On this day six years ago, the girls’ basketball team secured a fifth consecutive Suffolk County Championship with a 40-15 victory over Southold. Here is the recap of the game from Laura Albanese of Newsday.

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Burke, Singer Lead Stony Brook to Suffolk C Title

For Brannon Burke and the Stony Brook girls’ basketball team, the winning formula is always in flux, but the result tends to be unilaterally uniform.

The Bears (19-1), who held opponents to an average of 27.2 points in the regular season, rode their fluid and stingy defense to defeat Southold, 40-15, and clinch the Suffolk Class C title Friday at Center Moriches.

“We always find a way to win,” said Brannon Burke, a forward who led all scorers with 14. “Every day we do our homework and our coach is very good at setting up a good defense [for each team].”

We always find a way to win.

Brannon Burke

In this one it was a 1-3-1 trap to cut down the Clippers’ perimeter shooting. It paid dividends, as Stony Brook outscored Southold 11-1 after the first quarter – the Clippers’ first point coming on a free throw with 2.2 seconds left in the quarter.

Southold (10-9) continued to struggle in the second; its first field goal came on a layup by Melissa Rogers with 5:02 left in the frame. The Bears led 24-5 at the half. Southold didn’t sink a jump shot until Aly Dey’s trey 17 seconds into the fourth quarter.

“It’s like, here we go again,” Southold coach Dennis Reilly said. “It has to do with the defense they play and then, if you give them too many chances, they’re going to put the ball in the basket.”

Stony Brook did have trouble scoring early, but were bolstered by Burke, who scored 10 of her points in the first half. Point guard Sadie Singer took over the brunt of the second half, with eight of her 12 coming in the opening three minutes of the third quarter.

“We weren’t too focused on shooting,” said Singer, whose father coaches the team. “We tried to emphasize on defense but [after] we let it fly.” Stony Brook took off on a 12-0 run to open the third. Singer has been the starting point guard for five straight years – the length of Stony Brook’s reign as Class C champs.

“She knows when to slow it down or when to push the ball,” coach Keith Singer said. And it’s she and three other fellow seniors that could be the key to upending East Rockaway in the Long Island championship, he said. “This team has great chemistry and strong seniors. It’ll be a hard-fought game.”

No doubt a hard-thought one, too.

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