8/3/2019 Syracuse Herald-Journal 1989 winter high school sports preview-2

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Syracuse Herald-Journal, Friday, December 1, 1989

WINTER SCHOLASTIC SPORTS 89 - 90wish she worked that hard in soccer'West Genesee's Knapp devotes energy to basketball

1 By Jacque ThomasS t a f f Writer ,I t was pretty surprising, said Anne Knapp, whensh e f o u n d out she had a basketball maniaca m o n g her f o u r daughters.. Her third daugh ter, Kelly, spent endless days andnighis playing on the one rim that hung by thegarage. Her two older sisters, Holly and Katy, andthe neighb orhood kids o f t e n would come by to play.B u t Kelly w o u l d outlast them all.Now, she's outlasting most OHSL basketball play-ers, to boot. The 5-foot-10, 140-pound senior-- H o l l y is 2 l /2 years older than Kelly. K aty is \V zyears older than Kelly. Each wound up playing var-sity ball w i t h K elly on the same team. But K elly,wh o is taller than both sisters, started on the varsityteam as an eighth-grader.Despite her love of basketball, soccer h as p layed arole in her athletic life as well. Since the ninthgrade, she has also played on the varsity girls' soc-cer team as the goalie.In f a c t , her goaltending helped the Wildcats to thestate's semifinals But they lost a tight game to Sec-tion Five champ Penfield, 1-0, to end her soccercareer.

she's approaching the Section Three record forcareer points set by Nottingham's Felicia Legette.Legette, who went on to star at Syracuse U niver-sity, scored 1,700. K nap p has 1,209.Knapp, w ho 1 plays guard and forward for WestGenesee, also averaged 9.2 rebounds and 3.4 assistsa game last season. She led the league in three-pointshooting in each of the two seasons it's been ineffect. She had 19 treys last season and 17 as asophomore.B ut wh at mother Anne remembers w ell is Kelly'snear-fanatical interest in the sport at age 10."Her desire and concentration, it was ust unusualfo r a kid to be able to stay outside the whole day inthe snow and rain and play b asketball and com e inand take a shower and go back out again," she said."SHED OUTLAST EVERT kid in the neighbor-h o o d . We did not have any expectations as far as acollege scholarship until sh e went to th e camp(Cathy Rush All-Star Gamp in Pennsylvania) andthen we f o u n d out really h ow good she could be."Kelly could only listen and smile.Kelly's love of basketball also led her sisters i n t othe sp ort, said her mother. It also prompted her par-ents to build in their back yard the neighborhood'sonly f u l l - l e n g t h basketball court.

career saves. She also had 11 s hutouts this seasonand was close to another one in the s emifinal game.'But using her basketball ability was always thetop priority, K napp said."I just like it more," she said. "I started in f i f t hgrade with the Camillus Optimist Club. It's fast,it'sexciting."Despite her ability in soccer, her coach, Don Betz,said basketball is the best sport for her."She's d e f i n i t e l y better at basketball," s a i d B e t z ,w h o coaches both girls' soccer and girls' basketballat West Genesee. "Shecould have been very goodat soccer. In basketball, it's a completely d i f f e r e n tthing. She doesn't want to come off the court. Bas-ketball's her love. She enjoys soccer mayb e becauseshe enjoys being a part of agood team."Knapp put her faith in basketball in writing lastmonth when she signed a letter of intent to playbasketball for M anhattan College, a D ivision Ischool in the Bronx. She eliminated s uch choices asBoston College, St. Bonaventure, Verm ont, Massa-chusetts, Bucknell and Virginia Tech."The coaches (at M anhattan) were ust awesome,"said K napp "I hked it a lot."

' M A N H A T T A N HAS 4 , 0 0 0 students, and I thinkshe didn't want to go someplace she'd get lost in,"

