Here is the tryout schedule for the Hudson Valley open division team. (All women who graduate high school this June or have already graduated high school are eligible to participate.)

All tryouts are held at SUNY Purchase —

Monday, May 14: from 6-8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 16: from 6-8 p.m.
Monday, May 21: from 6-8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 30: from 6-8 p.m.
Friday, June 1: from 6-8 p.m.

OK, the long awaited pre, pre, preseason Top 10 is finally here. Not that you care, but I’ve obviously been very busy lately with my various other tasks and haven’t had time to peer into my crystal ball…whatever that means.

Anyway, you can look at it this way: It’s like my family had triplets and I’ve neglected my first born. And I’m sorry. So here — assuming all things remain the same — is my 2007-08 Top 10.

1. MOUNT VERNON (16-8 in ‘06-’07): I never would’ve thought this until mid-March, but the Knights may be ready to win a gold ball in ‘08. They have three-fifths of their starting five returning in leading scorers Nadia Duncan, Kwinnyata Mercer and Lynasia Frazier, and freshman-to-be Carece Moore, who is more than ready to slide into a starting role. I also hear Mount Vernon may add a 6-2/6-3 middle schooler, which, along with eighth-grader Sade King, would provide options off the bench.

So what will make or break ‘em… the schedule. The Knights must be tested all season because they can’t rest on their laurels. They must continue to improve. If they do, there’s no limit to how good they can be.

2. NORTH ROCKLAND (18-4): As you all know, I was very high on the Red Raiders talent all season. They were too big and too skilled to not compete for a gold ball, yet they never really did, falling short on the County Center doorstep after advancing to two straight final fours. But despite an ultimately disappointing finish to the season, I cannot forget about the North Rockland that I saw last December. And with Alaina Walker, Mary Abrams and Shanekwa Kellman all back, this team will enter next season with a great chance to compete for the gold ball. Of course, Walker and Abrams must account for the loss of leading scorer Brianna Peterson.

So what will make or break ‘em… staying sharp. The Red Raiders obviously never recaptured the level that led them to wins over Lourdes and Scarsdale early in the season. And with only moderate competition in their league, it’s easy to see why. Somehow, someway, North Rockland will need to ramp up its competition in January and February, even if that means a couple scrimmages or some challenge games.

3. URSULINE (15-8): The Koalas proved their maturation late in the season before they encountered the Mount Vernon buzzsaw at the County Center. They could very easily be the best team on this list (I think the top three are rather interchangable), but they will miss Molly McGlynn. What made Ursuline so good at times last season was its ability to rotate in the post based on the foul situation or how well each girl had played. Without McGlynn they won’t have that three-player rotation, but you have to figure Lauren Thomas and Shelby Sferra can assume more duties as juniors. There’s also a lot to like with starters Rosie Crean and Tricia Liller returning, as well as sophomore guards Taylor Palmer and Shannon Ray.

So what will make or break ‘em… incoming freshmen. Unlike a Mount Vernon or a North Rockland, Ursuline may add an impact freshman or two that we’ve never heard of. For instance, both Palmer and Ray played critical minutes last season. Players like that can help a good team turn great.

4. OSSINING (14-8): This team wasn’t quite on the same level as the top three last season, but it had crept ever-so-much closer as the months went along. Ossining will return four of those five starters, including the highly-productive duo of Brittany Garrett and Kelsey Vallach. Another one-time starter, Kiki Shelton, will also return after missing the last three months with a torn ACL. This is a team that may be very deep and very experienced.

So what will make or break ‘em… a healthy Shelton. Ossining will need her athleticism to fill out its lineup because this is a team with very well-defined roles. Garrett scores and rebounds. Vallach handles the ball and makes plays. Alex Venuto shoots the 3. Shelton needs to be the glue, much like Rainey Brownlee was on Ossining teams past.

5. OUR LADY OF LOURDES (14-8): Don’t ask me who the Warriors will turn to. I know Kim Dweck could be one of the best players in the section, but beyond her they will miss UNH-bound Jacinda Williams, Jasmine Schinella, and Rebecca Bucci. Still, you know Lourdes will have a good, deep team by the time the season starts. Don’t expect the longtime Section 1 power to fade now that it lost a title.

So what will make or break ‘em… the maturation of Dweck. The trio of Williams, Schinella and Bucci had a lot of experience, and not just because they played a lot the last two years. They played in a lot of pressure-filled situations where they needed to produce. This will be Dweck’s team now so she’ll be asked to lead the Warriors every single night.

