Late March Basketball

Grace's G7 McComb's team won their first round game in the Island Garden Super League playoffs. Grace played well but rolled her ankle. She got back in the game and seemed to be moving well but a couple hours later the ankle started swelling. She wasn't able to play in the second round last night. No way to know if she could have helped but her team lost by 7. AAU season next.

Niveen drives to the hoop

If you're still playing at this time of year then you've already had a good run.

Princeton went down in the first round to Florida State. Cut the lead to one early in the second half but things fell apart for the Tigers after that. Tigers have a lot to be proud of this season.

Niveen's last game as a Tiger. It was great to see her college career from her first game as a freshman at Stony Brook to the final game in the NCAA Tournament at Waco. Lots of good young talent on this team and the future looks bright for Princeton.

Grace, Remi and I went to the first round games at Carnesecca yesterday. Navy played well but lost to a more athletic Kentucky team in the first game. St John's lost in a thrilling but ultimately disappointing double overtime game to Dayton in the second. Great day of basketball but sad for our friend Laura Barry, Joe Tartamella, Nadirah and Shenneika.

Shenneika after the loss

Very strange St John's team. They do some fantastic things on the offensive end and then just give it away on the very next possession defensively. Nadirah had an amazing finish, 22 pts, 9 rebounds, 10 assists and tied the game on a layup with .1 secs on the clock to send it to overtime. She was an amazing, outstanding, exciting player for St John's and it was a lot of fun to watch her college career! More great things to come from Nadirah.

Creighton won their first round game upsetting Syracuse. YAY for Assistant Coach Carrie Moore! McKenzie Fujan created all kinds of problems for SU scoring 24 pts, 5 rbds, 3stl. Very happy for Carrie and the Jays. Earlier in the week it was announced that Creighton would be joining the new Big East Conference so we will get to see them play in Queens against St John's next year!

Long Island Lutheran, Coach Rich Slater and our buddy Grace Stone won the NY Federation Class A Title on Saturday!

From Newsday "High up in the seats at the Times Union Center late Friday morning, Long Island Lutheran solidarity was on display.

Stone & LuHi Girls win Fed Chip!

Down on the court, Taylor Byrne went to the foul line in the final minute of the Class A Federation semifinal. The Lady Crusaders led by two, and these were two huge free throws. Of course the girls linked arms on the bench. That's standard operating procedure, where every move, on and off the court, appears choreographed.

But in the stands, the boys team did something spontaneous. They gathered together in one row and linked arms as well. Byrne made both free throws and the girls were on their way to a victory. The boys did their part late Friday night, with the girls cheering them on.

"From the administration on down, we've created a family atmosphere at Lutheran,'' girls coach Rich Slater said, fresh off his team's Federation title achieved Saturday afternoon, which John Buck and his boys team were trying to duplicate Saturday night.

Coach Slater

Indeed, LuHi is the first family of basketball on Long Island. For the first time in school history, both teams entered the Federation tournament -- independent schools do not participate in the state's public school tournament -- ranked No. 1 in New York State. "The kids know that basketball is a storied tradition at the school,'' athletic director Todd Huebner said. "They love being a part of that. Now other sports are trying to have that reputation. They're saying, 'Why can't we build a rep for football? Why can't we build a rep for wrestling?' ''

Boys basketball's tradition of excellence goes way back to the Reggie Carter/Wayne McKoy days of the 1970s. They bused upstate this year with a state-record seven Federation championships, including titles under Buck in 2010 and 2011.

The girls are late to the Federation party, but have crashed it with gusto. Saturday's championship was the second under Slater and the fourth time in five years the girls have made the bus ride north.

Speaking of bus rides, that's part of LuHi solidarity, too. When both teams qualify for the Feds, they ride the same bus. They don't sit in separate aisles, either.

"They mingle,'' Huebner said. "I sense a mutual respect for each other's program from the kids and I know that's the case between the coaches.'' "We've shared a few plays,'' LuHi girls forward Stacy Barrett said. "That's our little secret! But the season is over, so I don't care who knows.''

The boys sat much closer to the action Saturday, perching themselves under the basket nearest to the girls bench, offering vocal and moral support. "Of course I saw them!'' point guard and tourney MVP Boogie Brozoski said with a big smile. "They were making noise and everything.'' That sort of family bonding serves Lutheran well because while they have strong school support, the community of Brookville doesn't rally around them all that much because there are no hometown players. As an independent school, it draws players from all over the region and in some cases -- such as boys star center Kentan Facey, who is from the island of Jamaica -- internationally.

"We're fortunate to have two coaches who like and respect each other,'' Huebner said of Buck and Slater, who is a chiropractor and does not teach at LuHi, but is very active with summer AAU coaching on Long Island. "They both take the job seriously. They both work hard. They both demand a lot of their players as far as conditioning and offseason workouts. If you do all those things, you'll have success.''

What LuHi has in its two basketball programs is a fully functional family."

Melanie & Kim beat Villanova to advance

Michigan, Melanie Moore and Kim Barnes Arico, won their first round game against Villanova. Kim's teams have made the tournament the last four years and have gotten through the first round each time, she's 5-0 in the first round all-time. Pretty impressive.

Five ties and five lead changes in this one. The teams were evenly matched in a well played game. Michigan faces a big challenge with Stanford next.