For everyone and anyone who said I never catch a game in Rockland, I have a response: Tonight is the night. I made my way to Albertus Magnus tonight to see the Falcons take on Pearl River.

Below is my running diary on the game, my 32nd this season. I hope you enjoy. I really enjoyed doing it — and checking out these two rivals in a different environment.

5:48 — On my first foray into Rockland County since football season, I meet Jake at The Journal News offices in West Nyack.

5:56 — Almost immediately, we hit a roadblock on Route 304 and must detour. Jake, seeing a left-hand turn down a dark street he thinks may help us find our destination, wheels his car around a turn and we almost end up on someone’s front lawn. I immediately think maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to car pool.

6:07 — Remarkably, we ran into another roadblock but have finally made it to Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia. I realize I haven’t been here since the 2003 girls soccer season, a fact I’m sure many of you Rockland fans can make a very nice joke out of.

6:08 — We walk in during shoot around and find our way to the old wooden bleachers and park ourselves in the top row. I love the gym. Very Hoosiers-like, especially the 1990-91 state and federation championship banner that looks 100 years old and all the more special for it. We realize there’s still nearly 16 minutes left on the clock before the game starts, which is new territory to this ever-tardy blogger.

6:14 — Jake shows me how Albertus arranges its scorers table and the home and visiting benches in the corner of its gym, between a stage and a few storage closets. For some reason I am fascinated and quickly roll off several jokes to kill the time. I laugh, Jake laughs politely.

6:28 — We finally have tip-off, which is won by the Falcons, whose cheerleaders provide a big-game feel to the proceedings. Pearl River is in a man-to-man defense. A few seconds later Desheha Waring beats that very defense for a basket and a 2-0 Albertus lead.

6:29 — (Bill Rafferty voice) Albertus Magnus, man to man!

6:30 — Pearl River’s Kaitlyn O’Keefe drains a 3-pointer. I’m trying to make a note of it as she comes down and nails another from even deeper range.

6:33 — Albertus Magnus point guard Emily Brauer checks out and heads directly for the storage closet..err, I mean bench.

6:39 — Pearl River’s Kerri Confrey makes a running, one-handed layup with her right (off) hand. I contemplate if I could’ve done that with my left and realize, sadly, I probably could not.

6:40 — Pearl River 10, Albertus 6 at the end of one. Simply, Pearl River is either getting easier shots or playing better defense.

6:42 — Albertus’ leading scorer Jen Canale picks up her second foul and heads to the bench. It’s a classic over the back call after a player misses a shot she thinks she should make. It happens all the time. For the Falcons, her absence could be big though.

6:43 — Fresh off a big win last night over Spring Valley, Tappan Zee enters the building trailed by coach Reid Hoffer. North Rockland, I discover, is already in the stands, fresh off its 40-point first quarter in last night’s win over Ramapo. The four best teams in Rockland are in the building…I promise I could arrange a quick tournament but no one listens.

6:49 — O’Keefe barrels down the lane and knocks over two Pearl River players but the ref calls a blocking foul. Albertus fans are not happy and begin to dog the officials.

6:51 — With 3:02 left in the half, O’Keefe banks in a 3-ball from the left wing. She smiles running up court, which always means someone probably made a “you didn’t call glass comment.�

6:53 — Waring seals her defender, catches an entry pass and draws a foul. It appears Albertus finally has begun to find room to operate inside.

6:55 — Ashley Huber of the Falcons goes to grab a rebound and crashes to the ground, landing on the back of her head. For a brief, fleeting moment, it appears she may be seriously injured but she shakes it off and walks off the court under her own power.

6:56 — Halftime: Pearl River 22, Albertus 16. Very entertaining half despite the lack of scoring. O’Keefe has 15 points and seven rebounds to lead the way. She has been the difference so far.

7:05 — The second half starts quickly as Canale — back from the bench after sitting six minutes in the second quarter — drives to the hoop and scores. Jake and I both wonder aloud if she’ll be enough to turn the game around for the Falcons.

7:08 — O’Keefe is fouled by Waring on a call that could’ve gone either way. We then learn — thanks to a jeering set of home fans — that the official’s name is Marty and that he lives in Pearl River. Poor Marty.

7:11 — Albertus coach Joe McGuinness calls a timeout…just as a trapped Huber makes a great bounce pass for an open layup. Unfortunate timing to say the least.

7:12 — Taylor Wilson of Pearl River tries to save a loose ball and fires it directly at a tiny, tiny cheerleader. This is the second time the ball has gone flying at an unsuspecting and terrified cheerleader. Tonight, they may be better off with shields than pom-poms.

