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Good afternoon. Today is my first of three straight days off, which in sportswriting is kind of like an extended vacation. Tomorrow, for XMas eve, I’m headed to my grandparents house. They are (no joke) a combined 189 years old and still as lucid as ever. My grandpa is a huge sports fan and — if you’re a player or a coach reading this — he’s heard of each and every one of you. Few people read as many of my stories as he does and since my grandma doesn’t have great eyesight he often reads them aloud to her. Good story.

On XMas day, I’m headed to my parents house. I’ll see their cat Zeus, who is about 20 pounds and has six toes on each of his paws. He is Zeus in every sense of the word, just an absolute monster, like the Shaq of cats. And he’s equally clumsy.

Anyway, I mention my plans because there won’t be much time to post. I’ll obviously return strong on Tuesday at the very latest, but I hope everyone enjoys their break until then.

Today marks our second week of girls basketball notebooks for your reading pleasure. There are three today.

1. IN THE NORTH, I touch on the debut of Carmel’s “Ronnie Weaver Memorial Tournament,”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061223/SPORTS02/612230383/1049/SPORTS0202 which has a familiar feel. I knew Weaver’s daughter, Jeannine, who was in my grade at Carmel, and his son, Ryan, who was a year older than me, and I knew his death this past spring was sudden. It’s nice to see they’ve named a tournament in his honor. Within the notebook is a fun description of how Briarcliff’s Angela Pescetti scored her 1,000th career point.

2. FOR THE REST OF WESTCHESTER, “I tell you about a new star at Woodlands,”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061223/SPORTS02/612230385/1049/SPORTS0202 sophomore guard Porsha Postell. She may just be the next Angela Pace — maybe even the program’s new standard bearer someday. She’s that good. Also, there’s a mention of the health of Ursuline’s Lauren Thomas, who returned to action on Tuesday against White Plains.

3. IN ROCKLAND, Jake Thomases touches on “the impact the Ramapo team has on the community.”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061223/SPORTS02/612230384/1049/SPORTS0202 Hey, if the Gryphons keep it up, they’ll be much more well known around town: They’re already 6-0.

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Is Briarcliff good, or what? “The Bears beat Nanuet 64-29 last night”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061223/SPORTS02/612230363/1049/SPORTS0202 behind another strong game from Shelby Coon. I know she was good last year, but Coon has gone from good to dominant in a year’s time.

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If you need to get out of the house over the holidays, there’s plenty of good basketball to check out. Here’s my wish list and why you should check out these games if you can:

1. Ursuline vs. Pearl River, Slam Dunk championship, County Center, Dec. 29: This is a hypothetical, because each team will have to beat a tough opponent in its first-round game, but I think this would make an interesting final. For Ursuline, it would truly mark a return to the spotlight. The last time the Koalas played a marquee showcase game that I remember, they were routed in an incredible performance by Mount Vernon two seasons ago. (Not Ursuline’s fault. That performance by Mount Vernon was the best I’ve seen any team look around here over the last three years, including White Plains and Ossining.) For Pearl River, it would show everyone just how good it is. I’d also like to see the Pirates matchup with another opponent with a distinct size advantage.

2. Lourdes vs. Pearl River, Slam Dunk first round, County Center, Dec. 28: This won will definitely happen, a rematch of last season’s Class A championship game. I feel bad for Pearl River. The Pirates gave Lourdes everything it could handle in the final, but were a little overshadowed by Lakeland’s fourth-quarter collapse in the semis. Here Pearl River has another chance.

3. Day 1 of the Ronnie Weaver Memorial Touranment, Carmel High School, Dec. 27: As a former participant in the Big 4 tournament — I made my first basket, a pull-up 3 from the left wing at Mahopac High School, in a Big 4 game — I’m excited to see any reincarnation of it. The basketball teams in Putnam may not always compete for Section 1 championships, but I think that’s exactly what made the Big 4 special.

4. Yorktown tournament championship, Yorktown High School, Dec. 30: Four solid teams — Yorktown, Greeley, New Rochelle and Lakeland — compete in this one. Can any of the other three knock off Lakeland??? We’ll see. Yorktown did just that two seasons ago, and Emma Markley scored her 1,000th career point in the championship.

Feel free to add anything I missed. You leave a comment or question here over the next two days and I’ll still respond. The more the Merry-er, right???

Bust out your violins. It’s time for me to whine before unveiling the top 10.

For those of you who think my job’s easy — that I get to sleep late, then go watch games all day and night — I hope you know you’re only half right. Of course, I happen to consider this the best job in the history of mankind, but it’s grueling, too. Consider today as evidence.

