South Girls Basketball Makes Strong Comeback

By Emily Ostrover

The Great Neck South girls varsity basketball team started its season this year a little uneasy due to the loss of six seniors, including 6 ft. 2 in. forward Sylvia Maderic and All-County point guard Jamie Simmons.

After starting off with two disappointing losses to Glen Cove and MacArthur, the team knew they had to work harder in order to have a successful season. The team is fairly young with only three seniors and the inexperience of playing together is partly to blame for the losses. Under the guidance of head coach Don Dougherty and assistant coach Makeda Green, the team has bounced back with two straight wins and is now 2-2 in their league.

Great Neck's first win came when they were faced with Glen Cove again. They had narrowly lost the first time the two teams met and were not going to let it happen again, especially on their home turf. The Rebels emerged victorious beating Glen Cove 40-23. In fact, due to the Rebels excellent defense and hard work, Glen Cove put no points on the board the entire first quarter. Great Neck faced Hewlett the next game and again emerged victorious beating them 56-44.

The team roster includes seniors Laura Swerdlow, Emily Ostrover, Becka Weinroth, juniors Cheryl Lee, Danielle Brown, Margo Mandell, Melissa Baron, sophomores Katy Shannon, Tanya Brescia, Nicole Ptak, Diane Levine, Sara Brown, freshmen Shenita McPhatter and Pamela Ostrover. The co-captains are Laura Swerlow, Emily Ostrover, and Becka Weinroth. Now that the team has learned to play well with each other, they are ready to continue their winning streak. With eight more games left in the season, the playoffs are not out of reach and the team will play hard to get there.