Porters fall in Francesca Santacroce’s final game

With one minute and 48 seconds remaining in the Suffolk County Class B girls’ championship game on Tuesday night, Francesca Santacroce walked off the basketball court for the last time wearing a purple Greenport uniform.

It was an emotional time for the senior guard, who was replaced by eighth-grader Charlotte Reiniger in the Porters’ 49-26 loss to Babylon in the final game of her high school career, at Suffolk County Community College in Selden.

That moment did not escape Santacroce, a vital member of the Porters’ squad during her four-year varsity career.

“It really was like a flashback of my career,” she said. “Freshman year, I lost in the county championship; all the way to senior do[ing] the same thing. It sucks, but it really was full circle for me.”

After the game, Santacroce was hugged by her father.

“He said, ‘Once one door closes, a new one opens.’ And so that’s the model I’m trying to look forward to,” said Santacroce, who will attend Ave Maria University in Florida next year. “As my season here ends, my new season in college begins. So, I’m trying to take it like that. I’m so appreciative of these last four years. High school goes so quick, and to be a part of this team has meant everything for me.”

Santacroce, who averaged a team-best 11.1 points a game this season, was the lone senior and captain of a very young team.

“The girls, they’re my best friends,” she said. “Coming in with the little eighth graders, and them looking up to me like a big sister. We’ve had so many pasta parties, sleepovers and team bonding activities together this year. It’s really great. It’s really special.”

It should come as no surprise that her teammates and her coach felt the same way about Santacroce. When the final buzzer sounded, junior guard Emily Manwaring hugged her.

“She’s definitely something,” said Manwaring, who scored a team-high seven points. “She’s always there for everybody. It’s going to be completely different without her.”

Ev Corwin coached Santacroce for four years.

“We’re going to miss Fran,” he said. “Her personality, her dedication. Fran is a special kid, she really is. She’s just got a big heart. On top of the fact that she’s a good player. She’s a total package.”

The Porters (11-8) stumbled out of the gate as the Panthers (18-4) rolled to a 12-0 lead. They missed their opening 11 shots before Abbi Bednoski (six points) sank a three-pointer with 13.2 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

“We knew what we had to do, but nerves,” Santacroce said. “The girls out there were very young: two juniors, two eighth graders and a senior. We’ve got a young team. All the subs coming in are young — 10th grade, ninth grade, eighth grade. It’s their first time on a big stage. It’s nerve-racking. I think getting over that hump took us for a bit of a toll.”

Added Manwaring: “Usually, we’re a second-half team. I think it takes a little bit for our energy to come up.”

Santacroce, who finished with five points, scored a trey 13 seconds into the second period to pull Greenport within 14-7 before Babylon started to pull away to a 23-11 halftime advantage.

The key to the Panthers’ attack is freshman point guard Morgan Fiedler. She is a 5-foot-3 dynamo who has a low center of gravity, is highly skilled, can dribble with both hands and is quick. Fiedler scored a game-high 19 points.

“She’s definitely a good player,” Manwaring said. “She’s a fun player to watch as well.”

“She’s so savvy,” Corwin said. “She’s a small guard. I’ve never seen a player like that transform a team like that. It’s amazing … She doesn’t make mistakes. I wasn’t going to press her because she loved that.”

Late in the fourth quarter, Corwin had a quick conversation with Fiedler, who averages 19.2 points a game, third in the county.

“I told her how great of a season she had,” he said, before jokingly stating: “You’re up 25, and he [head coach Chris Ryan] won’t even take you out.”

To which Fiedler replied, “Never.”

Babylon’s Peyton Logue-Boyd finished with 12 points.

The Panthers will meet the winner of the Nassau final — Cold Spring Harbor or Carle Place — for the Long Island championship at SCCC-Selden on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.