GARRET MEADE PHOTO | Southold coach Katie Hennes embracing some of her players after the First Settlers won the Suffolk County Class C title.

SUFFOLK CLASS C FINAL | FIRST SETTLERS 46, WHALERS 19

Southold captured the Suffolk County Class C girls basketball title with a 46-19 victory over Pierson/Bridgehampton at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue on Monday night.

Junior forward Melissa Rogers scored 6 of her game-high 14 points in the first quarter as the top-seeded First Settlers (14-5) rolled to a 14-4 advantage over the Whalers (7-11).

Junior forward Kelly Bosco added 8 points, senior guard Sydney Campbell 7 and senior guard Lauren Ficurilli 6.

The First Settlers will face Class D qualifier Shelter Island (12-4) in the C-D championship game of the county tournament at St. Joseph’s on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Southold has beaten Shelter Island all four times it has faced its League VII rival, twice in tournaments and twice in league play.

“That’s something that we can’t underestimate, especially Shelter Island,” Southold coach Katie Hennes said. “They were probably the best team we played all season in our conference. Four times you have to come out and be ready to play. You don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s something that I have been preping the girls about the last couple of weeks. You can never underestimate a team. You might play them five, six, 20 times. You’ve got to be ready every single time.”

Rogers said that she wasn’t going to take anything for granted. “Shelter Island is always one of our best competitors,” she said. “It’s always a very good game with them. We can’t take anything for granted.”

“We just have to come in like we did today and let everything out,” Rogers continued. “We have no regrets as we leave this court. We have to come in here screaming our heads off playing defense.”

Shelter Island is led by senior center Kelsey McGayhey, who has scored more than 1,000 career points.

“Kelsey’s a great player,” Hennes said. “It will be a nice matchup. The girls really look forward to this rivalry. … It’s going to be a great atmosphere here.”