The list of girls basketball standouts lost for the season due to injuries is expanding at a disturbing rate.
The latest casualty is Utica Proctor’s Brianna Kiesel, who is looking at an estimated 12-week recovery period after breaking her left wrist during a weekend tournament in Albany.
The junior point guard was injured in a fall during a 54-53 victory over Albany High. She scored half her team’s points in the game on the heels of averaging 22.7 and 22.5 points her previous two seasons. Assuming Proctor doesn’t make a lengthy playoff run that somehow allows her to return, she’ll start her senior season with 1,244 points – one short of the school record.
At least three other high-profile players have been sent to the sidelines by knee injuries.
* Ossining point guard Hayley Awerdick tore the ACL in her left knee in a scrimmage against Ursuline last month and will miss her final season. Awerdick, who averaged 16.8 points and 7.0 assists as a junior, had torn her right ACL two years earlier.
* Albertus Magnus junior forward Meghan Richards suffered the same injury this preseason after helping the Falcons to last season’s NYSPHSAA Class A final and also will miss the whole season.
* Coleman Catholic’s Taylor Leonard, last season's New York State Sportswriters Association Class D Player of the Year and state tournament MVP, has been recovering from surgery on her right knee for two months after an ACL tear and won’t return to the court before launching her college career. She'll finish her high school career with 1,149 points, having averaged 18 points and 5.5 assists as a junior.
Girls soccer: All-state team announced
Edmeston senior striker Kori Hamm has repeated as the Class D girls soccer player of the year, the NYSSWA announced this week.
The other players of the year are Union-Endicott senior midfielder Kylie Strom in Class AA; Rockville Centre South Side midfielder Crystal Dunn in Class A; Stillwater senior defender Amanda Hathaway and Briarcliff senior defender Kate Underwood in Class B; and junior Stony Brook midfielder Donna Liotine in Class C.
The coaches of the year are Mike McQuatters of Syracuse CBA in Class AA; Judi Croutier of Rockville Centre South Side in A; repeat selection Owen Scully of Briarcliff in B; Mark Maningo of Stony Brook and Tim Clive of Sauquoit Valley in C; and Melody Harwood of Arkport in D.
What a season for Burnt Hills
Having its football team reach a state championship game would be the defining moment of the fall sports season at a lot of schools. For Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, it was just business as usual for what was recognized in July by the NYSSWA as the outstanding sports program in all of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association.
Besides the football success, which ended with a loss to Sweet Home at the Carrier Dome over Thanksgiving weekend, Burnt Hills won a state championship in boys cross country. The girls soccer and volleyball teams played their way into state semifinals, and the boys soccer and girls tennis teams also won sectionals.
The girls cross country team placed second in the Section II meet to state champion Queensbury, which went on to finish in the top 10 at the Nike Cross Nationals meet last weekend.
Football vacancies piling up
Pete Porcelli resigned last week after a winless debut season as football coach at Albany High. Porcelli, who enjoyed successful stints at Lansingburgh and Catholic Central, would not say why he stepped down, The Times Union reported.
The next coach will be the school's fourth in four seasons. Brian Spicer guided Albany to an 0-9 mark in 2008 and Joe Burke's run ended after the 2007 campaign. Porcelli was 0-9 in his one season, making it four times in nine years that the Falcons have gone winless.
* Three other Section II jobs have opened up recently. Scotia's Mike Turgeon (6-30 in four seasons) and CBA's Matt Gormley (2-16 in two seasons after 24 years as an assistant) both recently resigned, and Dennis Bender of Shaker left last month.
* Spencerport has been advertising for a replacement for football coach Dan Pinelli. The Rangers are coming off back-to-back 1-7 seasons and battling a perception as a "soccer school," which may make for tough sledding for the next coach.
* In Buffalo, Bob O'Connor announced his retirement as St. Joseph's football coach after 169 wins and 13 Monsignor Martin Association titles in 29 seasons. His record included a 26-8 record in the rivalry vs. Canisius.
More football: Wise beyond his years
Deshanaro Morris got a lot of attention last month as Sweet Home worked its way toward its second straight NYSPHSAA Class A football crown.
Morris was a tremendous junior running back and linebacker a year ago for the Panthers and was particularly outstanding in the playoffs. He was the player that the Panthers were supposed to rebuild around this fall, but that never happened. Morris was seriously injured in an offseason car accident and is confined to a wheelchair.
He stayed active around the team, remained on the roster and served as a co-captain, and it becomes apparent in even a brief conversation with the young man that he’s moved beyond anger or confusion over his ordeal.
Keith McShea of The Buffalo News did a story on Morris before the state final against Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake and then followed up with leftover notes in a blog posting in which "Day-Day" showed amazing maturity and compassion.
In the interview with McShea for the story about himself, Morris started talking about how Burnt Hills coach Matt Shell's son, 8-year-old Jacob, is being treated for cancer in Massachusetts.
"He's got cancer, and when I was reading about it, it touched my heart," Morris told McShea. "I'm not the only person going through something, and he loves the game. And his problems are way bigger than mine. I'm talking about walking; he's talking about life and death. So things are emotional, personal for both teams.
"We'll be playing for Sweet Home, but we'll also playing for little Jacob."
Boys basketball: Former CHSAA star joins coaching ranks
Bedford Academy basketball players would do well to listen to their coach when the subject is scoring buckets.
Former Nazareth great Robert Phelps was enlisted as the new coach after Deron Rippey resigned following last season. Phelps ranks 11th on the state's all-time list with 2,477 points and went on to a fine career at Providence College and nine seasons of pro ball overseas.
"Everywhere we go," senior forward Anthony Mason Jr. told The New York Post, "we hear about him, how he was a legend."
Phelps inherits a PSAL Class A semifinalist that won Brooklyn A East last year.
"When I was on the court, I controlled everything," Phelps said. "Now it’s almost like a chess match. I have to move the pieces around, so it’s different."
More boys basketball
How do you cure the post-Christmas blues? How about five games in a row, Dec. 26, at the 5th annual Queens Jam Christmas Classic at John Bowne High in Flushing.
The schedule kicks off at 11 a.m. with Acorn vs. Blessed Sacrament, followed by John Bowne vs. Bassick (Conn.) at 12:55 p.m., Bayside vs. Leadership Prep (Conn.) at 2:30, Holy Trinity vs. Van Buren at 4:15 and Gompers vs. highly regarded Thomas Edison at 6 p.m. Tickets for the event, sponsored by MaxPreps.com, are $3 in advance and $5 at the door.
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.