B e t z added. "She just liked everything about them.Th e next day after he r visit sh e came to soccerpractice and said she'd m ade up her mind where sh ewanted to go."Indeed/M anhattan w i l l allow Knapp to use herr u n n i n g and shooting skills, said Betz, She has madea three-pointer in 21 straight games, and that's thet> pe of game she w ants to play."She wants to be in a system where they push theball up," he said. "Her height is tall enough for herto play (forward), but most look for her to play atwo-guard (shooting guard)."With her college selection out of the way now,K ^ a o D c a n concentrate o n the oreep nt live i p a ^ i n g ?her Wildcats team past a tough OHSL Noun d i v i -sion. If she has one goal in m i n d , she said, it is todefeat Liverpool. The Warriors have beaten WestGenesee 10 straight times during K napp's f i v e var-sity seasons.This year, with five returning starters, thingsc o u l d be different."I just want to w in the league and beat Liver-pool," sh e said." . . . I think we should be really goodbecause no one graduated last year, so we haveexperience."She will also enter the season riding the crest of athrilling, one-point gold medal win in the EmpireState Games last summer in Ithaca. Knapp playedo n a team that featured such top players as BishopGnmes's Nicole W o o d a l l , who recently signed a et-ter of intent to play for the U niversity of Connecti-cut.As far as basketball goes, Betz said K napp is thebest he's coached. Her versatility is unmatched atWest G enesee."She offers me a lot of options," said Betz.,"I couldactually play her at the point guard if I wanted to,or at center. And her work ethic is really good.She'll lift weights, slie'll do whatever it takes. Ialways told her I wish sh e worked that hard in soc-cer."

Kelly KnappSchool: West Genesee.Sport/position: Basketball, guard/forward.Key numbers: 5-10.140-pound, 17-year-oldsenior.Other sports: Soccer.Hero: Michael Jordan.Sports goal: Toplay Division I college basketball.Career goal: Physical education teacher/coaching.Hobbies:Jogging and isteningto music.Greatest sports achievement: Winning the gold in theEmpire State Games for the Central basketball team (byone point over Adirondack)

Liverpool seeks 5th straight crown

F e pt-oloHAVING GRADUATED four starters, it could be a realscramble for Liverpool to win its fifth consecutive title.

By AndrewMilnerContributing WriterFor f o u r years, there ha s been one OHSLNorth girls' basketball cham pion, Liverpool.Yet, as the North season begins, there is noguarantee that the Warriors w i l l make it f i v ein a row Even coach Frank Netti says he only"hopes" his team w i l l be competitive, after los-ing six seniors. Nonetheless, North coaches p re-dict another Liverpool championship.A f t e r winning the North League and the Sec-tion Three title for four consecutive years, Nettiadmits th e Warriors (18-0,22-1) may see the endo f their reign this year."Last year, we had all our starters back f r o mthe 1987-88 season," Netti said. But f o u r of themgraduated last spring, including guard Jen Spaf-f o r d , OHSL North Player of the Year Onlyf o r w a r d Joetta Daughton remains f r o m lastyear's f i v e W e s t G e n e s e e The-Lady Wildcats (7-11 inthe league, 8-12 overall) f i n i s h e d under 500 last

year, but won f o u r of their last f i v e games.C o a c h Don Betz hopes to carry this m omentumthrough the u p c o m i n g year."We w on the sum mer league, which are thesame teams b asically," Betz said. "We beatRome, the second-best team in the league lastyear " Also, West G enesee lost no seniors.R e t u r n i n g s t a r t e r s i n c l u d e s e n i o rguard/forward Kelly Knapp (21.5 ppg) andsenior Chris Flanagan, w ho led the c lub withIS three-point f i e l d goals. R o m e F r ee A c a d e m y E i g h t players returnf r o m last year's third-place s q u a d , (14-3, 15-5),which lost to Liverpool in the s e m i f i n a l s of theSection Three p l a y o f f s .Coach Tom Hoke anticipates no change instyle of play f r o m last year, and says that "mystrength will lie in Lori K eys (senior orw ard,first-team All-League, 12 ppg ) as a returner."Keys w i l l rejoin sophomore guards LynelleG r i f f i t h s and April Fitzpatrick. C i c e r o - N o r t h Syracuse T he Northstars'basketball season lost its meaning for the play-ers on D ec . 23 , when 16-year-old NorthstarJ e n n i f e r C a g w m died in a house f i r e .

C o a c h Cindy M oss has b een heartened by the"enthusiasm" during C-NS practice this year,which she calls one of the Northstars' (8-9)greatest strengths. "They have faith inme,"M o s s said.H F a y e t t e v i l l e - M a n l i u s After f o u r years a sc o a c h o f th e Fayetteville-Manh us j u n i o r varsity- * - - ' -North^poll

Ranking Team Pis1. Liverpool 6 8 ( 5 )2 West Genesee 62 (2 )3 Rome Free Academy 5 4 ( 1 )4. Cicero-North Syracuse 475. Fayetteville-Manhus 436. Auburn 367 Baldwmsville 358 Hennmger 299 Oswego 23