7:15 — There’s 3:50 left in the third quarter when Confrey nails a 3 from the right wing: 30-18 Pearl River. I think it’s time for a timeout.

7:17 — No timeout, but O’Keefe misses two chippies. A Canale rebound on the second miss saves the Falcons for the time being.

7:23 — On a breakaway, Confrey pulls off an absurd double crossover and sinks a layup. The lead is 14 points and I’d be stunned if Albertus Magnus can win this game.

7:25 — Third quarter ends 34-20 Pearl River. The Falcons have gotten shots but just cannot sink them.

7:26 — Cheerleaders start “Let’s get rowdy!� chant but rowdy the crowd is not.

7:30 — With no dribbles and three swift passes, Pearl River breaks the press. Again.

7:33 — De facto center Kristen McShane (who is all of 5-foot-9) snatches a rebound and rips her elbows side-to-side. I note the way the Pirates play with an edge and draw this conclusion: Coach Lorraine Moylan, a steely competitor, is the reason why.

7:42 — The clock is winding down under two minutes and Pearl River is draining every last second off the shot clock with an old-fashioned weave, the type CYO coaches across the country drum home in drills at every practice. The weave breaks and O’Keefe misses a jumper in the lane. The ball is tipped. A hustling Wilson leaps over the end line and taps it back toward midcourt where Confrey grabs it to refresh the shot clock with 1:10 remaining. Somewhere in Bardonia — with the lead still in double digits — the fat lady is singing in full-throated splendor.

7:46 — PEARL RIVER WINS 46-32. O’Keefe has 20 points and nine rebounds and Confrey has 13 points and five assists. For tonight, they were the two best players on the court, leading the Pirates back into a tie for first in League III-C. Time to head home.

Here are the newest state rankings, which came out today. Looks like Lakeland, Pearl River, Albertus and Haldane are the only LoHud schools in the rankings.

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Like I said earlier in the week, I’m attending tonight’s Pearl River-Albertus game strictly for blogging purposes. My plan is to bring my computer and try something creative. If they have wireless internet I will provide score updates, but don’t count on it (the wireless internet). I’ll more than likely just post when I get home tonight.

Just like last week, I’ll admit I was impressed with all the questions that flowed into my Inbox for today’s mailbag. They were deep and varied and I hope I do an adequate job of providing some answers.

(If you read this and would like to ask something next week, please email me at jthomson@LoHud.com. Just include the question, your first name and your hometown.)

We start with PUPPAS from DOBBS FERRY who has this to say…The Dobbs Ferry varsity girls are looking good. Do you think they will win the section? And what do you think of Dobbs Ferry freshman Jackie Giuliano?

Well Puppas, I’d bet the second question is close to your heart and that’s OK. I wish I had better first-hand evidence than what I have — I’ve only seen Dobbs Ferry once this season — but obviously Jackie has a great future ahead.

She’s already 5-foot-10, which helps the Eagles a great deal considering Lauren Emerson, their other tallest player, is better on the wing than on the low box. Also, Giuliano has been an effective scorer as a freshman, averaging 11 PPG. She’s shown the ability to rebound as well. Take those two factors and there’s no reason to think she won’t be one of the better players in Class C for a long time.

As for winning the section, that’s going to be tough. Haldane — no matter what happened last week — is the favorite until proven otherwise. Fourteen Section 1 titles in a row will do that. And obviously Blind Brook is tough as well. I think the greatest plus for the Eagles is that they may not have played their best ball yet. With Emerson only a few games into her season, I’d imagine Dobbs still has more ironing out ahead of it.

DAVE from CHAPPAQUA has a fair gripe…Is there a requirement in Section 1 that the court must be a particular size? For instance, I have to believe that Ursuline is a good five feet shorter and several feet narrower than (the court) at Greeley. I would say Ursuline’s court (and Haldane’s for that matter) is even smaller than Chappaqua’s Bell Middle School court. I could care less about regular season games, but shouldn’t all sectional games be played on full length and width courts?

Dave, as I said above, that is a very fair point. I’ve never taken a tape measure to a court — something tells me Beth Wooters would have me running suicides before I had a chance to finish — but I’m sure there are discreptencies between home courts around Section 1.

I will ask around, but I don’t know of a requirement in Section 1, perhaps because there are no schools that can’t play on their home courts during sectionals so it has never become an issue. I’ll tell you this, though: I have no problem with it because it’s part of a home court advantage. A smaller or larger floor is no different than a baseball or softball field with short and/or deep fences, a golf course with longer or shorter holes, or a turf football field vs. one with natural grass.

