Girls Basketball: Knox Leads John Jay to Victory over Lakeland

It was opening night for both John Jay and Lakeland in the first round of the Second Annual Carolyn Conroy Memorial Tournament at Lakeland High School Thursday, Dec. 2.

Both teams played an inspired and exciting brand of basketball but it was ultimately John Jay's Raegan Knox who stole the show. Knox scored a game-high 31 points, 25 in the second half, in leading the Indians to a 52-48 triumph against the Hornets.

John Jay will now play Horace Greeley in the championship game of the tournament at 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4. Greeley won its first-round game with a 43-25 triumph against Walter Panas.

Lakeland will play its sister school Panas in the consolation at noon.

The Indians can thank Knox for the opportunity to play their rivals in the title game, but the junior guard gave credit to her teammates after the game for her lights-out performance.

"I attribute [my success] to my teammates helping me get open shots and they also helped me get my shot off," Knox said. "I was putting them in but it was really their effort in getting me the ball that was the key. My coaches were setting up great plays for me as well."

Not only was Knox magnificent on offense, she also came up with a big block out on the corner near the 3-point line right in front of the Hornets' bench that preserved the Indians' 50-46 lead with just 1:04 remaining in the game.

"I was nervous because I felt I was going to foul her," Knox said. "That would've put them at the line in a really close game. Fortunately, that didn't happen."

Lakeland coach Steve Fallo said he was pleased with how his squad performed.

"The intensity, their hustle, they came out with a passion to play," he said. "With the group that we have, we have a mixture of veterans and young kids, we had two eighth graders and two ninth-graders stepping onto the floor for the first time at the varsity level."

Fallo added Knox was good, and you just have to tip your hat to someone when they have a game like she did.

"I thought as a team we did a real nice job but Knox put on a show," Fallo said. "What can you say about her, she did a great job. She was the difference in the game."

Knox said the difference for her team was that it wanted to make a good impression for coach Greg Blake.

"We are a young team and we have a new coach, so we were all really motivated to pull this out," Knox said. "We were just so pumped coming into it. When we were down, we knew we had to pick it up and we did. We are very excited that we won this game."

Now John Jay will look to win its next game against Greeley.

"It will be a good game," Knox said. "I'm excited to play them because Greeley is a good team but I think we can pull it off."

On Lakeland's side, the Hornets were led by 19 points from junior Emily Alicea who fits like a glove in running the Hornets' offense.

"Emily is our point guard," Fallo said. "She is our leader on the floor. I expect Emily to have a terrific season. She will be the quarterback on our team and lead the way."

Alicea and the Hornets will look to get their first win of the year against Panas.

"Panas is going to be tough," Fallo said. "It's a rivarly game. Coach (Mike) Robinson has his kids fired up each and every day. You are going to hustle for 32 minutes. It's going to be a battle, it's going to be a war no matter what year it is or what the records are. We are looking forward to it."

POINT TOTALS

John Jay

Raegan Knox (31), Molly Newcomb (6), Sydney Glenn (4), Sasha Puglisi (4), Lauren Murray (2), Kristin Meehan (2), Courtney Knox (2) and Sarah Lang (1).

Lakeland

Emily Alicea (19), Sara Oakes (11), Courtney Stokes (8), Taylor Pompilio (5), Mackenzie Heslin-Scott (3) and Kate Weldon (2)

Carolyn Conroy

The tournament was named after Carolyn Conroy, a mathematics teacher at Lakeland for more than eight years during which she was an integral part of the school family. In 2008, she lost her courageous battle with Leiomyosarcoma cancer.

Tournament proceeds will be going to a scholarship fund in her name.