My colleague Jane McManus had a story in today’s paper about Gina Maher, who was honored Saturday. Irvington named its brand new gym after Maher, Section 1’s longest tenured basketball coach.

“You can read about Gina Maher Gym here.”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070520/SPORTS02/705200385/1049

This one — on Monday, May 21st — will also be at Rye High School from 7-9 p.m. The rest will remain at the same time and at the same place.

I received a call this evening from Open assistant coach Manny Martinez, the Blind Brook coach. He and head coach Al Viani learned at the last minute that the SUNY Purchase gym is unavailable this week. As a result, the first two tryouts for the Hudson Valley Open Division have been moved to Rye High School.

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

At Rye High School:
Monday, May 14: from 7-9 p.m.
Wednesday, May 16: from 7-9 p.m.

At SUNY Purchase:
Monday, May 21: from 6-8 p.m.
Wednesday, May 30: from 6-8 p.m.
Friday, June 1: from 6-8 p.m.

Tryouts for the Hudson Valley Empire State Games’ team were completed last night and I, serving in the role of your loyal blogger, have the players who were picked.

Here goes (years are all for ‘07-08 season)…

Guards:
Brittany Shields, Sr., Haldane
Alaina Walker, Jr., North Rockland
Porsha Postell, Jr., Woodlands
Meghan Murphy, Sr., Carmel
Caitlynn Moran, Jr., John Jay-East Fishkill
Shannon Ray, So., Ursuline
Allyson Biordi, Sr., Beacon

Forwards:
Mary Abrams, Sr., North Rockalnd
Sophia Aleksandravicius, Jr., Holy Child
Maggie Blair, Jr., Braircliff
Gillian Felix, Jr., Mahopac
Emily Stallings, Sr., Burke Catholic
Shanekwa Kellman, Sr., North Rockland

Coaches:
Dan Ricci, Ossining
John Reilly, Lady Knicks AAU

Now, only 10 of these players will make the actual team, while the other three will be considered alternates. Those choices have not yet been made.

This is a big summer for the Games considering they are being held so close to home. The Hudson Valley team almost always provides an indication as to who are the best players in the area.

Just so you know, all games will be held at Westcheter Community College in Valhalla.

“Check out this story today about how the NCAA rules committee has decided to move the 3-point line back a foot beginning with the 2008 men’s basketball season.”:http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/news;_ylt=AnJftDMRYdlOcWBPaBeEm0c5nYcB?slug=ap-ncaa-3-pointline&prov=ap&type=lgns

This is like reading comprehension. After your done with the story, let me know the answer to two questions:

1. Is this a good idea?

2. Do you feel it flies in the face of equality that the NCAA will keep the shorter 3-point line for the women?

Let me know what you think.

You read that right.

I just came across an item in this week’s Sports Illustrated on Fantasia Goodwin (above), the former Martin Luther King star. Apparently, there came shocking news from Syracuse last week when it was revealed that the Syracuse junior played the 2006-07 season while pregnant.

I immediately rushed to my computer just now and checked for further information. It appears the Syracuse athletic department has confirmed Goodwin played the season pregnant and that she has since given birth.

“Here is a story from the SU student newspaper with comment from Goodwin.”:http://media.www.dailyorange.com/media/storage/paper522/news/2007/04/25/Sports/Year-In.Sports.Fantasia.Goodwin.Speaks.About.Pregnancy-2878171.shtm

She gave birth last week, about two months after sitting out the final game of the season. It appears Goodwin first told her coach she was pregnant the day before the final game, on Feb. 26, and that he immediately told her she wasn’t playing and that she needed to see a doctor.

Amazing story. You can only hope that Fantasia and her baby are 100 percent healthy.

Reportedly, she plans on returning to Syracuse for her senior season, so I imagine this isn’t the last we’ll hear about the story. This is something I can see exploding in the future.