After winning 18-of-19 regular season games and the league championship, the Huntington varsity girls’ basketball team is ready to go as far as it can in the Suffolk Class AA playoffs.
The Blue Devils will begin their quest for a county title on Wednesday night when they host Centereach at 7:30 p.m. in the Harborfields High School gym.
Huntington was forced to play its home games at Harborfields after a broken heating coil flooded the Blue Devils’ home gym and ruined the 63 year old floor, which is in the process of being replaced.
Harborfields has been a great host and the Blue Devils have won all their games in the cozy Greenlawn gym. Huntington UFSD will be “eternally grateful” to Harborfields for what it has done for the Blue Devils, Superintendent James W. Polansky said.
The flood has also forced the Blue Devils to practice daily in the Coindre Hall gym, which town officials graciously made available within hours of Huntington UFSD seeking the space out.
All of the drama aside, Blue Devil players and coaches have remained remarkably even keeled. Huntington’s first goal is always to win games. But goals two and three are to score as many points as possible and give up as few as possible. Not always in that order. During the era of head coach Mike Kaplan, the team has prided itself on having one of the best, if not the best, defense in Suffolk.
A philosophy centered around a strong defense continues to this day, despite having Long Island scoring powerhouse Emily Plachta in the lineup and huge center Junie Nosile under the basket. While anyone on the team is capable of scoring, most of the teenagers play the tenacious style of defense that Kaplan’s favors.
“It’s looking great for us,” Plachta said. “We’re super excited to start the playoffs this week.”
In Centereach (11-9), the Blue Devils will be taking on a familiar foe. Both teams play in Suffolk League III with Huntington winning this year’s home and away contests by scores of 64-42 and 44-33.
Kaplan and his players know that Centereach is well coached and can’t be taken for granted. So the Blue Devils have been practicing hard since wrapping up the regular season late last week.
Monday night’s game will be livestreamed on the Harborfields Athletics YouTube channel, which can be found by clicking on this link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCypZQoMmIfm0AGrKLXpuXfg
All adults should purchase their tickets to the game online at https://gofan.co/app/school/NYSPHSAAXI. Students can purchase discounted tickets at the door for $5.
