rematch however, it was the Lady Spartans’ defense that was preeminent, holding SW to a paltry 18 points in an emphatic 32-18 victory to claim the division title. That set up the postseason semifinal postseason match up, a rubber game that would determine which team would earn the “privilege” of facing defending state champion Millbrook in the finals.

While Sgombick would only net eight points in this fray, it was Valenti’s six treys and 24-point breakout game that would bring the curtain down on what has been an exemplary Sullivan West 12-6 campaign under the watchful eye of Coach Pat Donovan. 

Seward coach Joe DiMattina noted in his pregame comments that Valenti would be key as the Lady Spartans needed her scoring to augment Sgombick’s. As it turned out, Valenti overshadowed not only her star teammate, but all other players on the floor. 

As Donovan put it in his muted postgame interview, “We kept losing Kayla.” Indeed, her timely three-point baskets at the buzzer of the first and third quarter were emblematic of Seward’s resiliency even in the face of a late comeback effort where Sullivan West got within seven points of their archrival before Valenti hit her final trey as the Seward lead burgeoned to 15 by the final buzzer.

Seward led from wire to wire holding a 14-6 margin at the end of the first quarter. They outscored Sullivan West 12-5 in the second stanza to take a 26-11 lead into the break. 

In the prior matchup held in Lake Huntington, Sullivan West showed great difficulty in scoring against Seward. They scored only a single point in the first two quarters of that matchup. Those struggles continued in this crucial win-or-go home fray. 

With an output of only six points in the first quarter and five each in the second and third, the ladies in Carolina blue found themselves trailing 34-16 heading into the final frame. Outscoring their rivals 10-7 in the fourth quarter proved to be too little and too late. Seward improved to 17-4. 

Coach Joe DiMattina talked about his team’s game plan coming in. “In both prior games we gave up a lot of rebounds. This time we needed to control the ball better and to take better care of it. We didn’t have many turnovers tonight. We got some really good looks and executed much better than we did in our prior outings with them.” 

Donovan summed up what he thought was a “very good season” characterized by great defense. “Trying to score has been tough for us all season long.” 

It was the swan song for seniors Lanie Herbert, Paige Muzuruk, Anna Bernas, Felicity Bauernfeind and Georgeanne Cardona.