Lady Colts Bring Plenty Of Ammunition to 2011-12 Basketball Season

It’s a new season and a new league for the Lady Colts basketball squad at Calhoun High School – but some things remain the same.

Though the team lost two prominent players to graduation, it returns a solid core of returners and coach David Radke hopes that this continuity will help give his Lady Colts an edge on the court.

“Megan O’Sullivan and Ellie Rosenblum are gone, but we have fourteen real players out there,” David Radke, coach, said, as his squad went through drills in preparation for a larger school conference this year.

Making up for O’Sullivan’s forward skills will be the experienced Jessica Ruggiero. “Jess will be big in the middle for us,” said Radke. “So will Ann Marie White, Jessica Parscondola and Caitlin Weingard. They’ll be seeing significant time in the big slots."

Swing players like Talia Charidah and Maggie Cavanagh will be making a contribution. So will Kim White, new to the varsity.

“But the big thing for us is that they’ll be all over Danielle Losee so we have to work to move the ball around,” said Radke.

Losee, a multi-year starting guard for the Colts who has made a name for herself with an impressive three point shot and plenty of hustle on both sides of the basketball, will likely be targeted for double team action by opposition squads.

Three backcourt players bring plenty of court experience to that task – including Dana Silvester, Carley Singer and Norah Charidah. Silvester was a key figure in the starting lineup for last year‘s 12-7 Lady Colts. Singer matured significantly during the 2010-11 season.

“And Norah was a rookie with us last year, but she made an impression,” explained Radke. “She’s an excellent ball handler. With a year under her belt, she’ll be even better.”

Now that they’re in a bigger conference, the Calhoun girls will be taking on teams like MacArthur, Baldwin, East Meadow and Hicksville. “We have no history with these teams in this conference,” he said. “And some of them are tough. So we‘ll have to have leadership and we’ll have to play well.”

Calhoun plays three non-league contests at home, beginning Dec. 2, to get their game down. First up is Oceanside on Friday, then Uniondale visits the Lady Colts on Dec. 8 at 4:30 p.m. and Clarke comes to town on Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m.

The regular season starts with an early test against MacArthur, away, on Dec. 16 at 4:30 p.m.