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In basketball, the ball has two sides: offense and defense. While the former often takes the spotlight, the latter truly shapes the game. Defense is more than just preventing your opponent from scoring; it's about taking pride in stopping your opposition, diving for loose balls, and doing the dirty work that often goes unnoticed. This less glamorous side of the helps win championships, whether at the professional, college, or high school level.
Continuing our Tremendous 24 series, we focus on a player who epitomizes the essence of a lockdown defender. A former back-to-back defensive player of the year at Locust Valley, she is renowned for her meticulous attention to detail, a quality that has significantly contributed to her team's success. Her role in New Paltz's two SUNYAC titles is a testament to her unyielding dedication to the game.
New Paltz Hawks Women’s Basketball Guard Julia Sabatino.
My first interaction with Sabatino was during my tenure as a sports announcer at New Paltz in 2021-22, where I had the pleasure of meeting all the Hawks athletes. Sabatino, a native of Bayville, a small town in Nassau County, Long Island, New York, attributes much of her success to her parents, Cynthia and Thomas. Her older sister, Lauren, a former star player on the Oneonta softball team for four seasons, was a good athlete in her own right.
When I interviewed Sabatino, it was the first time she’d ever done diving into her career. She was a little nervous to start off but quickly settled in. Growing up, Sabatino grew to love the sport of basketball, and she credited her sister for first getting her into the game.
“We would always play in the backyard, even on the little tykes' basketball hoops…She did not let me win, not once…It made me more competitive because I wanted to beat her so bad.”
Sabatino idolized basketball legends such as Stephen Curry and Sue Bird as players after whom she tried to model her game. She was a multi-sport athlete who played other sports, such as lacrosse, which she started her freshman year of high school, and soccer. Sabatino credited lacrosse with helping her slide her feet and staying in a stance that helped her on the defensive end of the court.
Sabatino eventually attended Locust Valley Middle School, where she played against older competition. This helped prepare her for high school, where she started on varsity as an eighth grader. During those days, Sabatino did various workout drills, from sprints, shots off the dribble, and so forth, to keep her game sharp as she prepared for her freshman high school season at Locust Valley High School for the Falcons.
The Falcons went 14-15 overall, finishing with a 1-9 league record, only sixth in Section 8 ABC-4. The main reason is that some teammates did not take the game as seriously. In contrast, Sabatino was very open about her experience, including when a teammate left the team during the playoffs.
“One of our starters she had a trip planned to go to Turks and Caicos…She just left to go on vacation and didn’t come to the game. It just threw everyone off.”
The Falcons steadily improved their record season by season, going 10-8 in their sophomore year in 2017-18 before posting a dominant 17-5 junior year campaign in 2018-19, during which they won 10 of their first 12 games. During her junior year, Sabatino and the Falcons lost to her best friend and future college teammate Brianna Fitzgerald of Island Trees 74-68 in the season's final game, where she discussed going up against her best friend.
“Going into the game against Brianna, we would play together on AAU, so I knew she was going to be tough to guard. She’s a great player…We would talk about the scout as a team, and I would kind of tell everyone about her game and how we can stop her…We were like pretty close at that point in our friendship…We didn’t talk after that game for like two weeks because I was so mad.”
After that game, Sabatino and the Falcons faced Floral Memorial Park in the playoffs, where they lost 52-40 to end her junior season. Despite coming up short, Sabatino would be named an All-County selection and the Defensive Player of the Year in her county for the first of two consecutive seasons. As her senior season approached, Sabatino played on the Rising Stars AAU team with Fitzgerald and another of her future teammates, Jenny Walton.
Those reps on the AAU circuit prepared Sabatino to lead her team to its best record in her tenure. The team went undefeated, 23-0, en route to the Nassau County A title over Floral Park. Sabatino also achieved the 1,000-point plateau. She mentioned that it was a dream season.
“It was like a dream season. That’s what everyone kept saying. We just kept winning…Our coach was trying to bring us back down like one game at a time…We knew we had something special, so we had to just stay in the focus.”
The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended the Falcons' season, a moment that Sabatino remembers vividly. The disappointment and loss felt by the team was palpable, a stark reminder of the pandemic's impact on sports.
“I remember the day. It was horrible. We were at practice, and our coach came over. My assistant coach started crying; she was so upset…We had no idea they were gonna be like game canceled. It was like a Thursday, and our game was on Saturday, so we were at practice, and he was like it’s over, there’s no game.”
Despite the pandemic abruptly ending her senior season, Sabatino left quite a legacy in high school.
