M-O-U-N-T…V-E-R-N-O-N…
-
- November
- 21
OK, it’s time to start the hype machine. I spent a few minutes on the phone last night with Patrice Wallace-Moore and it sounds like she’s going to have a very good team.
Maybe even better than very good.
Obviously, Mount Vernon has one of  if not the  best duos in Section 1 in Nadia Duncan and Kwinnyata Mercer. But it’s not just that. And I think it’s the players beyond Duncan and Mercer who may be the reason the Knights are the favorite to win the championship in Class AA.
First off, this is a homecoming for Taylor Palmer. She played in Mount Vernon growing up and it sounds like she’s very happy to have returned. Palmer was good last year but she should be even better now that she’s more comfortable.
But Palmer isn’t the only addition who will round out the Knights’ supporting cast. There’s also 6-foot-1 sophomore Shaunyce Stewart, who played at Monsignor Scanlon in the Bronx last season but will be a big presence now for Mount Vernon. The Knights didn’t have a player 6-foot or taller on their roster in 2006-07, so Stewart should prove a major addition.
There’s also news of an even bigger presence: 6-foot-4 Lubirdia Gordon. The most amazing fact isn’t her height…it’s that she’s in seventh grade.
In case you missed that…seventh grade.
Gordon may not quite be ready to contribute but she has come along, according to Wallace-Moore. If they get anything out of her in the paint, even some rebounding and shot-blocking, it will be key.
I first heard about Gordon last year when she was a 6-foot-3 sixth grader. Wallace-Moore thought she’d need one season on the JV but Gordon recently passed her maturity test, which enabled her to join the varsity. Apparently, there’s another seventh grader of similar size who is a little more raw. … Basketball players surface every day in Mount Venron. Wallace-Moore said it started a few years ago when players like Palmer, Stewart, and other began to play against the boys during summer camp as grade schoolers. Not only did it make them better, it made them into basketball players.
Looking at it now  before one ball bounces  I think Mount Vernon is the favorite in Class AA. Ursuline, Ossining, Lourdes, White Plains, North Rockland, New Rochelle, Mahopac, John Jay-East Fishkill…they have a lot of catching up to do.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 9:02 pm by Josh Thomson. 
| 
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.
Mount Vernon was the favorite the moment the balls stopped bouncing at the end of last season. A great combination of veterans, youth and talent(and now it seems height). This team will be very difficult to deal with this season.
Josh, you seem to have annointed MV as your # 1 pick…and I think I agree with you. When will we see the other nine in your pre-season top ten? Can we assume that the eight teams you mention at the end of your piece are there too? Because some of those I would definitely disagree with.