New York: Bumper crop of national-team picks

Four of state's top girls selected for U.S. women's U-17, U-18 basketball teams; Basketball legend dies; Culver leads pack of 13 MLB selections.

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Jun 17, 2010, 12:00am
You're doing something right when your name shows up on a list that previously included only Chamique Holdsclaw, Sue Bird and Tina Charles.
 
Junior guard Bria Smith became the fourth Christ the King (Middle Village) girls basketball player to earn a berth on the USA Under-17 National Team last week as the 12-player roster was announced. The squad, selected from a 35-player tryout in Colorado Springs, Colo., will compete in the inaugural FIBA U17 World Championship July 16-25 in France.
 
Ten of the 12 squad members -- including Cicero-North Syracuse (Cicero) sophomore Breanna Stewart -- led the USA Under-16 National Team to a gold medal in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship in Mexico City. Stewart, a 6-foot-3 post player, will be building upon a 9.6 points a game scoring average in last summer’s competition.
 
Smith and Stewart were not alone among New Yorkers to make the cut. UConn recruits Stefanie Dolson (Minisink Valley, Slate Hill) and Bria Hartley (North Babylon) were named to the Under-18 over the weekend squad after six days of tryouts.
 
"I never thought I'd be in this position," Dolson, a 6-foot-5 center, told The Times Herald-Record. “Coming into it, I was like 'I'm going to play the way I play and I'm going to play as hard as I can. And if they don't want me, then that's what they want.'"
 
There were 26 invitees at the camp, with the first cut getting the list to 16 before the final 12 were named Sunday. The schedule included morning skills workouts and afternoon scrimmages with the Under-17 candidates.
 
Dolson averaged 22.8 points, 17.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 5.2 blocks as a senior. Hartley picked up numerous player of the year awards after leading her team to the sectional semifinals.
 
Dolson, Hartley and the others will play in the FIBA Americas U18 Championship from June 23-27 in Colorado against a field of seven other nations.
 
More basketball: Pioneer player dies
 
Before Louis Orr, Roosevelt Bouie, Sherman Douglas, Derrick Coleman and Carmelo Anthony made Syracuse the dominant Division I basketball program in the state, Upstate New York was ruled by St. Bonaventure.
 
And before Connie Hawkins, Lew Alcindor, Pearl Washington and Kenny Anderson, New York City was dominated by a great who would come to epitomize glory days for both the Bonnies and the Big Apple. That man was Tom Stith, who died over the weekend at the age of 71 following a battle with cancer.
 
Stith was a two-time All-American forward and center who averaged 27 points in his college career to elevate St. Bonaventure to the upper echelon in the sport half a century ago.
 
Before that, Stith became at legend at St. Francis Prep in Brooklyn, finishing his career in 1957 with 2,119 points for a state record that stood until 1970. He remained the New York City career leader until Tony Crandall left Baldwin High in 1973 with 2,326 points.
 
Golf recap: Brewster’s Miller defends Federation crown
 
Brewster senior Mike Miller earned his second straight boys Federation golf title by shooting an even-par 71 on the Bethpage Black course that hosted the men's U.S. Open in 2002 and 2009.
 
Miller said he was mildly awe-struck on the early holes.
 
"I actually started out pretty rough because I was just soaking it all in," Miller, who was second at the NYSPHSAA championships the previous weekend, told The Journal News. "On the first hole, I was just looking around. It was crazy, walking down the fairway, hitting shots where the pros did, but I ended up refocusing around the fifth hole."
 
Miller's birdies at the 16th and 17th holes gave him breathing room, and he finished three strokes ahead of Pittsford Mendon's Gavin Hall.
 
Meanwhile, Sayville senior Julie MacDonell knocked her approach iron at No. 18 to within four feet of the pin and tapped in for a birdie to wrap up the NYSPHSAA girls championship at SUNY Delhi.
 
She shot her second consecutive one-over-par 73 to finish the two-day event at 146, two strokes better than two-time defending champion Suzie Lee (75-73--148) of Commack.
 
The Harvard-bound MacDonell took the lead with a par at No. 17 while Lee three-putted for a bogey, then wrapped it up against the four-time Section XI champ with the superb approach on the final hole.
 
Victoria Snak of Smithtown West (Smithtown) followed her opening 82 with a tournament-best 72 to tie for third and help the Suffolk County delegation win team honors by a 56-stroke margin.
 
Football: Passing-league season is here
 
One of the best developments in New York high school football in the last 10 years has been the upsurge in the number of summer passing leagues and tournaments, which have combined with the growing popularity of FieldTurf facilities to move the fall sport away from the days of three yards and a cloud of dust.
 
There'll be a pretty good tournament June 19 at Elmira Free Academy (Elmira), with at least 16 schools signed up to participate in the United States Marines High School 7 vs. 7 Passing Tournament, part of a four-city touring event in the Northeast.
 
Action begins at 10 a.m. with teams guaranteed three games and division winners advancing to the semifinals. New York teams that have signed up include: Bath, Binghamton (Binghamton, N.Y.), Cortland, Dryden (Dryden), Elmira Free Academy (Elmira), Southside (Elmira), Hornell, Horseheads, Oneonta, Sidney, Rochester East, Rochester Marshall, Unatego and Waverly.
 
Baseball: Culver, Yankees closing in on contract
 
There's no way the New York Yankees were going to use their first-round pick on a player they could not sign, and Chris "Cito" Culver confirmed the obvious this week. The Irondequoit (Rochester) shortstop, taken with the 32nd pick of baseball's draft last week, said he won’t attend the University of Maryland this fall.
 
Culver signed a letter of intent in April when he was regarded as a fourth- or fifth-round prospect at best, but said he recently told Terrapins coach Erik Bakich that he will go pro, a scenario typically played out dozens of time across the country each June as first-round picks realize there is literally $1 million awaiting them in professional baseball.
 
Culver will fly to Tampa, site of the Yankees’ minor-league complex, for his physical and meetings with the organization brass and then return home for his high school graduation over the weekend. He will be eligible to sign his first pro contract following graduation.
 
Culver was one of 13 New York high school players selected in the draft. The others are:
 
*  Mike Antonio, George Washington SS, third round (Kansas City).
*  Robbie Aviles, Suffern, P, seventh round (Cleveland).
*  Christopher Bates, Regis, P, 15th round (Milwaukee).
*  Jonathan Bobea, Francis Lewis, P, 19th round (L.A. Angels).
*  Jonathan McGibbon, Lindenhurst, 1B, 29th round, (Seattle).
*  Melvin Garcia, Bronx Monroe, 33rd round (Toronto).
*  Esteban Gomez, Bishop Ford, 1B/P, 35th round (Houston).
*  John Franco Jr., Poly Prep, SS/P, 42nd round (N.Y. Mets).
*  Joe Carcone, New Hartford, INF/OF, 47th round (Houston).
*  David Roseboom, LaSalle-2, P, 47th round (Boston).
*  Thomas Pecoraro, Half Hollow Hills West, P, 48th round (Houston).
*  Alexander Simone, Syracuse CBA, OF, 49th round (Milwaukee).
 
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.
 
 
 

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