6. BEACON (17-5): The Bulldogs were the “other” team all season behind Lakeland and Pearl River, but they may be “the” team in Class A beginning right now. With Ally Biordi and Kara Tancredi leading the way, Beacon will have all but two players back and should have a chance to win it all now that the Lakeland and Pearl River seniors have graduated.

So what will make or break ‘em… history. Lakeland and Pearl River are such strong programs that you can exepct one of them — if not BOTH — to make great strides next year. But can they catch up to Beacon?

7. BRIARCLIFF (19-3): The Bears had a ton of talent last season and they will return most of it, including four-fifths of their starting five: Maggie Blair, Shelby Coon, Taylor Pescetti and Jaime Heyda. The only two teams to beat them — Albertus Magnus and Putnam Valley — should both be down, clearing the way for the championship run.

So what will make or break ‘em… their play at the point. The Bears will definitely miss Angela Pescetti’s experience and toughness. They will need to find ball-handlers, and those duties will probably fall to Angela’s sister Taylor and the 5-foot-10 Blair.

8. WHITE PLAINS (23-3): The Tigers were obviously miss Kim Adams and Liz Flooks, who have been among the best players in Section 1 for three seasons, all of which ended in championships. But with Angelei Aguirre, Paige Sprewell and Bree Bradley, who showed glimpses inside and outside as a freshman, White Plains will probably fare much better than people expect.

So what will make or break ‘em… the Aguirres. This one is simple: If the Aguirres stick in town, the Tigers will be competitive every single night because she’ll be one of the best players in the section.

9. HORACE GREELEY (12-10): If you look at my preseason Top 10 from ‘06-07, this was really the only team that burned me. But we all saw the glimpses, capped, of course, by the near-upset of Lourdes in the opening round of the playoffs. The Quakers will really miss Sarah Mirabile, who was tough and handled and shot the ball well, but they return a core group of seven seniors who all played a lot as juniors (and many as sophomores). That experience and familiarity should be a significant factor.

So what will make or break ‘em… confidence. It was clearly a problem last season when the Quakers never met their own expectations. Unlike other teams, Greeley consists of a lot of athletes who play basketball. They must believe they can win on the basketball court for it to translate to the win column.

10. IRVINGTON (15-8): Everyone knows by now that the Bulldogs initial trip to the County Center was not a fun one. But even so, the experience should prove vital to the Gillian Morleys, Riley Harringtons and Tara Gablemans of Section 1. In fact, those three underclassmen are just part of a very young core that will return almost intact. Kaitlin Degnan and Michelle Nedwick were the only two upperclassmen on either of the last two Irvington teams.

So what will make or break ‘em… this summer. We’ll know very early next season how much Irvington has improved. Why? Because with so many girls who are basketball players first, the Bulldogs should get much better during the coming months. I’d guess they’ll be among the most improved teams in the area come November.

********************************************************

So I just constructed this Top 10 without the likes of…Lakeland, the Class A state champ; Pearl River and Albertus Magnus, two teams that always reach the County Center; and Scarsdale, which loses Jackie Alemany but is one of my pre, pre, preseason dark horse picks with Christine Yankou, Kerry Ryan, Chelsea LoBue, Rebecca Robison and Danielle Feigin all back. (The other is the alma mater, which returns leading scorers Meghan Murphy and Ashley Ruiz, as well as the precocious Brittany Horne.) There’s also the absence of Haldane and preseason POY candidate Brittany Shields.

So do you disagree with my Top 10? What’s your Top 10? Let me know, and I promise I’ll write back much quicker this time.

Enjoy…

The May 2nd tryout for the Hudson Valley ESG team will now be at St Thomas Aquinas College instead of North Rockland HS. The tryout is still scheduled for 7-9 p.m.

Here are directions to St. Thomas Aquinas.

The Journal News Winter All-Star section was published today and along with it our selections for the Westchester/Putnam all-star teams and the Rockland all-county teams for the 2006-07 girls basketball season.

Both Jake (in Rockland) and myself (in Westchester/Putnam) produced the teams by polling coaches in our respective areas. Many of you had debated how I should decide the teams, so here is how I did it:

I polled 10 coaches from a variety of different leagues and classes. (The panel is included with the list of players who were honored.) I asked each coach for a first and second team, a player of the year and a coach of the year. I then tallied the votes for each player (giving more weight to a first-place vote than a second-place vote) and the top five vote-getters were first team and the next five were second team.

The opinions varied, but in the end the result pretty much fell in line with what I thought. Kim Adams of White Plains (right) was selected the Player of the Year. She was joined on the first team by teammates Liz Flooks; Lakeland’s Amy Voelkel; Scarsdale’s Jackie Alemany; and Haldane’s Brittany Shields. If you’ve read this blog from the very beginning, the team may seem awfully familiar. Steve Fallo of Lakeland was the coach of the year.

