Following an impressive scrimmage, the ESG scholastic team is finalized
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- June
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So as I mentioned on Tuesday, the Hudson Valley scholastic team scrimmaged the Westchester Hawks on Wednesday night at Manhattanville. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make it over there from the office (way too much to do), but it sounds like I missed a strong showing by the ESG team.
I’ll get to the meat of this post immediately: The 10 players who made the team were decided. Here they are…
Guards:
Alaina Walker, Jr., North Rockland
Porsha Postell, Jr., Woodlands
Caitlynn Moran, Jr., John Jay-East Fishkill
Allyson Biordi, Sr., Beacon
Shannon Ray, So., Ursuline
Forwards:
Emily Stallings, Sr., Burke Catholic
Brittany Shields, Sr., Haldane
Mary Abrams, Sr., North Rockland
Sophia Aleksandravicius, Jr., Holy Child
Maggie Blair, Jr., Briarcliff
From what I was told, Ray and Biordi really played their way onto the team with strong performances against a Hawks team that consisted of Angelei Aguirre and Paige Sprewell of White Plains, Kwinnyata Mercer of Mount Vernon, Tricia Liller and Rosie Crean of Ursuline, and was coached by Mark Aguirre. (Normally, Patrice Wallace-Moore is the coach but she had another commitment. Also, I thought Nadia Duncan would play but she did not.)
The Hawks came in on late notice after the AAU Long Island Lightning canceled. With the talent on the team, they were a good test for the ESG squad.
Ray’s overall court sense and basketball IQ were what ultimately won her a spot on the roster, while Biordi can shoot and play some D. They will join forces with a well-established backcourt trio of Walker, Postell and Moran, who have all shown the versatility and athletic ability to be a major strength in a run for a medal.
As I mentioned Tuesday, Stallings, Shields and Abrams will anchor the frontcourt. Shields started at point guard last year, but will move around more this time around. Stallings, who is about 5-foot-11, has already committed to Marist. She’s the only player on the team to commit so far. And Abrams is 6-foot-1 and can handle the ball and shoot like a guard.
The other two players I haven’t mentioned will each fill a key role as well. Blair, a skilled, 5-foot-11 guard/forward, can pretty much play any position as needed. Then there’s Aleksandravicius, the tallest player on the team at 6-foot-3. I mentioned her several times during the regular season. She’s not someone you guys probably know very well, but she will be. Her height makes her a shot-blocking presence on any court at any time. She may even be the first player off the bench.
All and all, this is a very young team…only four seniors on an ESG team is rare. They will definitely be very versatile, but they will probably need either Abrams or Aleksandravicius to provide key minutes inside. The team’s athleticism shouldn’t be an issue.
My one guarantee for this tournament: It will establish Walker and Postell as major stars and earn each of them a heavy dose of attention from recruiters a year ahead of schedule.
They both are blessed with the skills and natural gifts Division I coaches look for. To anyone who hasn’t seen Postell play, this may come as a surprise. But anyone who did see her play? They’re probably surprised she hasn’t attracted more attention already.
I’ll have a lot more on both teams in the future. Should be fun over the next six weeks.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, June 21st, 2007 at 3:46 am by Josh Thomson. 
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Josh Thomson has done some of everything since joining The Journal News in March 2003. He began working for the Gannett weeklies during the winter of 2002 as a freelance writer. He joined the daily staff soon after and has since covered various high school and pro sports. Away from sportswriting, Josh lives in Westchester and spends his free time either with his fiancee, Sarah, or expertly managing his various championship-winning fantasy sports teams. He's visited 21 major-league baseball stadiums and insists that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the best by far. Josh graduated from Carmel High School in 1998, then went to Boston University, where, in 2002, he received a degree in communications with a minor in history.
It sounds like a pretty solid team to me. Quite a few girls on that team also play for the Hudson Valley Knights so that also helps a little bit with the chemistry as they have played a whole season together already. Biordi, Shields, Stallings, Moran are the girls from that team. Speaking of AAU I have a question for you, Josh. How do you feel about high school teams playing together as AAU programs rather than joining established AAU programs? I was at the Knights Joust and saw Ossining playing there. They played very wel and will really be a team to beat next year, but all in all I think that it waters down the talent pool overall. As a result the Knights played games with scores of 53-10 and another game that they won by thirty plus points. The positives of it are obvious, the girls basically play a whole season learning each other’s games before the season comes around and it “really counts.” GOOD LUCK to the Empires team I am sure they will make us all proud
I also forgot to say it is good to have you back, I was getting nervous for a while, that the blog was dissapearing, you do a great job
ONE NAME MEGHAN MURPHY COME ON.
fan it would be best to post when you aren’t drinking, it’s easier for the rest of us to follow. Perhaps a grammar refresher course is in order. Sounds like the coaches made the right choices to me.
