By Ashley Pavlakis
Photo credit – Instagram @swvgbball
The Smithtown Bulls are winning on the court this season as the girls varsity basketball team is on a roll heading into playoffs. The 2024-25 season wrapped up on Friday and the playoffs are around the corner. The Bulls are looking to rewrite their story and go beyond the first round of the playoffs.
The Bulls are led by head coach Katie Schroeder, a veteran coach who has seventeen years of experience behind the bench at the high school. She is joined on the bench by assistant coach Matthew English. The varsity squad is a member of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) and competes in League IV. This season the Bulls consistently racked up W’s with a 17-3 record, their only three losses coming to West Islip, Centereach, and Commack.
The last time the Bulls won a league championship was in 2010. It’s safe to say it’s been a while since they made some noise on the court. The girls are looking to rewrite the narrative and hang a 2025 banner in the gym.
On Friday, Smithtown West took on the West Babylon Eagles and had a few things to celebrate. The varsity squad honored their two seniors and won the League IV championship. The 50-42 win over the Eagles earned them the top seed in the playoffs, a playoff game bye, and home-court advantage.
The team is largely made up of upperclassmen, with two seniors in Kate Braun and Rosa Pistone. Most notably junior point guard (PG) Catherine ‘Cat’ Piccininni has made a name for herself during her athletic career at Smithtown West. The PG recorded the first quadruple-triple-double in program history back in January, having notched 29 points, 15 rebounds, 11 steals, and 10 assists.
If there’s one thing about the Bulls, it’s their consistency on the court every game. They put up 50-plus points in 15 of their 20 games this season and won 13 of those times. The remaining five games were 40-plus point efforts that resulted in a win four times. Basketball is all about making sure the ball goes swish in the net and the Bulls are doing just that.
The playoff brackets are set for girls’ high school basketball on Long Island. The NYSPHSAA broke it down into four brackets, class AAA, AA, A, and B. The Smithtown West Bulls are placed in bracket AA. As we learned with Friday’s League IV championship win, the Bulls earned a playoff bye. This means they bypass the first round and will resume play on February 26th where they’ll play seventh-seeded West Islip.
The Bulls and Lions met twice during the regular season and both recorded a win. The Bulls won at home on January ninth and the Lions won at home on January thirty-first. With home-court advantage on their side in the 2024-25 playoffs, the Bulls have the opportunity to draw up something special on the court at Thad Mularz Gymnasium.
