Southampton Girls Basketball, Gearing Up For Postseason, Honors Its Four Seniors

The annual Senior Night ceremony that head coach Richard “Juni” Wingfield puts on for his Southampton girls basketball team is so extravagant that it’s almost more anticipated than the actual upcoming game.

The seniors stand behind their parents, who are seated at center court, and on Wingfield’s cue, all of the program’s underclassmen walk in to the gym holding balloons, some with bouquets of flowers or gifts for both their senior teammates and seniors on the opposing team. Wingfield brings up each senior, has a few words to say about them, and the gifts are dispersed. After a quick playing of MC Hammer’s “Too Legit To Quit” — which Wingfield said is the theme of this year’s team — the ceremony concludes and the teams prepare with a quick warm up just prior to tip-off.

This year’s seniors — Gabriela Arnold, Hallie Beeker, Carli Cameron and Madison Taylor — all admitted it was tough holding back tears on Monday night.

“I feel like coming from Juni, it’s very expected,” Taylor said. “Even though we were expecting it, it still touched our hearts deeply. I cried, I’m pretty sure we all cried. We knew we were all going to cry and I think that made us not upset about this game.”

The Mariners went on to suffer a 50-24 loss to undefeated, and likely League VII champion, Port Jefferson, but as Taylor noted, it was almost like the game was secondary.

“I think we all know Juni, individually and personally, and we all just took what he said to heart and it really touched us,” Arnold said.

Beeker said it’s not uncommon for Wingfield to profess his love for all of his players, so the ceremony isn’t too far off from even an everyday practice. Regardless, it was still an emotional night for the senior quartet.

“We have always been waiting for this moment when he does this ceremony and it’s just so special and I definitely think it’s a little tearjerker and we take all of that stuff to heart,” Cameron said.

Monday night’s loss ended what was a six-game win streak that included big wins over both Greenport/Southold, 43-41, on February 2, and Center Moriches, 39-36, on Saturday. The streak locked up a playoff spot for the Mariners, who will be making their long awaited return to the postseason after not being allowed to participate two years ago despite having a more-than-qualifying record due to playing one too many games.

Wingfield said that ruling by the state is still something that irks him, to this day, but he takes some solace in the fact that the state did eventually decide to change the rule to not discipline the players but rather the school’s coaching staff and/or administration, which is something he pushed for.

Now the only thing the Mariners are waiting for is where they will fall in the Suffolk County Class B playoffs, which are expected to begin Wednesday, February 16. Greenport defeated Center Moriches on Monday night to all but guarantee itself the top seed. Southampton, Center Moriches and Mattituck figure to follow in some fashion. The problem in trying to figure it all out is that many of the B teams have split games against one another, which just means it’s going to be a competitive playoff.

“I feel like everyone doubted us,” Taylor said. “We said we were going to make playoffs and with our recent win streak I think we’ve been showing teams the real team that we are.

“We deserve it,” Arnold added. “There’s no team I know, in my opinion, that is as hard working, more dedicated to this sport than us. The teamwork that we show on and off the court is just amazing and I feel like as a team we’re going to go far, not just because we want to win, but because we all love each other.”

Cameron didn’t mince words with the last word.

“I can just say to every team, bring it on because we’re coming to win a Class B Championship.”