If you’d like to view the entire first team, second team and honorable mention list for Westchester/Putnam, you can check it out on our website here.

In Rockland, Jake and the coaches throughout the county tabbed Pearl River’s Kaitlyn O’Keefe (right) as the player of the year. She was joined on the first team by: teammate Kerri Confrey; North Rockland’s Brianna Peterson; Clarkstown North’s Theresa Dowling; and Albertus Magnus’ Jen Canale. Pearl River’s Lorraine Moylan was the coach of the year.

If you’d like to view the entire first team, second team and honorable mention list for Rockland, you can check it out on our website as well.

When it comes to all-star teams, I probably don’t need to encourage anyone to share their thoughts. That said, I hope you do let us know how you feel about how the teams turned out.

I just got off the phone with Kevin, who reports that the Westchester girls lost by 15 to New Heights (a Manhattan team) in tonight’s Wheelchair Classic at LIU. The team fell behind 16-1 early but made a run, cutting the deficit to five late in the third quarter. That, however, was the closest it got.

Westchester’s leading scorer was Mount Vernon junior Nadia Duncan, who had 15 points. Her teammate on the Lady Knights, junior guard Kwinnyata Mercer, scored seven.

The team was coached by Mount Vernon’s Patrice Wallace-Moore. Kevin was in a hurry, but he gave me a few names of other players on the team: Mount Vernon’s Lynasia Frazier, Ursuline’s Rosie Crean, and Beacon’s Kara Tancredi.

If anyone was there, let us know what you saw.

As Kevin wrote in today’s paper, the boys and girls will each have a team in tonight’s Wheelchair Classic. The girls game is slated for 5 p.m. at LIU in Brooklyn and Kevin will be there. I’ll check back either tonight or tomorrow with a result and (hopefully) with his impressions of the game.

Tryouts for the Empire State Games’ Hudson Valley scholastic girls gasketball team
will be held the following dates:

Mon., April 30th: at Scarsdale HS from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Wed., May 2nd: at North Rockland HS from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Mon., May 7th: at John Jay East Fishkill HS from 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Wed., May 9th: at Ossining HS from 7:00-9:00 p.m.

All girls that live in the Hudson Valley Region that will still have
high school eligibility in the winter 2007-08 season are eligible to
tryout.

For more information contact Dan Ricci at Ossining High School,
914-762-5760 ext 329.

Here are directions to the schools:

Scarsdale: Take the Hutchinson River Parkway to the Mamaroneck Rd exit (turn right from the North, left from the South). Go past 3 lights and you will see the junior high school on your left. Continue to end of Mamaroneck Rd. and make a left onto Post Rd. The high school is on right.

North Rockland: Take Palisades Parkway to Exit 14. Turn onto Willow Grove Rd./RC #98 (left if you’re coming from the North, right if from the South). Go 1 mile to stop sign and make right on Hammond Rd. (RC #47). High school is on the left.

John Jay-EF: Take any highway to I-84. Take the Lime Kiln Rd. exit and go towards route 52 for about about 2 miles. At the stoplight for Route 52, make a left at light and the school is a 1/2 mile on your left.

Ossining: Take Taconic Parkway to Rt. 133 exit. Continue to the end of Rt. 133. Turn left onto Rt. 9 South. At the second light turn onto EM Wilton St. Parking is around the corner at the football field lot.

Uh oh, sounds like RICHARD MCHUGH time.

I talked to Jaki Goldner yesterday. And as you can tell from my short story today about her signing with Binghamton, the Somers senior really had her heart set on playing ball at Iona. Ultimately, she didn’t like the situation and opted to continue her college search, a search that led her to Binghamton.

For those of you who don’t like to click on my links, here’s some quick info on Jaki:
— She had eight scholarship offers…Albany, Stony Brook, Binghamton, Iona, Duquesne, George Mason, Robert Morris, and Central Connecticut.
— She joins Liz Flooks as the only LoHudder girls hoop star to land a Division I scholarship.

OK, I’ll have the pre-preseason Top 10 this week, just not on Monday. That is the day I officially slide into my late 20s.

I’ve yet to speak to her, but I’ve been told by two very reliable sources that the Somers senior has signed to play ball at Binghamton.

I know Goldner had been offered by Albany and Duquesne dating back to December, when I spoke to her for a notebook that ran in The Journal News and here at LoHud.com, but she apparently received several offers since. You all probably know the reasons why: She’s 6-foot-2, skilled and athletic. She should do very well at Binghamton, even if it’s the wrong BU in the America East. I guess we can’t all be a Terrier…

Anyway, I’ll have more on this after I catch Jaki on the phone.

