The Mineola High School girls varsity basketball squad will try to grow as the season progresses. In her 18th year as coach of the Lady Mustangs, Denise Zunno has three seniors she hopes will be able to bring along a pretty young squad.

In talking about her seniors, Coach Zunno's scouting report is:

Liz Terezo, Sr., Captain, All-Conference as a junior, extremely athletic, great body control in mid-flight, leading scorer, averages 15 points per game.

Shaleira Smith, Sr., Captain, plays center, strong rebounder.

Melissa Dadich, Sr., Captain, most improved player, good rebounder, developing confidence in her shot.

Coach Zunno also has three juniors and a sophomore back from last year's team. She characterized those players as follows:

Caitlin Orlando, Jr., shooting guard, runs floor well, leads in assists, good 3-point shooter.

Liz Sanderleaf, Jr., point guard, most focused player, plays with tremendous heart, fundamentally sound.

Jessica Napolitano, Jr., center, soft touch on shot, strong rebounder.

Christine Medlock, Sophomore, forward and center, strong rebounder, fast and strong inside player.

The coach is also hoping her found new varsity players will come along quickly. "Sophomores Roseanne Mercurio and Lauren Napolitano add incredible speed and defense to our game. We will be able to fast break more often and press. Sophomoree Jessica Hegmann, who scored 16 points in her varsity game, will be a huge factor in our success. She plays center and is exceptional at grabbing the offensive rebounds and scoring," said Coach Zunno.

Another player the coach mentioned is Gig Alas, the team's only freshman, who has good basketball instincts and can be an offensive threat. "She has a very strong future," Coach Zunno said of the back-up point guard.

While the coach hopes her squad will be competitive, she does feel that Manhasset and Roosevelt will be the class of the conference. The coaches picked those two teams first and second in their preseason predictions.

Lady Mustangs Junior Varsity Profile

Mineola High School girls varsity coach Bill Di Gennaro is hoping this year's squad can match last year's team and maybe surpass the 10-4 mark it chalked up.

Coach Di Gennaro, entering his second season, hopes to develop the team into a fundamentally sound unit that wins more games than it loses. Here's what he had to say about some of the players on the roster:

Alexis Sandler, sophomore, plays #2 guard, is quick and knows where to be on the court.

Sarah Lasorsa, sophomore, plays #5 center, is developing into a post player, has improved much since last year.

Rachel McGrath, sophomore, plays #3 forward, shooting has improved, knows her responsibilities.

Debbie Chin, senior, plays #5 center, was an assistant manager for the team last year, will get some playing time.

Kaylin Mateo, sophomore, great instincts on the court.

Melissa Magalhaes, freshman, quick, point guard on the rise.

Laura Restrepo, freshman, aggressive on defense and has improved the most since the start of practice.

The coach also listed forward and back up point guard Melissa Jetter as another player to watch.

Coach Di Gennaro picked Oceanside as the toughest team the JV Lady Mustangs will face this season since Oceanside always has a strong team.