10. Utica Senior Academy 8(Note. League poll results were determined by avote of the league coaches, with coaches notallowed to vote for their own teams. First-placevotes in parentheses)

girls' basketball team, Steve M iles begins hisf i r s t season a s coach o f t h e varsity L a d y Hor-nets (7-13)"We'll have a good frontcourt," M iles said.' V O - - ,, r., Ji v- 1 -'-- r > ~ ~ - ,-- . , 1 - . -~ j ti.~V o c i i i u i l u i i i o i u j Auvivi iciijoi piajcu un U lev a r s i t y for f o u r years. She'll be a good anchorto this team "Penyor rejoins senior guard Debbi Lerch,j u n i o r center C i n d a Ewton a n d j u n i o r guard LisaTuttle. A u b u r n Coach Tony Schiavitti willemph asize outside play on h i s M aroons (12-6,13-8)."Last year we had an inside-oriented o f f e n s e , "he said. "This year, we'll have a four-guardo f f e n s e , a complete turnaround. We're going tobe very small and very q uick."The M aroons lost three startin g seniors, butretain junior guards Carey Janis and PhrediG n f f m , w h o played o n t h e gold-medal win ning

Central team at th e Em pire State Games B a l d w i n s v i l l e Before th e season hasstarted, new coach Karen Arcaro is alreadyimpressed with the depth of the Lady Bees(13-9)."The depth of our team is our bench," Arcaros a i d "We've got 12 g ood players. We're g o i n gto surprise a few teams with our bench "Three starters graduated, including second-team all-league guard Stacey Dug ar. Return-ing players include third-team all-leaguerCeleste C lemens and h onorable mention all-lea-guer Ch ns Root, both senior guards."We're going to be a pressing team, pressand run a lot," Arcaro said H e n n i n g e r W T it h the loss of seven seniorswho were instrumental in last year's 14-4 leaguerecord, Henninger coach D e n n i s Bardenett saysthat the up coming season w i l l be "more of astruggle."However, he quickly adds that "we'll rallynear the end"Bardenett plans to bring up seven or eightJV players to j o i n such returning upperclass-m en as point guard Noelle D eLuca and cen-ter Jackie Curie.

O s w e g o First-year coach Ron Ahart ish o p e f u l about t h e B u c s (1-17,1-19)."There's lots of youth in the program. There'sreal enthusiasm," s a i d Ah art, a veteran coach ofth e Oswegom o d i f i e d boys' program.Returning starters include senior forwardD e n n e l l D o w n u m ( a n honorab le mention all-lea-guer), senior center Becky Bernys and juniorg u a r d Gretchen V anAlstyne.A s opposed to last season's style of play,Ahart expects to press and run m uch more. U t i c a A f t e r a discouraging 1988-89 sea-s o n (2-18), new Raiders coach Heidi Hazen seese f f i c i e n c y as a way to w i n ."Our strength lies in ballhandling," Hazensaid. "We're a young team, and we're prettyquick. We're in a position to run a lot, so we'lld o a lot of m a n - t o - m a n d e f e n s e "Returning players include forwards Shawn-tay Thompson, Celesta Allen and Erica Pear-s o n , junior guard Jane Arrmgton and forwardsRochelle Williams and Sara H o b i c i a

The winner? Team that handles graduation losses bestBy Andrew MilnerC o n t r i b u t i n g Writer

O n e comm on thread running throughalmost all the teams in this year's girls'Tn-V alley season i s t h e loss o f playerswho graduated.N e w Hartford, picked b y a m a j o r i t y o fcoaches to w i n the 1989-90 T r i - V a l l e yc a m p a i g n , lost s ix seniors f r o m last year.Other teams that lost a num ber ofseniors were Canastota, which lost f i v e ,and V ernon-Verona-Sh erill, wh ich lostf o u r . How these teams w i l l try to replacetheir losses w i l l be the m a j o r story in theleague this year. New H a r t f o r d First-year coachScott B riggs expects a quick new Sp ar-tans team (10-6 in league play, 15-7overall)."We're going to be very f a s t . . . we'regoing to be up-tempo because we have alot o f speed," Briggs said.Returmg f r o m last season are seniorsDomta Barnes (all-league honorablemention), K r i s DeAngelo and PamelaDurr. Cinaitota After an impressiveyear, the Red Raiders (19-2) lost f i v eseniors to graduation."I'm still looking for us to do very w ? \ ] " roarh M a r k Smith s a i d T h e lossesi n c l u d e d Tn-Vauey M v j r ' center BaroStanton.

