Kennedy Cougars Girls Basketball Preview

2009-10 Record: 9-3 (Lost in first round to Great Neck South)

Head Coach: Debbie Cipolla (7th season)

Assistant Coaches: Jon Cohen

Top Players: Allie Keller (senior); Carly Thea (senior); Morgan Kitton (senior)

Kennedy's starting lineup features three all-class players: Keller, Thea and Kitton. Cipolla said her big three all bring something unique to the court.

"They're very quick, very athletic, good shooters and good ball handlers," she said. "Morgan is very quick, she has a lot of speed. Allie is a great player. She has a great court sense. She's an experienced guard. Carly is our returning point guard from last year."

The Lady Cougars have a solid core of seniors, whose experience will have a huge effect on the court this season. Expected to have the best season of the group is Keller, who the coaching staff is looking at to score on a more consistent basis.

"You can tell Allie has grown. She has a lot more moves on the court," Cipolla said. "… This year we're really looking for her to step it up and make the shots. She's quick, she's tenacious, she's got all the tools, but this year we hope she finishes."

Expectations: After an impressive regular season last year, which saw Kennedy go undefeated at home, the celebration quickly came to an end in the playoffs. For the second straight year the Lady Cougars were eliminated by Great Neck South in the first round of the playoffs.

"It's our second [consecutive] year that we lost to Great Neck South in the playoffs," Cipolla said. "We're trying to make it to the second round. With these three girls, we set our goals a little bit higher. … We hope to at least make the playoffs again, but we really would like to make it to the second round."

The first-round exit was still fresh on the minds of the players as well. Thea and Keller both had their sights set on the team's ultimate goal of reaching the second round.

"We're hoping for the same kind of season in terms of wins, especially at home," Thea said. "… We'd like to at least advance to the second round, that's what we're hoping for."

"We've made the playoffs for two years in a row and we want to win a playoff game," Keller added.

Big Games: 12/18 vs. Elmont; 12/21 vs. Mepham; 1/18 vs. Calhoun; 1/21 @ Elmont; 1/28 @ Mepham; 2/14 @ Calhoun

Like most schools in the Bellmore-Merrick CHSD, rivals Mepham and Calhoun present Kennedy with an important matchup. Also on Cipolla's radar is Elmont, a team that played in a higher conference last year before the conferences were realigned this season based on school size.

"The two teams [Mepham and Calhoun] we played before in our conference last year so we know that they have a lot of returning talent. Elmont played up in Conference AA-I last year and that was by ability," Cipolla said.

News & Notes: As mentioned, the newly realigned conferences have teams group together by school size and not skill, which puts the Kennedy in an interesting position.

 "We changed conferences so we don't have a real feel of the other teams," Cipolla said. "Some of them we haven't played before, so we're not sure how that will work out."

A new conference will offer a new set of challenges. While the Lady Cougars will be going up against several new teams, with a trio of skilled veterans leading the way, Kennedy is certainly in a favorable position to take control of Conference AA-III.

Roster