With four starters returning from last season’s Long Island Championship, the girls’ varsity basketball team was clearly a marked opponent for all of the school’s on its schedule. The girls fought hard all year, playing an extremely competitive non-league schedule and earning yet another playoff berth.

Coached by Mr. Spina, and assisted by Ms. Dreyer, Mr. Ingram, and Mr. Chalmers, the team finished with an overall record of 11-9. Coming off last year’s appearance in the state title game, the girls had to adjust to the different makeup of this year’s squad. The Lady Knights opened the conference schedule with an impressive win over Plainedge, 68-55. Throughout the season, the girls worked very hard during scrimmages and practices, finishing with a conference record of 8-4, good enough to earn them the 15 seed in the playoffs. Hosting an outbracket game against neighboring Garden City, Floral Park won 54-49, setting up a first round matchup with its rival over the past four years, North Shore. The Lady Knights played an outstanding first quarter against the high-powered offense of the Vikings, trailing by only four points. But North Shore had too many weapons, ending Floral Park’s season with a 76-42 win.

There were six seniors on this year’s roster: Faith Balletta, Natalie Hickman, Danielle DeVito, Meghan Douglas, Aideen Gill and Laura Freely. Six juniors – Victoria Craig, Megan Martin, Ashley Corcoran, Keira Boettcher, Marykate Guerriero and Alyssa DiLorenzo – along with freshman Jaeda Delsoin and 8th grader Nicole Paprocky, return next season. The top three scorers on the team were Guerriero (289 points), Hickman (199) and Balletta (128). Hickman earned All County honors while Guerriero and Gill received honorable mention All County.

Even though the girls did not make it quite as far as they had hoped, they still had a great season and put forth an outstanding effort until the very last seconds of the final game.