The J. Taylor Finley Middle School girls’ basketball team is ready to roll after the final roster was announced this week. Tryouts featured more than 45 players vying for 20 roster spots. Decisions were very hard to make after the seventh and eighth graders played their hearts out.
This year’s Finley squad consists of seventh grader Gemma Bedell, Amelia Carino, LaKiasja Casey, Andie DiGioia, Leighton Evans, Justina Hlenski, Grace Kline, Elliot Mannu, Ava McDonald, Camora McKay and Leila O’Toole and eighth graders Ashley Alexis, Bridget Callery, Keysy Diaz Campos, Grace Gordon, Mildred Hernandez Veliz, Erika Hernandez Veliz, Ruby Hoffman, Kiera McGuire and Isabella Palacios.
The team is coached by Flower Hill physical education teacher Timothy Madden. He has been on the Huntington faculty 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.
Finley will play a 10 game schedule with five home and five away contests. There will be home games against Babylon, North Babylon-Robert Moses, Lindenhurst, Hauppauge and West Hollow. Away games will be played at Lindenhurst, Commack, Oldfield, Stimson and Candlewood.
Madden expects Finley to be a strong team. The first game will be played on February 7 with the tenth and final contest scheduled for March 18.