The New Hyde Park Memorial High School girls basketball team could be on the verge of a worst-to-first turnaround as they remain in the fight for a title in the highly competitive Conference ABC-1.
The team has vaulted from a dismal 0-12 season last year into contention for top conference honors with a 7-4 record (4-3) in conference play on speed, tough defense and a gritty style of play.
New Hyde Park Coach Hugh Flaherty attributes their dogged style to the fact that five of his players are as comfortable on the soccer field as they are on the basketball court.
“They’re very aggressive without the ball,” he said. “Everybody marks up and plays girl-to-girl defense.”
Flaherty said the “heart and the soul” of his Gladiators girls squad is Maria Katsoulis, the rangy senior forward who can score from anywhere on the court and still sprint back to play defense. In a tough 35-32 to conference rival Division last Friday, Katsoulis drew an ovation when she wrestled on the court with one of the Division players for a loose ball.
“That’s her game. That’s what she does,” said Flaherty, who requires his players to wear knee pads so they can all scramble on the court.
“We have aggressiveness. We go for every ball on the court,” Katsoulis said.
Katsoulis is a triple-threat athlete, who plays volleyball and runs the 800 meters and relays in track. But she’s planning on studying speech pathology in college, with basketball as an intramural sideline.
Her partner in rebounding on the team, senior center Ciara McCullagh is drawing plenty of attention from college scouts. But right now, her attention on keeping her team competitive as the season reaches a climax.
“I think we’re really stepped it up since last season,” she said. “I think we’re working well as a team together. We’re moving the ball well.”
Two of the reasons for that are the fast and agile back court tandem of sophomore point guard Gabriella Tomasini and senior shooting guard Lexi Pevararo, both soccer players at heart.
Tomasini relishes her role directing the action and distributing the ball to her teammates.
“You give it to everyone. We all work together. There’s no go-to girl,” the deceptively diminutive Tomasini said.
She and Pevararo virtually fly down the court along with their well-conditioned teammates, and conditioning is a factor in playing with pace from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer, as they did against Division.
“We do a lot of ‘suicides’ with the ball,” said Pevararo, describing a court-long sprint the team practices. “That’s our advantage. We’re such a fast team we can keep up with the other team.”
Pevararo was doing a good job of keeping up and passing the ball until she fractured her finger and had to leave the game against Division.
That mishap, and Katsoulis fouling out of that contest might have been the difference, although a running Tomasini layup and a bank shot from forward Victoria Lofaro put them in the lead at 28-26 with four minutes left.
Pevararo praised her team’s strong bench play, and said she’ll be back for the final games of the season next week that include games against Westbury and Roslyn at home and Garden City – a team they beat by one point at home – on the road.
However the ball bounces, the Gladiators will mix it up and maintain their signature frenetic pace for all four periods.
As Tomasini puts it, “I’m up for the challenge. I like a good game.”
