Leading off today: New York City standouts Isaiah Whitehead of Abraham Lincoln and Khadeen Carrington of Bishop Loughlin highlight a list of 2014 Mr. Basketball finalists that otherwise has a distinctly upstate flavor to it.
Joining Whitehead and Carrington on the list for the top individual honor presented by the Basketball Coaches Association of New York are Section 6 stars Sterling Taplin (Williamsville North) and Wil Bathurst (Olean) and Section 5 top performers Emmitt Holt (Webster Schroeder) and Dontay Caruthers (Rochester East).
The list of Miss Basketball finalists is split evenly between upstate and downstate:
- Sierra Calhoun, Christ the King
- Katie Doherty, Sachem East
- Miranda Drummond, Harpursville
- Emily Durr, Utica Notre Dame
- Aaliayah Jones, Murry Bergtraum
- Maria Ruff, Oneonta
The 2013 awards went to Jon Severe (Christ the King) and Saniya Chong (Ossining).
This year's winners will be selected early next month and recognized during the NYSPHSAA and Federation championships.
Reign is over: People smarter than me started issuing warnings about a month ago that the Irvington girls did not quite have the weapons to reel in a fifth straight NYSPHSAA Class B or third straight Federation championship.
Their suspicions were confirmed Tuesday when Dobbs Ferry (11-10) beat the Bulldogs, ranked second in the state, 55-52 in an overtime Section 1 Class B semifinal.
Dobbs Ferry, which upset Irvington 69-62 during the regular season, will play Woodlands on Saturday in the sectional final.
Irvington roared to leads of 18-5 in the first quarter and 32-23 at the half, but Dobbs Ferry chipped away as Alyssa Chipelo scored 14 of her 21 points after the intermission and then Molly Althoz scored five of her 16 points in the OT.
Laurilyn Gelardi paced Irvington with 19 points.
"We went cold," Irvington coach Gina Maher told The Journal News. "We didn't adjust to their zone. In the second half, I think they played with a lot more confidence than we did."
