By Olivia Gentry
@oliviag3ntry
Long Island Lutheran High School hosts some of the top faces of high school basketball. With the likes of WESPN No. 5 Kateryna Koval and No. 27 Kayleigh Heckel, and the 2023 NYS Class AA State Championship under their belt, it’s no wonder that they’re the No.1 high school girls basketball program in the nation. What elevates this team even further is a special duo: The Swords Sisters.
Syla and Savannah “Savvy” Swords are two five-star, Canadian sisters who have taken American high school basketball by storm. With Syla boasting the No.7 WESPN ranking for the Class of 2024, and Savvy taking the No. 13 spot in the Class of 2026, these girls are a major contributor for the Long Island team.
“The positive touches and intangibles [that] they bring are their best assets,” said head coach of Long Island Lutheran Christina Raiti. “They are incredibly willing to do whatever we need to win”.
In Long Island Lutheran’s game against USC commit Kennedy Smith and Etiwanda High School, the sisters proved just how well they play off each other.
“Growing up playing together really helped us, we know where each other is going to be”, younger sister Savvy said. “It’s a little sister-sister connection, it’s fun”.
Syla made a big impact on Long Island’s defensive front. She played tight defense on Etiwanda’s Smith, switching her hips with every one of Smith’s crossover dribbles. She had seven rebounds and four assists by the halftime buzzer to send Long Island up 34-31. Her rebounding flipped Long Island’s momentum into the second half, giving them a 9 point lead coming out of the 3rd quarter.
“Just knowing we had a big match up, I knew we needed rebounds to convert them to transition points,” Syla said. Coach Raiti described the girls as “savages on defense”.
The Swords sister’s versatility is an iconic aspect of their brand as players. Syla’s ability to maneuver positions throughout a game is key to her vital role within the Crusaders program.
”When we had to go smaller, she stepped into that 4 role, and when we went big she stepped into that 3 role, which allows us to do more types of things,” Raiti said.
Long Island took the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup against Etiwanda 82-62, improving their record to 12-1, with Syla Swords walking away with 15 points, 13 rebounds and four assists.
But what sets these girls apart from other star recruits, is their character and buy-in to the Long Island Lutheran program. Coach Raiti describes a moment from breakfast that morning, where Syla individually hugged the rest of her team, and asked them how they had slept.
“They’re just absolutely awesome people” Coach Raiti raves. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had two girls who are just selfless”.
Syla is headed to Michigan this fall, to play under Kim Barnes Arico. “She just impacts the game in so many different ways and it doesn’t always have to be with the ball in her hands,” Barnes Arico said in an article for the University of Michigan athletics page.
Savvy is currently uncommitted, with two more years of high school to go. ESPN’s Shane Lafline says “”She moves very well without the ball and understands the subtleties to executing cuts, screens and actions”.
Raiti describes the sisters as a “dream” to coach, and is “definitely going to miss that next year”.
Photo by Braedan Shea