The South Side Cyclones basketball teams are riding a wave of impressive achievements, seemingly reaching a category F-5 level of success. At the forefront of this surge is the Rockville Centre high school’s dynamic duo: the girls’ conference champion squad and the boys’ team, which holds the top seed. With the Nassau playoffs just around the corner, the excitement is palpable.
“It’s an electric feeling,” senior guard Ellie Lennon shared with The Post. “When we see the boys’ success, and they see ours, it creates an incredible energy. Their victories boost us, and ours do the same for them.”
Lennon and her teammates made history by finishing the conference play with a flawless 14-0 record, marking the first time the program has achieved such a feat. The girls wrapped up the regular season with an impressive 15-5 standing, earning them their highest playoff seeding ever at No. 3.
This season has been nothing short of a whirlwind for the girls’ team, positioning them in their strongest-ever contender spot for their first county title. The Cyclones are truly making waves in the high school basketball scene.
Lennon and the girls went undefeated in conference play with a mighty 14-0 steamroll for the first time in program history, finishing 15-5 in the regular season, earning the group’s all-time highest playoff seeding at No. 3.
Plot twister
It’s been a true whirlwind of a season that’s put the girls in their best-ever standing to try for the team’s first county title.
Several seniors opted out of their 12th-grade year, leaving the Cyclones with just 11 players — down from 15 last season — comprising four upperclassmen and seven sophomores.
“They were ready to play, ready to prove themselves, and it honestly paid off,” said Lennon.
She also said the team clicked almost immediately despite a “bumpy road” ahead of conference games and outside doubters.
“I think once we started in our conference play and we started winning, we started building that confidence, that chemistry, not only off the court, but on the court.”
Head coach Dan Ferrick also designed a unique system where girls have no designated positions and rotate wherever needed. It bodes well for their reduced numbers, according to junior Katelyn Mullen.
“Everyone was really worried about a small team, but it just is so much easier,” she said.
All of the unanticipated good vibes culminated in an end-of-year, 48-41 win over archrival Manhasset, which came down to last-minute free throws with the conference title on the line.
“I don’t think we’ve ever been more excited as a group,” said guard Maddie Woo.
“We jumped into each other’s arms.”
Woo is also thrilled to look out into the stands and see several middle school girls eager to join the ranks when the time comes.
“All of those people being like, ‘Wow, this is what we get to come into. This is what we can come be a part of and hopefully carry on into the future.’ ”
But the job isn’t done yet, as the lady Cyclones, who, like the boys, have a first-round playoff bye into the quarterfinals next week, want to blow the competition away.
“We really proved everyone wrong,” Reese Long said of preseason doubts.
“And we really want to keep that going.”
Storm chasers
It’s another story for the 17-3 boys team, which captured a Long Island championship in 2023.
Current seniors, guard Connor Erickson and center Ryan Schmitt, who were ninth-grade spectators at the time, now want a ring for themselves under the helm of coach Gerry D’Angelo.
“It’s kind of all we have on our checklist right now,” said the 6-foot-6 Schmitt.
Their campaign didn’t come without adversity either, as starting point guard John Pericolosi, who was averaging 14 points per game, broke his wrist midway through the season.
Erickson filled in or the role and quickly shifted to becoming a quarterback on the court.
“I have to handle the ball a lot more, which I’m not really used to,” he admitted, estimating it jumped from 40 percent to 90 percent of the time since Pericolosi went down.
There was an adjustment period in January as the Cyclones dropped back-to-back games against Valley Stream Central and then Elmont, but the guys ultimately found their way under the new on-court leadership.
“I definitely had to get used to it. Now with kids pushing me more in practice, I’ve gotten more used to it. I’ve been able to help the team,” said Erickson.
He did well taking the charge ahead of the exciting news that Pericolosi, who was dunking in warmups for a pre-playoff scrimmage against Port Washington, is planning to return for the elimination games.
“I just want to be back for the end of the final season,” said Pericolosi, a volleyball and baseball player who will take his talents to Stony Brook’s diamond next year.
He even added that dunking with his injured arm isn’t painful, but Pericolosi doesn’t need to jam the glass to know his group can dust up big time in the playoffs.
“I’m confident. I think we’ll do good. … They can win it all without me.”
