Finley Girls’ Basketball-White Has Exciting Players

The J. Taylor Finley Middle School girls’ basketball “white” team featured an exciting group of young players. Finley put two teams on the court this past winter, with one designated as “blue” and the other one “white.” Huntington UFSD’s colors are blue and white.

“After 14 years of coaching high school boys basketball, I was unsure of what to expect when coaching the middle girls team,” head coach Jordan Ioviero said. “I was so pleasantly surprised to see how this year unfolded. The girls bought in from the very first whistle and the amount of improvement I saw from the start of the season to the end was something special. By the end of the season we were hitting the fourth and fifth options on our sets and when the year first started we were only able to get to the first or second.”

The team quickly came together. “We went from running quick hitters, to continuity offenses and by the time the season ended, I was really sad to see it conclude because I felt we were finally putting it all together,” Ioviero said. “The girls wanted to learn and practiced very hard to gain a better understanding of the game of basketball. We had several close losses, but we also had great wins against both Babylon teams and Elwood. We played a very tough schedule.”

The squad worked hard after school to improve their skills at daily practices and Ioviero is confident “it will pay off in the future.”

The team was led by captains Elliot Manu, Leila O’Toole, Ava Bencivenga and Cassidy Harris. “Elliot is a fantastic leader, Ioviero said. “She set up every play and was always the girl that we could count on when other teams were pressuring us. She would quickly beat the press and either give us a chance to score, or find the open girl. We could always count on her to do the right thing, and lead us with class both on and off the court.”

Stor’i Crowell led the team in scoring with 72 points. “Stor’i came a very long way this year,” Ioviero said. “She was also our leading rebounder and learned how to play with her back to the rim from block to block.”

Elliot Manu (40), Claire Dello-Iacono (37), Cassidy Harris (27), Ava Bencivenga (16), Leila O’Toole (13), Juliet Johnson (12) and Timeyah Hardge (8) were also among the scoring leaders. Lia Zivkovic, Violet Palacios and Ava Vega also scored points for Finley.

“We had a group of 10 seventh graders, including Ava Bencivenga, Claire Della-Iancono, Timeyah Hardge, Cassidy Harris, Juliet Johnson, Violet Palacios, Daniella Petrone, Nicolina Santoli, Ava Vega and Lia Zivkovic,” Ioviero. “We also had five eighth graders including Stori Crowell, Elliot Manu, Kaylin Olivo, Leila O’Toole and Arianna Rubio. I am so proud of their development throughout the year and I can’t wait to see them all play at the high school level.”

Ioviero was assisted by volunteer coach Jimmy Byrne. “I would like to thank my volunteer assistant coach Jimmy for all his hard work and dedication to the program,” Ioviero said. “It was a great season and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for this group of girls. If they all work on their game in the off-season I think they will do great things in their basketball careers.”