As I write this, it’s actually very late Thursday night or very early Friday morning. (Depending on your perspective. Mine says its Thursday night, yours says it’s Friday morning.) Friday, I have to get up early and drive out to Hofstra to cover Jets practice. I should be done there by 1. Then I have to drive back to the office in White Plains, write my Jets story and THREE basketball notebooks for you, my favorite readers, then head to Iona to cover a 7:30 p.m. tip against New Hampshire, “the alma mater of award-winning golf and someday award-winning hockey writer Sam Weinman.”:http://rangers.lohudblogs.com/ That’s a long day, probably 8:30 a.m.-11 p.m., and I’ll write no less than five stories. I’ll do my best to keep track here, but just enjoy the top 10 and let me know what you thought.

If, at some point today, you’re stuck driving behind the car seen here — only it’s a two-door and the guy inside is impossibly good-looking — it’s probably me.

(See, it’s not all fun and games. It’s fun, practice games, and lots of driving, with some work sprinkled in.)

Anyway, enough complaining. On to the top 10…

1. White Plains (7-1): Not that it’s been easy, but I didn’t think they’d be quite this good.
2. Lakeland (4-0): Hornets man-to-man sometimes looks like it has six on the court, not five.
3. North Rockland (4-1): Went to New Ro and dominated. I think Red Raiders are alone on level with White Plains in Class AA.
4. Scarsdale (6-1): Raiders fans can’t gripe. They’d already trailed 9-2 to North Rockland when Jackie Alemany went down.
5. Pearl River (3-1): I’m genuinely excited to see if Pirates can win the Slam Dunk. They are — all at once — the dark horse and the favorite.
6. Ursuline (3-1): Played well vs. White Plains. BASED SOLELY on my opinion after seeing all Class AA contenders, they rank a strong fourth.
7. Our Lady of Lourdes (1-2): I feel even less strongly about Warriors after seeing them in person, but I can’t drop them below here. Not yet anyway.
8. Albertus Magnus (3-0): More tests to come. Pearl River and Hastings the first week in January.
9. Haldane (5-1): One-point loss to Ossining is all that seperates Blue Devils from perfect record.
10. Briarcliff (6-1): Barely edged Mount Vernon here thanks to stronger December schedule.

On the bubble: Mount Vernon (5-1), Maria Regina (6-2), Beacon (5-1).

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“Today’s Friday feature”:http://LoHud.com/boyshoops was written by our boys hoops writer “Kevin Devaney Jr.”:http://kickoff.lohudblogs.com/ — a man, who, among his positive and negative traits had tremendous food at his wedding — and it discusses “the topic raised here”:http://sixthman.lohudblogs.com/2006/12/14/the-king-requests-your-thoughts-on-officiating/ by Section 1 girls hoops coordinator Bill Glassman: The debate about two officials vs. three. You all seemed to believe having two strong officials was better than anything, but many of the boys basketball coaches find two officials is too few to keep up with the speed of a boys game. Is this true with the ladies, or is the issue not as prominent? Discuss.

Game 16, Greeley-Lakeland puts a bow on the early season of girls basketball for me. Sure there are tournaments to come, but to me that is the transition period. Many teams are idle over the holidays so it doesn’t have the feel of a full-fledged season. But don’t fret. Here’s what I still have in store for the next week or so, then I’ll get on to talking about the game.

1. Top 10 tomorrow: My week 4 top 10 list debuts tomorrow morning and there will be some changes.
2. What to watch: Saturday I’ll tell you what games to watch – and what to watch out for – over the holidays. (Note: Yes, this was supposed to run today, but I’m taking a mulligan.)
3. Player of the week: Week 4 player of the week.
4. Slam Dunk: Next week I’ll be at the County Center (a place I absolutely love) for the Slam Dunk tournament. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I’ll discuss the tournament here, including previews and my thoughts on the games themselves. I’ll also let you know anything I hear about the Carmel and Yorktown tournaments, which are also next week.
5. League previews: After New Year’s I will break down each and every league we cover. I know – that sounds like a lot. But I’ll predict the order of finish in each league, leaving me open to serious ridicule from you, the readers. Know this: I am completely unfazed by you. So there.

On to the game…
Trying to hold opponents under 35 points was an ambitious goal for Lakeland to say the least. Yet the Hornets, according to Rosemarie Fazio and coach Steve Fallo, were bummed by their defensive play in tonight’s 55-41 win at Horace Greeley. The Quakers, of course, may wonder just what Lakeland’s talking about – especially after 15 first-half turnovers held the host to just 14 points – but that’s the level the Class A favorite hopes to hold itself to. To the Hornets, a 14-point win against a quality opponent is sometimes not good enough, not when that opponent breaks 35 and Greeley was the first in Lakeland’s four games to do so.