Fan, I pulled out this old post of yours, where you made some pretty strong statements about who should be on the Empire team. I was wondering if you saw the scrimmage last week between these two teams? and if so do you still feel the same way?
fan
May 14th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
I asked around and found out that Aguirre is playing with the Westchester Hawks 16u Elite Team. That team is loaded, they have Duncan and Mercer from M.V. They also have Crean, Liller, Thomas and Palmer from Ursuline. And Jackson and Graves from Horace Greeley. Aguirre and Palmer is in the backcourt with Duncan, Mercer and Thomas rounding out the starting Five. I’m hearing that they really look good. Now they should be on the Empire State Team.
Does anyone notice that 4 players (albeit strong) are from the ESG coaches’ AAU team.
bball fan do you mean Al Viani’s AAU team(Shields, Moran, Stallings and Murphy)? I thought Viani was coaching the Open Team?
Viani does coach the open team, Dan Ricci, from Ossining coaches the girls team
Bball fan, I don’t coach any of these kids in AAU or anywhere else other then the Empire team? My aau team is all Ossining kids, none of which are on this Empire team?
Dan Ricci
HV Women’s Basketball
John Reilly, Published Asst. Coach, doesn’t coach 4 of those girls??
He sure does, he happens to coach the best lady knick team this year, so there will obviously be several kids on it that make the team, and there are also 4 kids from the best HV knights team that made it? One kid from the future stars and one from a rockland aau team? so whats your point? We also have 9 high schools represented out of 10 kids? I match that up against any other empire team out there!
Not to mention that we also cut 3 kids from coach Rileys aau team and a dozen more from his aau organization. If you actually knew coach Riley, you would know that he would cut his own daugther to win a gold medal.
Coach Ricci
HV Womens basketball
bball fan….. the best players are always chosen to the empire team. And the best players usually play aau ball to keep honing their skills.if your favorite hawks players decided to try out there might be a different configuration. stop looking for some conspiracy where there is none. you sound like you’ve had some sour grapes lately?
Now I’m really confused! If Coach Ricci is the head coach and he has his own AAU team of only Ossining players and none of those girls are on the Empire team than what exactly is bball fan’s assertion? Does the head coach have final say on cuts or the assistant? If Reilly is making the final determination than why is Coach Ricci the head coach? Is this a puppet regime where Reilly wields power from behind the scenes? Was Coach Reilly also on the grassy knoll?
I think bball fan is either a disgruntled parent or Oliver Stone…
Not a disgruntled parent. No disrespect to the coach or players, most of whom I have seen play, and agree are very strong players. However, it must be noted that there is some ease in knowing that there will be no conflict with your costly and competitive AAU schedule, (practices, tourneys, scrimmages) when your AAU coach is involved. Maybe that is why many Lady Knick players tried out. Perhaps conflicts inhibit some players from coming out. Also, knowing the coaching syle, plays and expectations is helpful for those trying out. I wish them much success…
Al Viani who coaches the HV Knights and who has four players on the team has coordinated his practices, scrimmages and tourneys with the ESG team schedule. The Lady Knicks players, therefore, did not have any advantage in that respect. Knowing the plays is not an advantage to those trying out as it is my understanding that no plays were inserted until after they cut to 13. Finally, you seem to keep forgetting that John Reilly is not the head coach and that Dan Ricci has nothing to do with the Lady Knicks.
It is going to take a herculean coaching effort by Dan Ricci to overcome the loss of all those great Hawks players and all of the great players from Briarcliff who didn’t try out. However will he do it? Good luck Dan you will need it!
Hoops Brother et. al.,
Before everyone starts thinking the best players are missing from this ESG team here’s what happened on the court – the ESG team beat the Hawks in their scrimmage by 50 points. Nuff said.
Like all of us i would have liked to see more participation in the ESG tryouts.