I know in hockey, playoff games are not held at either the Palisades Center or Ebersole Rink in White Plains because the facility is not up to a certain standard. I don’t know of another sport where that is true.

Both the baseball field (short fences) and the basketball court (insanely slippery court) at my high school had characteristics that differentiated them from the playing surfaces at other schools, but that’s all part of the game. I personally don’t see this as a problem.

JOHN, from all the way on the other side of the border in CONNECTICUT, wants to know the following about the playoffs…What do you think about the current tiebreaking system? While I think it is better than in the past, it makes it difficult for the middle of the line teams to want to play better programs.

I’ll admit, I had to do research on this one. There are two criteria for determining tiebreakers for playoff seeding: 1. Head-to-head records and 2. Committee evaluation. The first criteria is obviously totally. The second, although subjective, does take into account strength of schedule.

That said, I think John may have been asking about the point system Section 1 will use to determine playoff seedings. It awards extra points to teams which beat opponents in larger classifications. For example, Haldane earned bonus points for beating Carmel, but Carmel would not have earned bonus points for beating Haldane (a much smaller school). Likewise, Yonkers High School (Class AA) would not earn bonus points for beating Lakeland (a Class A school), which is patently absurd considering that would be the biggest upset of the year.

Is this system, which doesn’t account for the quality of the opponent (only the enrollment), ideal? No. But I think we have to ask whether or not it is necessary to devise a convoluted scoring system to account for the strength of every single team. I ask, How would that be possible? I don’t know that it is.

RICH, who is presumably from HASTINGS, wonders…With the new alignment where teams are placed in leagues lower than their actual class, what happens when All-Section teams are picked? Will players crowd out those in the lower class, e.g. Pearl River and Ardsley, or are those spots left for the players in the proper class? It’s hard enough to compete without throwing in the RTCs (residential treatment centers) and catholic schools, but now higher class schools?

Rich, I understand your pain. But in the past this is how these teams were picked by the section: the coaches in each conference divy up all-section bids by league, with stronger leagues being awarded more bids and weaker leagues being awarded fewer (and that goes for all-section, all-section honorable mention, and all league). For instance, no league in Section 1 had more all-section players than League I-A (White Plains, Scarsdale, New Ro, etc.) and rightfully so.

Because that is the case, I’d imagine the balance will depend strictly on how strong a league is and any league with Pearl River added to it will no doubt be labeled a strong league.

I have to say, I don’t think any players last season were wrongly snubbed because of the numbers game. I wouldn’t fear it happening now. The coaches will make adjustments as they see fit.

Also, only our paper selects all-star teams with catholic school players included. That is because we pick a Westchester/Putnam All-Star team (first team, second team, honorable mention and player and coach of the year) and a Rockland All-County team. It’s not an all-section team.

Which leads us to…

CHRIS from PARTS UNKNOWN asks…At this point in the season, who are the top five nomination for player of the year? What is the criteria to even be nominated?

First of all, Jake will select the All-County team, so I don’t have the lowdown on that. As for the Westchester/Putnam player of the year, it is a long, long way from being decided. What happens in the playoffs has a HUGE impact on the all-star teams and the player of the year because you have to give respect to the MVPs of the best teams.

In Rockland last season, for example, my colleague John Humenn watched Kelly O’Connell lead Nanuet to the Class B final four and it earned her player of the year. Was she the POY on Jan. 31, 2006? Probably not. But she definitely earned it. Same goes for me and Ossining’s Melissa Awerdick two years ago. Awerdick hobbled through the first half of the season on a bum knee but rallied to lead her team back to the Class AA championship game. She definitely made progress as the season wore on, at least in my eyes.

I do not pick these teams alone either. I will ask for the advice of my colleagues and of coaches in each of the classes who I know have seen different teams of different shapes and sizes play. To me, their imput is very important.

Right now, the members of our preseason Fab Five — White Plains’ Liz Flooks and Kim Adams; Scarsdale’s Jackie Alemany; Lakeland’s Amy Voelkel; and Haldane’s Brittany Shields — are all somewhere in the mix. So are others who have elevated their games, like Lakeland’s Sarah Benischek, Putnam Valley’s Christine Kemp, and White Plains’ Angelei Aguirre, but there are even more out there I probably haven’t considered yet. You know why? Right now it’s impossible to know gauge a race when the most important legs are yet to be run.

What if Ursuline or Putnam Valley pulls off a few upsets and wins the gold ball? What if Lakeland, White Plains or Haldane wins a state championship? You never know what’s going to happen, not in January.

Ask me on April 1st (after the all-star section comes out) and I’ll tell you exactly why the chosen all-stars became all-stars. But please know this isn’t the Heisman Trophy race; you don’t have to be a preseason favorite to win, just the most deserving.

