The Huntington girls’ basketball program is expecting this to be a very good year. The Blue Devils have many returning players and a new coach on the junior varsity level. The staff is hoping to generate new interest in the sport and is rolling out the welcome mat for anyone interested in playing.
The Blue Devils are coming off a COVID-19 abbreviated 5-2 season in which they were crowned league co-champions. Huntington topped North Babylon, Smithtown East, Copiague, Islip and Smithtown West. The Blue Devils dropped a league game to Half Hollow Hills East and a playoff contest to West Babylon.
Mike Kaplan thinks this year's Huntington team mount a playof run. (Darin Reed photo.)
The team was led by Emily Plachta and Junie Nosile, who are both returning this winter and Jordan Forte, who has since graduated and move to Stony Brook University.
One of the top scorers in Suffolk, Plachta was named to the All-County team after excelling at guard. The teenager averaged 17 points per game and displayed a diverse set of skills on the court.
A towering forward, Nosile earned a spot on the All-Conference team after pulling down an average of 10 rebounds per game.
The Blue Devils will also return junior Gianna Forte and seniors Katie Browne, Teddi Carnesi, Makaylah Frazier, Regan Sansiviero and Shaneek Shand.
Mike Kaplan
Varsity head coach Michael Kaplan and assistant coach Marissa Bergmann are returning to the bench. The Huntington JV will have a new coach in Blue Devil alum and former All-County player Katie Reilly. Tim Madden is coming back as the J. Taylor Finley Middle School coach.
Kaplan came to Huntington in 2010 from cross-town rival Harborfields, where he had been working as an assistant coach since 2006. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education at SUNY College at Brockport in 2005.
In college, Kaplan was Brockport’s starting point guard for four years and helped lead the Golden Eagles to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances where the team reached the “Sweet 16” and the “Elite 8.”
In 11 seasons as Huntington’s head coach, Kaplan is 133-72 for a .657 winning percentage.
Marissa Bergmann
Bergmann has been a Huntington physical education teacher since September 2014. A member of Huntington High School’s Class of 2003, she earned an undergraduate degree at Purdue University in elementary education with a minor in reading and obtained a master’s degree at Stony Brook University in liberal studies with a concentration in health science.
Bergmann has coached high school basketball and field hockey and middle school soccer and lacrosse. She has served as treasurer of the Suffolk County Girls’ Basketball Coaches Association.
Katie Reilly
A member of Huntington’s Class of 2016, Reilly went on to serve as captain of Princeton University’s lacrosse team. She graduated from Princeton in May 2020 with a BA degree in politics and is currently putting the final touches on a Master of Social Work degree at Stony Brook University. Reilly has also been named an assistant coach with Huntington’s varsity girls’ lacrosse team.
Reilly was a three sport star for Huntington, playing on the varsity soccer, basketball and lacrosse teams and winning All-County honors
Timothy Madden
Tim Madden has been a Huntington physical education teacher since September 2002. A graduate of Hauppauge High School, he obtained an undergraduate degree at SUNY Cortland and a master’s degree at Stony Brook University. He has coached football, basketball, baseball, track, lacrosse and softball at various levels.
