NYC or NY? If the latter, Melissa D'Amico ...
by dillon77 (2019-06-25 09:36:01)
Edited on 2019-06-25 10:08:49

In reply to: Has an ND player from NY been a major contributor since  posted by MPG

Post Reply Return to McGraw's Bench

..was from Suffolk County in eastern Long Island, out by Danielle Cosgrove.

Can't think of any city natives outside of Ms. Gaither. Remember the contest we ran a year or two ago on who should be next in the Ring of Honor? She won handily.

BTW, TMLA was not anywhere close to top of the standings in the Catholic league this year...Christ the King, with Ms. Marshall, was one major reason why.

If ND wants to try another part of the metropolitan New York area, I suggest:
- First going slightly north to Westchester County to watch Sonia Citron (a lot) at the Ursuline School;
- Then, cross the Hudson River into New Jersey and drive west to watch Point Guard Olivia Miles from Phillipsburg; and,
- Lastly, head to the Jersey Shore to see the sublime 6'3" Destiny Adams in Manchester Township. The Shore gave ND the Mabreys and that turned out just fine...*




* I've refrained from bringing up the name of the youngest of those daughters, although I'm mashing my mental teeth as I type.

I never considered Melissa D'Amico to be a major contributor
by MPG  (2019-06-25 10:50:22)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

during her ND career. I guess I expected more from a player of her height. Long Island girls basketball has been unimpressive to me with only LI Lutheran in Nassau County having teams that receive national recognition.

Christ the King is the long-time power in the Brooklyn-Queens CHSAA with grads such as Sue Bird and Tina Charles; Nat Marshall would be ND's first recruit from that school. I was surprised when TMLA made its runs to the top of the league with Patterson, Nixon, and few others. I always viewed it as the rich girls school in Queens, although I was friends with one of their basketball playing graduates years ago.

New Jersey has been much better than New York in producing major contributors for ND's team. Of course, I am still hoping that we can build a Texas connection, too!
Ah, You're Talking About "Major" Contributors....
by dillon77  (2019-06-25 18:51:44)     cannot delete  |  Edit  |  Return to Board  |  Ignore Poster   |   Highlight Poster  |   Reply to Post

...which I guess you would say were the lead players of the teams on which they played.

Fair enough, but she wasn't chopped liver:

A 2008 graduate of Notre Dame, D'Amico was a four-year letterwinner who started in 58 of 119 games for the Fighting Irish. She received Big East Player of the Week honors in both 2006 and 2007. In her four-year career, Notre Dame was ranked as high as fourth in the nation, made an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance, and was 90-39 overall.

And she played in Europe quite a few years before beginning a upwardly mobile coaching career that finds her at Wake Forest in our ACC, after a solid stint at Yale.

So, while she's certainly not a Gaither or a Mabrey, I think it was a pretty good stint while there and even a bit better as an ND alum.

However, Long Island isn't known for solid high school programs for women. In part, that's because parochial schools that play at a high level go no further east than LI Lutheran. And it's hard to keep a public school at top level, year in and year out, unless you have a great coach and/or a family (Mabreys) that feed it for a decade or so.

Plus, Long Island girls have other sports that draw their interest (lacrosse, soccer, field hockey, etc.).

Like you and I said, head over the Hudson and check out Jersey (again). And I think Sonia Citron is worth a trip to White Plains!