I don’t know how many games I’ve seen since these teams played last, but not much has changed between White Plains and Scarsdale, as the Tigers won 68-51 tonight at Scarsdale.

The game unfolded much like the last one, when White Plains won by 20 at home. The Tigers zone defense collapsed on Jackie Alemany in the paint, and charged at Christine Yankou on the perimeter, hoping to either make the other Raiders beat them or to force Alemany and Yankou away from their respective comfort zones. It worked. Alemany had some success (23 points), but overall the White Plains defense frustrated Scarsdale into turnovers and poor shots (like 5-of-24 shooting from 3-point land). Umm…just check the photo by our own Frank Becerra Jr.

On the other end, however, was the biggest story: Kim Adams continues to play as well as anyone. The senior guard had 28 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field and simply dominated the game when she was on the floor.

Afterward, I asked Scarsdale coach Luke Vaccaro whether or not he’s seen a difference in Adams now as opposed to the last three seasons.
He told me he was especially impressed when he saw her play in the City on Jan. 20th (when White Plains beat Holy Trinity). “She was the best player on the floor,” Vaccaro said.

That only continued tonight. “This is the best I’ve ever seen her play,” Vaccaro added.

Here are some other tidbits from the game:
1. White Plains made 23 of 28 free throws. That’s pretty nasty. Liz Flooks made 11 in a row before missing her last free throw of the game.
2. Scarsdale freshman Danielle Feigin shot very well off the bench. Feigin made 4-of-7 3’s in very limited action off the bench.
3. White Plains had 14 assists on 20 baskets. That’s also pretty nasty.
4. Paige Sprewell had a nice game. 12 points, eight rebounds.
5. If Scarsdale wants to be a playoff sleeper… then I have advice. Don’t get into an early-round game with White Plains.

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In other action…

1. Carmel beat Mahopac 50-45. Closer than last time, but not quite close enough for the Indians.
2. John Jay beat Greeley 43-38. The Quakers had won the first meeting between the two.
3. New Ro hung reasonably close, but lost the battle of the Queen City 44-33. Ursuline has won 8 of 10 heading into Mount Vernon-Scarsdale-White Plains stretch.
4. Somers’ sister tandem of Jaki and Elissa Goldner combined for 36 points in a win over Port Chester. Not a bad night to be Mr. and Mrs. Goldner.

Being a willing sleeper myself – albeit of a much different fashion – it struck a chord with me when blog contributor “on vacation” suggested I list a few sleepers for the playoffs.

First of all, you’ve probably noticed that I tailor many of my discussions and much of my analysis toward what I expect to happen or what I think could happen in the postseason. I do this because in sports I believe playoffs matter and most everything else is just filler.

Secondly, I also relish the idea of upsets. In high school sports in particular, there are so few upsets that drama often unfolds with very little actual drama. If you have attended many Section 1 football games these last few years, as I have, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. Basketball is better, but not always.

What’s that mean? Sleepers — not just actual sleep — is near and dear to my sports-crazed heart. And when I look for a potential sleeper, I need to see these elements for a team to qualify:

1. They must have shown the ability to beat a quality team. It’s not fair to tab a team as upset-minded if it hasn’t shown the ability to pull off an upset. Example: In 2005-06, Nanuet had succeeded vs. a strong schedule, then beat defending champ Albertus Magnus and undefeated Pelham to win Class B.
2. They must have a dominant player. In basketball, dominant players more often than not lead to an upset on the singular strength of their performance. Example: Melissa Awerdick, Ossining over Mount Vernon in 2005; April McBride, New Ro over Scarsdale in 2006; Justine Gray, Kennedy over Hastings in 2006.

There are other factors, like foul trouble, experience and coaching, but I feel the two elements I listed are the basic ingredients I want to see in a sleeper. So here – if I were the coach of a highly-seeded team – are the opponents I’d rather avoid in the playoffs.

Class C —

Hamilton: This one’s easy…and it’s mostly based on tremendous sophomore Shereen Lightbourne. Her team may not have that one quality win yet, but it has beaten every Class C opponent on its schedule except for Dobbs Ferry. Athletically, Lightbourne is a terror, capable of producing that type of game where she announces her presence at the County Center. No one wants to see that happen on their watch.

Class B —

Hastings: The Yellow Jackets have beaten Putnam Valley, Irvington and Blind Brook and I saw them give Albertus a game through three quarters earlier this season. Not only do they have a potentially dominant player in Nora Skrelji, but a second-banana capable of carrying the team in Allie Long. In the playoffs, Hastings may just do what Kennedy did to it in last season’s Class B quarterfinals.