Hey, you ask and I provide right?

Sure, this is probably a few days later than you had hoped, but my duties have extended over the past week to: 1. Rangers Report, and 2. RNN, and 3. A new baseball venture.

I know, I know: You probably don’t think that’s a very good excuse, so I’m here to make it all up to you. Here’s a look at what I consider the 10 best moments of the girls basketball season in the LoHud. As always, feel free to add or leave your own lists below…

10. 14 players reach 1,000 — For the second straight year, a ridiculous number of players reach the vaunted career milestone. Haldane’s Brittany Shields — although she is just a junior — reaches the mark first, but she is quickly followed by: Hen Hud’s Jessica Harris, White Plains’ Liz Flooks and Kim Adams, Scaradale’s Jackie Alemany, Lakeland’s Amy Voelkel and Sarah Benischek, Hastings’ Allie Long, Somers’ Jaki Goldner, Briarcliff’s Angela Pescetti, Putnam Valley’s Christine Kemp, Blind Brook’s Karlyn Adler, Pearl River’s Kaitlyn O’Keefe and Clarkstown North’s Theresa Dowling. And, amazingly, North Rockland’s Brianna Peterson nearly reaches the mark despite playing just three seasons. (And Pleasantville’s Kristen DeCandido probably would’ve reached it had she not missed games due to injury.) Look at the list I compiled on Jan. 11th and see how many players rallied to reach 1,000.

9. Wooters joins 400 club — In a season that would be marked by her program’s nine-win turnaround, Beth Wooters wins the 400th game of her coaching career. The achievement is bittersweet for the Ursuline coach, who lost her nephew in a terrible accident the day before.

8. Mercer buzzer-beatin’ — Mount Vernon’s Kwinnyata Mercer, the birthday girl, continues to pad her lead in the “Most improved player” race by hitting a game-winner with under four seconds left to knock off Ursuline.

7. 41 — This was probably the number of the season, as White Plains’ Liz Flooks and Hen Hud’s Jessica Harris each score 41 points in a game, Flooks against North Rockland in December and Harris against Eastchester in February. Both are crucial performances, with Flooks helping stamp the Tigers as the Class AA favorite and Harris lifting her team to victory in the playoffs.

6. Did you expect it to ‘B’ such a landslide? — I sure didn’t, but Albertus Magnus beats all comers in Class B to win its second gold ball in three seasons. The Falcons defeat Putnam Valley in the championship game to win the title and finish the Class B season undefeated.

5. The Lady Knights of the Round Ball — Mount Vernon didn’t even look like a League I-A contender, forget about challenging for the gold ball. But that’s exactly what the young Knights do, as they beat No. 7 Clarkstown North, No. 2 North Rockland and No. 6 Ursuline to reach the championship at the County Center. That run tabs them the early favorite to win next year’s Class AA title.

4. Brittany Shields does her best Willis Reed — The Haldane junior suffers a badly sprained ankle in the first quarter of her team’s Class C semifinal against rival Dobbs Ferry. The Blue Devils then fall behind at halftime without their star on the floor, but she returns in the second half to score 21 or her 25 points and lead her team to victory. Shields then cures world hunger after the game. (OK, maybe not, but that night she seemed capable of anything.)

3. Second half’s a senior moment — With a brilliant second half from Kim Adams (offense) and Liz Flooks (defense), White Plains takes its third-straight Class AA championship by beating upstart Mount Vernon. Adams is named tournament MVP.

2. Streak-busters — It would’ve been unusual to see Our Lady of Lourdes and Haldane lose, especially with Lourdes having won 15 gold balls in a row and Haldane having won 14. But to see BOTH streaks fall in the same season is downright stunning. Ursuline knocks off Lourdes in Poughkeepsie in the Class AA quarterfinals. A little more than a week later it is Blind Brook that ends Haldane’s run of titles in the Class C championship game. The Trojans advance to the state semifinals in Troy.

1. History is no match for Lakeland — I know the Hornets ended up winning the first state championship by a Westchester team since 2000, but the moment I’ll remember most is their celebration after winning the program’s first gold ball since 1989. The entire second half Lakeland seemed like a team waiting to explode. And whether it was when Sarah Benischek hit a big second-half 3, when Amy Voelkel let out a scream after knocking down a 3-point play, or when the final buzzer sounded on a 49-41 win over Pearl River, the Hornets do just that, slaying all of their County Center demons in one fell swoop. They then walk to victory in the state playoffs, allowing just 30 PPG along the way.