Regardless, Lakeland had many things to be satisfied with tonight. Fazio played great despite being a little sick. She ducked in along the baseline and routinely caught feeds from Sarah Benischek and Amy Voelkel and turned them into points. Fazio made it look simple, but it’s not, yet she did it time and again. I’m not that surprised, but she seems capable of filling that baseline spot in Lakeland’s offense that was previously occupied by Emily Cummings. Fazio isn’t the spot shooter Cummings was, but she’s strong, tough and fiesty and can fill it up when the defense’s attention is drawn elsewhere (as Greeley did tonight with its zone).

The other person to mention tonight is Benischek, who reader On Vacation so astutely singled out in my comment under the Alemany post about MVPs. Benischek started Lakeland’s engine to pull them out of first-quarter doldrums that saw Greeley take a 6-zip lead. Benischek, a windmill pitcher during the softball season, used her rocket arm to snap passes to Fazio and co., be it from behind the arc or from the high post, and it led to eight assists. She also knocked down three straight 3’s in the third quarter – including a four-point play – to add to Lakeland’s cushion. I’ll say this: I don’t know who Lakeland’s MVP will be, but right now Benischek is leading them with her maturity and all-around skill. She’s definitely raised her game.

After a good start, Greeley never quite took care of the ball well enough to sustain a run and, thus, never came back when it fell behind. The Quakers were 15-6 last season but don’t quite seem to have found whatever it was they had. They’ve already lost to Ursuline, Haldane and Lakeland (which they beat last year, by the way), and had a tough one against Yorktown. Coach Liz Lops told me after the game something’s just a little off.

I don’t want to jinx it, but I think Greeley will find its rhythm before long. It isn’t a tall team (definitely missing 5-foot-11 Casey Miller, who graduated in June), but there’s just too much talent there to keep the wins away too much longer. The Jackson twins (Taylor and Erin) are very athletic and showed tonight they can outrun opponents for the ball. Sara Mirabile is a skilled guard, and the Miller twins, Courtney and Jaclyn, know their roles – Courtney’s more defense and rebounding, Jaclyn’s knocking down nice little jumpshots. Lops – a player at Siena and professionally in Sweden – will turn things around. You’ll all hear from Greeley again.

(Sorry if there are any mistakes…I’m so hungry right now I could eat tomatoes, which I absolutely detest.)

(UPDATE: I originally posted this Tuesday, but the link didn’t work. Try this one.)

I promise I checked for these a few days ago and they hadn’t been posted, but apparently “the first girls basketball state rankings”:http://www.newyorksportswriters.org/reference/current_polls_bkw_061220.shtml for this season were released. Check it out. The highest ranked teams are White Plains (#7, Class AA); Lakeland (#5, Class A); Briarcliff (#6, Class B); and Haldane (#6, Class C).

There’s not much more to say then what I just said in the subject line.

Scarsdale’s Jackie Alemany, still sore from bruising her tailbone last Friday against North Rockland, was cleared to play by her doctor on Tuesday. She took a few warmups before Lourdes arrived, but didn’t participate in pregame drills. She walked by and I asked her if she expected to play and she smiled and said she didn’t know.

A few minutes later, wondering myself whether she was being honest or just playing coy, I squatted next to Scarsdale coach Luke Vaccaro and asked him the same question. The ever-honest Vaccaro (understatement of the season) told me he’d rather Alemany didn’t take the court at all. I’d say about 15 minutes after he said those words, Alemany was at the scorers table. Her team was down 7-0 and didn’t seem very capable of putting the ball in the basket, but behind Alemany the Raiders outscored Lourdes 43-29 the rest of the way. She finished with 26 points and seven boards despite limited leaping ability and side-to-side quickness.

Alemany winced after a couple hard fouls or falls (as the photo, with Cortlandt Manor native Kim Dweck, shows), but not once did she want to leave. Later she admitted “I’m not real good with pain,” but that didn’t seem true tonight. She looked quite courageous out there and was completely dominant. Her presence helped everyone else, too.

“She’s our safety,” Vaccaro said. “They double and triple team her and it takes a lot of the pressure off the other girls.”

If that’s true, I have to say one of the big beneficiaries was Kerry Ryan. The talented sophomore caught a pass from Rebecca Robison and drained a 3 with 1:10 left that was monumental. If she missed it, Lourdes may’ve had a chance.