2-time All-County and Defensive Player of the Year (2019, 2020)
Newsday Top 100 Long Island Girls Basketball Players (2019-2020)
All-Nassau County Class A Player of the Year (2020)
All-Nassau County Tournament team
NCBCA All-Defensive Team
BCANY All-State Scholar Athlete
2-time All-Conference selection (2016, 2017)
Led Falcons to the Nassau County Class A title (2019-20)
2-time All-Conference soccer selection (2018,2019)
2-time All-Conference lacrosse selection
1,000 career points in her Locust Valley Falcons basketball career
After a historic high school career, Sabatino was ready to continue her collegiate career at SUNY New Paltz and join the New Paltz Hawks Women’s Basketball team. It was a perfect fit for Sabatino as everything seemed to align for her. COVID-19 ravaged the world then and prevented Sabatino’s initial freshman season.
During the pandemic, she practiced and worked with a few of her teammates on campus to stay in shape and keep their skills sharp while preparing for the 2021-22 season. Outside of working out, Sabatino watched Netflix or read different books to help pass the time. Then, it was time for the season.
Those tough times and rigorous workouts paid off for the Hawks and Sabatino as they would post a (20-7) overall record and (14-4) in conference play in 2021-22, where I had a front-row seat to see them play their home regular season games.
Sabatino, Fitzgerald, Sabatino, along with her teammates Lexi Van Vorst and Maddie Gillis, helped lead the Hawks to their sixth SUNYAC title in the program's history in 2022 in a 66-63 victory over their rival in the Cortland Red Dragons in a challenging road environment.
“It was awesome. We knew how hard everyone worked…All of our hard work every single day, giving 100 percent, being crazy enthusiastic every day, and just wanting to come back. It just was the greatest feeling ever.”
The Hawks would lose in the NCAA tournament 79-66 to Babson College that season, but it was only the beginning for Sabatino and the Hawks. 2022-23, Sabatino became a key defensive cog for the Hawks off the bench and the initiator. The Hawks were even better her junior year, going (24-5) overall and undefeated in the conference at 18-0.
The Hawks again made it to the SUNYAC title game after defeating Geneseo in the semifinal round to rematch against Cortland as the Red Dragons sought revenge. Cortland bested Sabatino and the Hawks 57-52 in a heartbreaking loss as they tried to defend their SUNYAC crown. Despite losing in the conference title game, they made it a little further in the NCAA that season, defeating Gettysburg College (63-47) in the opening round before getting knocked out by Babson College in the next round once again.
The Hawks would lose some key players the following year due to the graduation of Gillis, Van Vorst, Graci Seravillo, and Vickie Venus in 2023, which led to an even more prominent role in her senior season. The Hawks were thirsty for blood that year, feeling the sting of losing the SUNYAC title to their rival Cortland; even worse, it occurred on their home court. The Hawks took off that next season, hungry for blood.
The Hawks went 25-4 overall and 17-1 in conference play, with Sabatino becoming a full-time starter, recording a career-high in total assists (118), points (167), and steals (59). They steamrolled their way through conference play en route to reclaiming the SUNYAC title in 2024 over No.3 Geneseo on February 24, 2024, in a 52-47 victory in which Sabatino had 10 points, three rebounds, and five assists just a month after interviewing her en route to being named to the All-Tournament team.
She’s currently on pace to top her career highs in 2024-25 in points, rebounds, and assists, taking on more of a leadership role with Fitzgerald out for the year (ACL), even recording a triple-double. Her triple-double marks just the fourth in program history, joining 1999 alumna Jasmine Sanchez and her star teammate Fitzgerald.
When we got near the end of the interview, Sabatino mentioned how seeing her sister play sports growing up made her want to be a part of a team environment and competitive atmosphere. She loves hip-hop and country music from artists such as Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, Drake, and J. Cole.
Sabatinos favorite pre-game meal are empanadas from Shoprite. Her gameday routine consists of going to the trainer, hanging out with her teammates, and getting shots up. Growing up, she enjoyed shows such as Victorious on Nickelodeon and Chowder on Cartoon Network. Sabatino’s all-time starting five consists of Sue Bird, Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum, and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
I then asked Sabatino how she wanted to be remembered, and she paused before answering:
“Just an upbeat type of personality…She’s fun…Just a bright light.”
Sabatino’s extroverted, jovial personality makes her unique on and off the court. Sacrificing her achievements from high school and putting her ego aside at the collegiate level for the betterment of the team is why she’s a multi-time champion and winner. That is why she embodies Greatness Within.
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