Hoops Brother I hope you are kidding or being sarcastic because I have seen that Hawks team play and outside of Aguirre I don’t think there is a player on there that could make the Empire team. As for Briarcliff isn’t Maggie Blair on the team? This just keeps getting more and more complicated! Anywho best of luck to a great bunch of girls and two coaches who may or may not show favoritism depending on who you ask, a disgruntled or a gruntled parent?
basically you all need to calm down. There are many very good, talented players who DID NOT try out, which is unfortunate. Many were simply scheduling conflicts from what I have herd. With the games in July, since that is the hottest time for recruiting, it is difficult to try to convince these talented players to stay at home, in New YOrk and play when they could be traveling all over getting recruited by many different schools. And yes, while the games are just a few days long, this team requires a lot of time and practice, which many of these players probably dont have to give between aau traveling, family time, and maybe even other sports. It is unfortunate but it is not the end of the world. And in response to the Lady Knicks comments, while all of the knicks girls from what I was told were encouraged to try out, many were cut, and that shows that favorites were not played. If there is an issue there, send what you think are better players to tryout and see who makes the team. I guarentee that the most talented players will. And if you have a problem with the coaches, then why dont you step up and volunteer to dedicate as much time as Reily and Ricci do. They put a lot of effort into this team, and always volunteer themselves to coach so until someone else wants to do their jobs, dont complain. On the other hand, there were many talented girls who DID try out. Props to them and I wish them and this team the best of luck. P.s….scoop jackson I think the comment about briarcliff was made in reference to Coon. Anyhow, it is a shame that girls like her and AGuirre…etc didnt try out but thats just the way it goes sometimes. This team has the best of who did try out and I once again wish them the best of luck.
OK, folks. It’s time for a reality check and history lesson. The emphasis of Coach Reilly on the selection of the ESG Scholastic Team is a known fact. Prior to Coach Ricci’s tenure, the team was organized under Tony Santos who had a great deal of success at the ESG Tourney, and organized the practices around the Lady Knicks’ practice schedule (with Coach Reilly in the background). In Coach Ricci’s first season as Head Coach, there was clearly a backlash against the past practice of loading up the ESG Scholastic Team with Lady Knicks. As a result, there were players with multiple National and Regional AAU Championship experience which were left off the roster. The success of Coach Santos was built around a critical emphasis on defense. Everyone knows that both Coach Ricci and Reilly are only about offense. What happened in ‘06? No Gold Medal for the HV team. Why? Lack of defense – where some of those left off the team, excelled.
Finally, the ESG Tourney is a nice, pleasant tourney of geographic teams with different talent levels. Most of the upstate teams lack the top local talent (with the exception of the HV team) because the ESG conflicts with one of the top AAU tourneys of the summer – the Big Apple Tournament of Champions at Fordham. The listing of colleges and coaches attending the TOC reads like a “Who’s Who” of basketball. The ESG may get more exposure this year only because it is in Westchester.
For any rising underclass female basketball players or parents reading this…. do yourself or your daughter a favor and strongly emphasize to your AAU organization that you want maximum exposure by attending the Big Apple TOC in future years.
Sorry if this offends some past or current players/coaches. But this is reality.
Yeah your right the big apple classic must be where your daughrer the defensive wizard was seen by Richmaond. Did she get a scholarship for the nathans hot dog eating contest to compete against Joey Chestnut? Because we all know she did not get any offers to play basketball.
Thats right we know who you are…
I completely agree with B’Ball Realist, Ricci and Reilly are only about offense! I also hear they molest Collies! Many phoenominal defensive players from the Cross River section of Westchester were left off the team thereby robbing HV of any chance of winning the Gold!
As usual Hoops Brother you are way off base! Ricci is a defensive guru and Reilly emphasizes defense as well. Neither can shine the shoes of Tony Santos but then who can? I have just one question for the realist and the brother: How many sectional titles have you won? How many players have you sent to Divison I colleges like Ricci and Reilly have? Well maybe that’s two questions but you get my drift! As for Tony what high school or college is he coaching at this year? John Jay maybe?
Simmons, who is he? I am confused by your comment!
Before anyone gets their panties in a bunge it was a joke about Reilly and Ricci molesting collies. Caddyshack fans will get the reference but for the 2 or 3 people who have never seen the movie it is a joke.
How funny this site is to hear all of you Nancy ,wish you were women, cry babies whine. Hopefully you at least have cheese to go with that wHine..Grow up..If your kid was good she would have made the team. Instead of crying find someone to work with her so she will get better..fool!!
one word for stallings…DOOF.
i totally agree. enough said