As for what I thought of Lourdes, I find it hard to believe its streak of Section 1 titles will continue this winter. There is talent there, but some of the Warriors old standbys just aren’t there, notably size and 3-point shooting. I don’t know about their game against Clarkstown North last week, but they went without a 3 both tonight and against North Rockland. The players who returned from last season are very good and do their jobs well, but the offense and interior defense I’m used to from Lourdes are missing. Perhaps the Warriors will find those things, but there’s a lot of work left to do between now and February.

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Not too much else tonight to mention. John Jay fell from the ranks of the unbeaten by falling to Carmel, 60-56, Mount Vernon beat Ketcham, 52-45, which is a quality win, and Pearl River dropped its first game, 81-61 to St. Peter’s of Staten Island. Also, Jaki Goldner of Somers had 22 points in a win over Eastchester to give her five 20-point games in five games this season.

For the most part, last night unfolded exactly how I thought it would.
Ursuline, Blind Brook, and Nanuet all hung close, but lost to White Plains, Haldane and Pleasantville, respectively. Lakeland, North Rockland and Dobbs Ferry all won convingingly, although all three won in far more convincing fashion than expected. And Ossining and Spring Valley played a very close game, only Spring Valley (not Ossining) emerged victorious.

I doubt any of it was boring. My game, which I’ll address in a bit, was exciting and played in a great environment, as White Plains beat Ursuline in New Rochelle, and Ossining had a few shots to win in a hectic final few seconds. Nanuet-Pleasantville may’ve been the best of them all, as Pleasantville – trailing by six heading after three – outscored the defending Class B champs 26-12 in the fourth quarter. But I guess I am left somewhat disappointed to see nothing crazy happened. But, hey, there’ll be plenty more opportunities to come, right?

Check out all our stories on the “Varsity Tipoff Girls Hoops page”:http://LoHud.com/girlshoops. I was at Ursuline, track writer Chris Hunt was at Blind Brook, and proud Wake Forest grad Alex Myers was at Ossining.

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White Plains 51, Ursuline 44: It’s finally time to say it for good: I don’t care what the scorebook tells me, Angelei Aguirre is as good as anyone in the LoHud. Period.

Last week, the Tigers junior point guard made so many plays on offense and defense to help her team beat North Rockland that it’s safe to say Liz Flooks would’ve never scored 41 points without Aguirre. But last night she proved just how versatile she is — not for a point guard but for anyone at any position.

I’ve seen White Plains play four times this season and Aguirre has had double-digit rebounds all four games. Last night, in addition to 12 boards, she had five blocked shots and five assists, showing she can contribute in two totally different facets of the game. But what has impressed me most about Aguirre this season is her willingness to take the ball coast-to-coast and put it in the basket. Sure, she’s done this in the past, but never so often and never with such urgency, as if the team needs her to score to win. In truth, it does, and Aguirre is capable of 18, 12, 5 and 5 every night. She’s that good. All she needs is to believe it.

As for the game on the whole, both coaches seemed happy after it ended. Ironically, Ursuline’s Beth Wooters may’ve been even happier than White Plains Sue Adams. Wooters had just seen her team play Section 1’s best team fairly even for four quarters in a very tense environment. The bleachers in her gym were packed; Isiah Thomas and Mark Aguirre were in the crowd; the voices of the Ursuline cheerleaders screeched throughout the gym; and an overflow of fans nearly spilled onto the court in the corners. Still, her players didn’t appear all that shaken. They lost because they weren’t quite good enough last night, not because they didn’t think they were, and Wooters seemed proud to say they “played old time Ursuline basketball,” which probably isn’t something she’s said much lately. Six-foot senior Molly McGlynn has been the biggest difference. She’s averaged 14.0 PPG — up nearly 10 a game from last season — and has rebounded consistently.

White Plains has Arlington on Thursday, then has two weeks break before league play continues in earnest. The Tigers should be 7-1 after December and will be the favorite until someone provides a reason to think otherwise. But Adams said they need the two weeks of practice. “We haven’t practiced much lately,” she said. “It’ll be nice to be able to work on some things.”

White Plains now hasn’t lost to a Section 1 team in nearly 23 months, but I think Ursuline will be among those waiting to end that streak in the New Year. The Koalas seem eager to be in the mix again and unafraid to be there.

Let me know if you saw anything I may’ve missed…

Sure, I know the title is unoriginal. And, yes, I probably lifted it from about 873 different places. No matter. Today’s slate of games deserves to be labeled with a superlative — especially because this is a random Tuesday before the New Year has begun.

Usually, huge regular-season games are played in January and February, but today brings “more of those key December games”:http://sixthman.lohudblogs.com/2006/12/06/beginning-tonight-key-games-in-december/ I talked about earlier this month.

