By John Schiano
MaxPreps.com
This is not the preferred way to start the season for a girls basketball team that could conceivably end the season ranked No. 1 in the country.
St. Michael's girls basketball star Shenneika Smith, regarded by some as one of the top 10 prospects in the country, will almost certainly miss her entire senior season with a stress fracture in her left foot.
The 6-foot-1 Smith, a second-team New York State Sportswriters Association Class AA all-state selection last season, will play for Kim Barnes Arico at St. John’s University next year. Despite a knee injury that sidelined Smith for about two weeks, she averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds a game last winter for a 26-2 team that lost in the Federation finals to St. John the Baptist.
Even without Smith, St. Michael’s still has highly regarded juniors Brittany Webb and Jelleah Sydney and remains loaded. St. Michael’s is coming off a 66-27 win against traditionally strong Ursuline (Del.) Academy last weekend at the Aviator Basketball Fall Classic in Brooklyn. Junior guard Jennifer O’Neill led the way with 18 points.
St. Michael’s second unexpected development of the season is the decision to withdraw from the high-profile Breezy Bishop Classic this weekend in Baltimore. The tournament field includes Oak Hill, from Mouth of Wilson, Va., and St. Michael’s officials reportedly were concerned that playing a school not affiliated with a sanctioned state organization could jeopardize its own status.
Referee Stricken During JV Game
School officials and an EMT who happened to be in attendance helped save a referee's life Dec. 5 during a junior varsity basketball game at East Hampton.
According to 27east.com, Fred Heckman of Center Moriches collapsed during the second quarter of the Greeport-East Hampton game. Teacher Richie King retrieved a nearby Automated External Defibrillator, and school athletic trainer Randy Cherill and Judy Bennett, an EMT, performed CPR until AD Joseph Vasile-Cozzo and John Crupp, a coach, could begin the AED procedure.
Cherill and Bennett resumed CPR and Heckman began breathing again before EMTs arrived. Heckman was alert while being taken from the gym.
"It was very emotional. I’ve never seen anything like it, it was very scary," Vasile-Cozzo told the Web site. "Something like this puts everything in perspective. And to see the staff respond the way they did was wonderful."
Heckman was taken for treatment to Southampton Hospital and then moved in fair condition the following day to Stony Brook University Hospital. A hospital spokeswoman said Heckman remained hospitalized early this week.
A Fan’s Fantasy: Nine Games in Two Days
Need a basketball fix while traveling through New York City but you’re not impressed enough by the Knicks to drop some serious coin on an NBA game? We, there’s an alternative this weekend.
The fifth annual Big Apple Basketball Challenge brings together 18 PSAL and CHSAA boys teams for nine games over two days. Proceeds go to the Big Apple Basketball scholarship program, which assists 40 seniors in enrolling in college each year.
Saturday's games at St. John's University begin with Holy Cross vs. Thurgood Marshall at 2 p.m. and St. Raymond vs. Campus Magnet at 3:45. The day will be capped by a stellar doubleheader: St. Peter's vs. Wings Academy at 5:30 and Christ The King vs. Boys & Girls at 7:15.
Sunday's games at Baruch College are Curtis vs. Mt. St. Michael at noon, Bronx JFK vs. All Hallows at 1:45 p.m., Thomas Edison vs. Xaverian at 3:30, Forest Hills vs. Bishop Ford at 5:15 and Thomas Jefferson vs. Bishop Loughlin at 7 p.m.
Odds And Ends
* Liverpool school board members have scheduled a third public vote involving the closed stadium at the high school. Problems with the base beneath the the 10-year-old facility's artificial turf began in 2006 and the board ordered the stadium closed in December 2007. Voters have rejected two proposals this year to rehab the stadium and install new turf, and next Feb. 26 they’ll be asked to approve a stripped-down proposal for a $5.8 million plan.
* Riverhead running back Miguel Maysonet is Gatorade's New York Football Player of the Year. Maysonet scored 33 touchdowns and ran for 2,328 yards for Riverhead, which went 12-0 and finished fourth in the New York State Sportswriters Association Class AA rankings.
* Honeoye Falls-Lima has been approved for membership in the Monroe County Public School Athletic Conference beginning next fall, but Canandaigua will have to wait at least one more year for its turn. Honeoye Falls-Lima, which currently competes primarily in the Livingston County Athletic Association, will become the league's 22nd member one year after Victor joined.
Canandaigua will remain the largest Finger Lakes Athletic Association school, a status made more obvious once No. 2 Victor left, after being turned down for a three-year associate membership by the MCPSAC.
* Indian River has been voted out of the Section X football league after 11 seasons and will return to Section III next fall, the Watertown Daily Times reported. Indian River joined the league at a time when its program was in disarray, but the Warriors have won their last 49 Northern Football Conference games.
There were only five Class A teams in the combined Section VII-X last fall and 12 in Section 3. Indian River went 10-1, bowing out with a 35-12 loss to Burnt Hills-Ballston Spa in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class A quarterfinals.
* The numbers are still tentative, but Rye’s enrollment figure is expected to grow enough to move the two-time defending state Class B champions up to Class A next fall according to data on the NYSPHSAA Web site. Rye’s projected BEDS number is 646, well above the 625 cutoff between Classes A and B.
Similarly, Walton’s projected enrollment will push that Section IV power up to Class C in 2009. Walton had a dominating 13-0 season en route to the 2007 Class D championship and reached last month’s semifinals before losing to eventual champion Maple Grove.
John Schiano, who has written about high school sports in western and central New York for more than 25 years, covers New York for MaxPreps. He may be reached at johnschianosports@gmail.com.
