Sports Recap: Greeley Girls Win In Sectionals; Basketball Season Over for Foxes

Here is a recap of some recent notable events in Fox Lane and Horace Greeley sports, not including games previously covered by Patch:

Greeley girls beat John Jay

Winning a sectional game against any team is huge but doing it against one of your rivals is even better.

That was the case for No. 4 Horace Greeley (15-4), which won 63-46 against No. 13 John Jay (10-10) at home on Feb. 18 in the opening round of the Section 1 Class AA tournament.

"We knew John Jay was going to be tough, even though we were a higher seed," Horace Greeley coach John Alkalay said. "They have always played us tough the past couple of years."

One reason why John Jay has played Greeley tough is because of junior sharp shooter Raegan Knox, who recently scored her 1,000th career point.

"They have a player in Raegan Knox, who has a fantastic game," Alkalay said. "She could carry a team and potentially beat us. So everybody was pumped for the game. We had a game plan to limit her scoring chances."

Alkalay talked about what was the key to his squad getting the victory.

"The kids played great defense," Alkalay said. "The scoring took care of itself and we played well as a team. Everbody got involved and Jackie Brett took over when she needed too. Things just worked out for us."

What especially worked out for Greeley was its defensive plan against Knox, who scored 18 points, three below her scoring average.

"We played a zone against them with the whole idea of needing to have a man on her no matter where she was," Alkalay said. "She really didn't  have many easy, open looks because no matter where she went on the floor, we had somebody within a foot or two of her."

Greeley was able to accomplish its goal of slowing down Knox by making sure that every shot she took was contested.

"Every time she would drive we would have two or three people waiting for her," Alkalay said. "That was our whole game plan, just limit what she could do. Again she scored, she will always score but we made sure she took hard shots every time."

On the other side of the floor, Brett, a sophomore guard, led the Quakers with 23 points.

"She was able to get out on the break," Alkalay said. "When we start running, it's to her advantage because she can really push the ball up court."

What allowed the Quakers break to start up was its ability to rebound, especially sophomore forward Lindsay Hill and senior forward Yanna Jackson. Both forwards were in double digits in rebounds with 15 and 17 boards each in addition to scoring 10 and 7 points respectively. Alkalay said that Hill probably played the best game of her career in the most important game of it.

"Lindsay is usually getting four to six points a game," Alkalay said. "She is usually more of a role player for us. But in this game, she stepped up, got double-digit points, double-digit rebounds, five blocks and really played with a lot of confidence."

Alkalay also added that Jackson's play was a very important part of the victory as well.

"She had seven points but she was probably our most critical player because she always guards the toughest opponent if we play man and on the defensive end if we are in a zone," Alkalay said. "She really takes care of any penetration in the middle. She was our unsung hero in that she may have not scored a lot but she had a huge affect on the game anyway."

As for Brett, a lot of her points came on drives to the hoop that were off the fast break.

"They played zone against us so it wasn't as easy for her to score in the half-court but when she did score it was when everyone was passing the ball around," Alkalay said. "We just took our first available, good shot against  their zone."

Junior forward Issy Berkey's play also stood out for Greeley, as she registered 15 points.

"She really helps us out because she gives us a third scoring option after Jackie and Yanna," Alkalay said. "She can shoot long range and against teams that play zone and when she's hot, she had three 3-pointers, it really opens things up for the other players. It really stretches out the zone because now you have to pay attention to Jackie, Yanna and Issy and that's hard to do."

Also contributing to the boxscore for the Quakers was junior guard Andi Picker and senior guard Nell Sherman, who tallied four points each.

Greeley's next sectional game is a quarterfinal contest at home against No. 5 Ursuline (14-5) on Tuesday, Feb. 22. Game time is TBA.

Foxes fall in hoops

Both the Fox Lane boys and girls basketball teams enjoyed successful seasons but they each came to an end in road games on Feb. 18 in the opening round of the Section 1 Class AA tournament.

On the boys side, No. 12 Fox Lane (11-8) fell 65-42 to No. 5 New Rochelle (14-5) while in the girls bracket the No. 9 Foxes (12-7) were defeated 70-30 by No. 8 Mount Vernon (12-7).