With that in mind, here are my thoughts on this afternoon’s top seven games and my prediction for each:

White Plains (5-1) at Ursuline (3-0), 4:15 p.m.: The Koalas have been idle since Beth Wooters won No. 400 10 days ago, while the Tigers have kept busy, winning all three games last week. I think Ursuline’s size will give the defending AA champs lots of trouble, especially if 6-foot Molly McGlynn continues her strong early-season play, but I expect White Plains to make more baskets down the stretch. WHITE PLAINS 54, URSULINE 50

North Rockland (3-1) at New Rochelle (3-1), 4:15 p.m.: The Red Raiders are the favorite here, but don’t sleep on the Huguenots. They return three starters from last season’s Class AA finalist and will be primed to earn some respect. North Rockland hopes to return to form after a lackluster win over Scarsdale on Friday, and I think it’ll eventually wear down the host. NORTH ROCKLAND 58, NEW ROCHELLE 42

Spring Valley (3-1) at Ossining (5-2), 4:30 p.m.: The Tigers play gritty and tough, but The O has long been pretty tough itself. They don’t all wear kneepads for nothing. Lakeland’s size was too much for Spring Valley last Friday, so expect a big game from Ossining’s 6-footer Brittany Garrett. OSSINING 75, SPRING VALLEY 68

Hen Hud (3-2) at Lakeland (2-0), 4:30 p.m.: Both teams are big at nearly every position, but the Hornets are a heavy favorite. They handed the Sailors two lopsided losses last season and will look to overwhelm another potential County Center opponent. LAKELAND 60, HEN HUD 37

Nanuet (2-3) at Pleasantville (4-2), 4:30 p.m.: Here’s an interesting game for the Golden Knights. Obviously, the defending Class B champ isn’t near the level it finished at last season and this will be a tough game on the home court of a quality opponent. If Nanuet eventually makes some noise, it will pull one of these out. However, looking at their recent results, I don’t quite think the Golden Knights are ready to knock off the Panthers. Down the road it may be a different story. PLEASANTVILLE 49, NANUET 46 (OT)

Hamilton (1-2) at Dobbs Ferry (0-5), 6:15 p.m.: Another meeting of Class C semifinalists, although these two teams are currently headed in a different direction than Blind Brook and Haldane. Expect both teams to be more formidable later in the season, but I expect the Eagles to finally break into the win column. DOBBS FERRY 38, HAMILTON 26

Haldane (3-1) at Blind Brook (5-2), 6:15 p.m.: Quietly, the Trojans have played very well to start the season despite losing two starters to graduation. The Blue Devils – back intact – had looked unstoppable until they were beaten by Ossining on Saturday. If Haldane protects the ball, it should start a new winning streak. Either way this looks like a Class C title preview. HALDANE 64, BLIND BROOK 53

Let’s hear everyone’s feelings about these games. I’ll be back later to discuss what happened and if there were any ramifications for you to consider.

I sat down with local sports editor Mike Rose this morning and we taped the Week 4 podcast, which is now available below.

Among the topics discussed today are: North Rockland finishing its very difficult week 2-1; White Plains Liz Flooks scoring 41 points on Wednesday; recaps of the Hen Hud, Croton and Pearl River tournaments; and a look ahead to this week, including the big slate of games tomorrow, which I have dubbed Super Tuesday.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

Download :: Listen now :: Subscribe in iTunes

I just hung up the phone with Scarsdale coach Luke Vaccaro. He said his star Jackie Alemany, who fell on her tailbone in the second quarter of Friday’s loss to North Rockland, has a bruised tailbone. X-Rays taken at White Plains Hospital Friday night were negative, but Alemany remains in pretty serious pain.

Alemany will see a doctor tonight and tomorrow. She hopes to play Wednesday against Lourdes, but Vaccaro believes there is a “very slim” chance she’ll dress.

“She felt OK Saturday and yesterday, but then all the medicine wore off,” he said. “It’s very painful now. She wants to play Wednesday, but I don’t think so.

“I’m preparing for her not to play,” Vaccaro added. “Even if she does play, I don’t know how much she’ll be able to go.”

As described in a previous entry, Alemany was hurt when she was fouled scoring a basket. Too injured to attempt the resulting free throw, she was taken off the court in a wheelchair for precautionary reasons and taken to the hospital. In her absence, the Raiders, who trailed 9-2 when Alemany left, fell 42-30 to lose their first game of the season.

Vaccaro thinks it may be best for Alemany to skip Wednesday’s game because Scarsdale doesn’t play again until January 3rd, which would give her two full weeks off.

Good luck to Jackie. Section 1 basketball will miss her every game she’s out of the lineup.