Woodlands: Now here’s a team that’s unpredictable. Do you know the Falcons lost by five to Albertus and just beat Rye, but lost to Ardsley, Nanuet and Eastchester by double digits? They are tough to figure. I’m not saying they’ll win it all, but with electric sophomore guard Porsha Postell, this is a team capable of walking in the back door at the County Center if given the right early-round matchups.

Putnam Valley: Clearly, this is a different type of sleeper. The Tigers are one of the three or four best teams entering the Class B tournament, but with the recent absence of Kim Kastuk, they’ve probably fallen a step behind Albertus and Briarcliff as gold ball favorites. People may sleep on them over the next few week, but if Kastuk returns healthy, they have a good shot to upset Briarcliff and Albertus and win it all. Christine Kemp is the type of player who can turn a game.

Class A —

Tappan Zee: Seriously, Albertus Magnus would be right in the Class A mix with Pearl River and Lakeland if it were a larger school and the Dutchies beat Albertus a few weeks ago. That game keeps ringing in my head, even after TZee lost twice to Pearl River (one of the losses coming last night.) Sinead Brady and Brittany DiMarco are the type of shooters who can burn defenses from deep when they get hot. Could that happen against Pearl River or Lakeland? Probably not, but that Albertus win proved that anything is possible for the Dutchies.

Class AA —

Scarsdale: If Christine Yankou hadn’t been injured before the semifinals last season, the Raiders may have very well been White Plains’ opponent in the final. They were sizzling hot and had taken a game at White Plains down to the final minute late in the season. Now, after a series of tough losses, Scarsdale has seen White Plains, Lourdes, North Rockland and Ursuline all move to the forefront as championship material, yet I don’t know that any of them has a player who can dominant as effortlessly as Jackie Alemany. She plays playoff-style basketball: aggressive and capable of piling up points at the free throw line. Like Putnam Valley, the Raiders are a sleeper who could win it all with a good draw and some good fortune.

Poughkeepsie: I don’t know too much about the Pioneers, but I do know they are athletic and have a solid go-to girl in Bianca Storts, who would be good enough on the right night to lead them to an upset.

Ossining: Teams a year away from contending are often good sleeper candidates because the end of one season often brings a few signs of hope for another. Ossining is, in the eyes of many, a year away, but with a dominant low-post force like Brittany Garrett and coach Dan Ricci, who treats designing plans for big games the way a hungry lion would a big ole steak, The O may be a team to fear.

Hey, everyone, one more thing to chew on, in addition to my Varsity Vote and Wednesday mailbag reminders: Lakeland’s Sarah Benischek checked in with a couple posts on the Mahopac tournament. A) What it was like to play down two players vs. Scarsdale and B) Why they wanted to defend the tournament title.

Show Sarah some love and read her entries. I’m sure she’d love to hear your thoughts as well.

As mentioned in the comments section on my previous post, Blind Brook’s Karlyn Adler surpassed 1,000 points tonight. She had 24 points in the Trojans 50-29 win over Valhalla. Congrats to Karlyn, who is the fifth player this season to reach 1,000.

I encourage you to vote for our new poll question this week: Who is the best offensive player in the LoHud?

I have to say, you were all very impressive last week, blowing the boys varsity vote responders out of the water in pure Reagan-over-Mondale fashion, 660 votes to just 99 for the boys. Here are the results, where you picked Dobbs Ferry to win Class C by the slimest of margins.

I’d like to see that kind of response to this week’s question as well.

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Also, I’m still accepting questions for the Wednesday morning mailbag. I received a couple more today and would like to see at least a few more flow into my Inbox before tomorrow night.

The Journal News/LoHud.com sports staff discusses the week of big league
games and what impact these games have on the rest of the season

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Tuesday:
White Plains at Scarsdale, 4:15 p.m.: The Tigers won at home by 20, but
Raiders have played better ever since.
Spring Valley at Tappan Zee, 6 p.m.: As the playoffs draw nearer, both teams
need every win they can muster to earn a high seed and steer clear of
Lakeland and Pearl River in the Class A quarterfinals.

Wednesday:
Pearl River at Albertus Magnus, 6:15 p.m.: Game was decided on the final
possession last time. Could that be the case again?

Thursday:
Mount Vernon at Ursuline, 4:15 p.m.: Rematch of Saturday when Ursuline
pulled away to victory in the fourth quarter.

Friday:
Putnam Valley at Briarcliff, 7 p.m.: The Bears haven’t lost since the Tigers
beat them in Putnam Valley.