Taking up the slack this year will besenior guards Tamm y S e a g n f f a n d TriciaM u z a c c h i o ."The experience we get from ourseniors will mean a lot," Smith said.O n e new f a c e on the squad is KellyLadd, an eighth-grader who will playf o r w a r d Smith s a i d , "She played in thesummer league, and she can play var-sity." H o l l a n d P a t e n t Af ter losing seniorK a t h l e e n M u r t a u g h , a first-team all-lea-guer w ho averaged 2 3 points a game lastyear, the biggest p roblem the Tn-ValleyLeague ch amp ion Golden Knigh ts (15-1,1 9 - 3 ) w i l l face, according to coach B arbFelice, w ill be "trying to f i l l her shoes."Felice said, "We're going to be com-petitive" in 1989, with j u n i o r guard D i a n eH o b i n , a first-team all-leaguer (1 4 points,six assists, five steals a game), l e a d i n gthe way. U t i c a Notre O w n * Lady Jugglerscoach Edward Hobbes places both speeda n d experience as two reasons why theLady Jugglers (10-6,12-7) should m ake ar u n at the Tn-Valley title."We'll try d i f f e r e n t defenses, run allover the f l o o r , and try to create the turn-overs," Hobbes said. "We'll run, run,run."v /me losing mree 01 iasi y e a r s p i a y -ers to graduation, Notre D ame still has

eight returning players, i n c l u d i n g seniorforward M o i r a D unn, a memb er of theTri-Valley second team, sophomoreforward Heather M orschauser, andTri-Valley poll

Ranking Team Pts1 New Hartford 59(6 )2 Canastota 5 2 ( 2 )3 Holland Patent 464 Utica Notre Dame 445. Chiltenangg 35(1)6 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 237.Clinton 228. Camden 219. Oneida 18

(Note: League poll results were deter-mined by a vote of the league coaches,with coaches not allowed to voe for theirown teams. First-place votes In parenthe-ses)

senior center D onna K a f f k a . Chittmango In his second year atthe helm of the Lady Bears (9-7, 9-11),coach Dan K m s e l l a says that this year'sChiltenango squad will be smaller andquicker.Celeste Warner, a 5-foot-9 forward-g-c.u _~-.;-.. ., .*.; --, f - athe team of height

"I th ink w e'll p lay very good defense,but we won't get too many rebounds.We'll f i n d other ways to get the ball,"Kinsella said. "We'll be aggressive andquick."Returning players include seniorguards M ichelle N a v i n , wh o led the teamin assists last year, Melissa W i l so n andJennifer Beach, who led the team inthree-pointers. V e r n o n - V e r o n a - S h e r r i l l With o n l y -one starter remaining f r o m last year'ss q u a d , R e d Devils coach D o n Vroomancalls this season's team "very young andinexperienced."There will be a little more quicknesst h a n we've had in the past," Vroomana d d e d , "and our shooting w i l l be betterthan last year. It's a new group andwe're learning."Th e lone returning starter is seniorforw ard-center Lisa Van Dreason. C l i n t o n A f t e r a discouraging 1988-8 9 season (4-12,6-14) a n d t h e loss o f f o u rseniors, coach Andy Bankert hopes thatsuccess in 1989 comes through returningplayers."We'll b e more experienced; thoughwe had f o u r seniors last year, the othersix played a lot," Bankert said. "I thinkthat our scoring will be more b alanced."Bankert also anticipates a d i f f e r e n tstyle o f offense.

we'll get the b a l l i n s i d e more and score."Sophomore guard K a t h r y n Sanders,w h o averaged f i v e rebounds a game lastseason, is the only returning starter. C a m d e n Coach M a r y An n O ' C o n -n o r expects depth to help the Blue D evils(0-16,1-19) do better in 1989."I h ave a bench th is year," said O'Con-n o r , i n h e r f o u r t h year a s coach. " Out o fm y 12 players, seven played last year."Returners inc lude senior center KatieC o m m s (eight points, 2.2 blocked shots agame) and senior guard Carla Couture( f i v e points, 1.7 steals per gam e)."W e have more height than last year.We're going to work-the ball insidemore," the c oach said. O n e i d a Though only in his secondyear as Indians girls' basketball coach,M a r k Turnpenny s already familiar withm a n y o f th e Indians' newc omers h ewas at the helm of Oneida junior h i g hbasketball for several years.Turnpenny contends that this-year'steam "will b e younger, taller andquicker."L e a d i n g the attack w i l l be senior guardChris G i l l i l a n d , an honorable mentionall-leaguer and Oneida's leading freethrow and three-point shooter."She's being recruited pretty heavily,"T u r n p e n n y s a i d .G i l l i l a n d will be accom panied by senior,.!T>**.. />-,.,.,.,..

last year," Bank ert said. "Hop efully, Carla E n d e m a n n .