Over 50 players tried out for varsity and junior varsity girls basketball teams at East Hampton, varsity head coach Samantha James said last week, which bodes well for a program that continues to rebuild.
In the second year of an alternative league placement, and therefore ineligible to qualify for playoffs, the girls will continue to play in League VII with the smallest schools in the county, an agreement East Hampton and Section XI came to a few years ago. Instead of playing in League IV with fellow Class AA schools, the Bonackers will be playing teams such as Babylon, Mattituck, Port Jefferson, Pierson/Bridgehampton and Shelter Island.
James said that the hope is that the program can go back to its usual league placement next season and that the number of girls who tried out this season, “shows that our program is growing and moving in the right direction.”
Returning this season are senior guards Katie Kuneth, Ana Dwyer and Rebecca Trowbridge, junior forward Susie DiSunno and junior guard Julia Kuneth, and sophomores K.K. Moore and Saffron Zeff. Making the jump up from JV this season are sophomores Lydia Rowan (guard), Brynley Lys (guard) and Ana McCormack (forward), who will also be spending a lot of time on the court this season. Brenda Alvila, a freshman guard, and Gizel Espinal and Leah McCarron, both sophomore guards, and junior guard Evelin Marin are also joining the team this season.
“We look forward to seeing what this young squad will bring as they are very energetic and enthusiastic about the sport,” James said. “Our goals for this season are to keep honing in on our fundamentals and to be aggressive on defense. This league is still very competitive, so our goal is to get control over the fast paced game.”
James added that the team was fortunate enough to have alumni basketball player Alex Toussaint donate the girls and boys basketball team uniforms this year.
The Bonackers had their first two games of the season early this year, on November 29 and 30, a pair of nonleague games against the Stony Brook School and Sayville, respectively. Both were losses, but the girls had a big break in between their next games, with their next game not until Tuesday, December 19, when they host Hampton Bays at 4:30 p.m. They’ll then play at Southampton two days later on December 21 at 5:30 p.m. East Hampton will then have the entire holiday break off and jump into league play when it hosts Shelter Island on January 4 at 4:30 p.m.