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, whowill attend Ave Maria Universityin 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, wasthe lone senior and captainof 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.”
Source: The Suffolk Times
