High school central

North Babylon standout Makeda Nicholas recently gave a verbal commitment to play basketball at the University of Delaware, and she will team up with St. Anthony's Chastity Taylor.

Nicholas, a junior, was a highly coveted recruit. She is a 6-1 forward with strength, low post moves and a mid-range jumper, and has the ability to handle the ball. She averaged 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in earning...

St. Anthony's star Chastity Taylor verbally committed to play at the University of Delaware, St. Anthony's coach Ken Parham informed Newsday.

Taylor, a junior, helped lead St. Anthony's to a league title and the CHSAA Class AA state tournament.

"Chastity has the ability to play almost any position on the court with her combination of skill set and size," Parham said of the...

St. Anthony’s basketball star Charise Wilson verbally committed to Northeastern University today, according to Friars coach Ken Parham.

The junior helped lead St. Anthony’s to a third straight league title and another appearance in the CHSAA state tournament. Wilson, a 5-5 point guard, transferred from North Babylon during her sophomore year in 2011 and sat out the remainder of that season....

You can’t put a price on earning the respect of your opponents and piers. Hauppauge’s Julie Williams and Herricks’ Alison Ricchiuti were happy to learn that this season. Section XI coaches named Williams its Suffolk player of the year and Section VIII coaches declared Ricchiuti its Nassau player of the year, earning both senior girls basketball stars the highest honor either county has to offer....

Matchup: Harborfields (20-2) vs. Maine-Endwell

Game time: Friday, 1:30 p.m.

Harborfields started the season with relatively modest goals: win League V and contend for a Suffolk championship. They accomplished both, then went on to capture their first Long Island title since 2007.

They’ve since set their sights a little higher. Headed upstate now, coach Russ Tietjen said, “We might...

Matchup:  Sachem East (21-1) vs. Ossining (20-4)

Game time: Friday, 6:15 p.m, Hudson Valley CC.

The Flaming Arrows are “loving life right now,” coach Matt Brisson said. For good reason.

This scrappy bunch earned its first Long Island championship since 2010 and now seeks to do what that group did three years ago: capture the state title.

Standing in the way, though,...

Long Island Lutheran, Sachem East and Harborfields are the only teams still alive with the public school state championships this weekend and the Federation championships starting March 22.

1. Long Island Lutheran (19-4): Lutheran was idle again this week as it prepares for the Class A Federation tournament, starting March 22.

2. St. Anthony's (22-6): The Friars’ season ended, Wednesday...

St. Mary's, St. Anthony's and St. John the Baptist are the three Long Island teams in the CHSAA AA state girls basketball tournament, starting Wednesday. Semifinal games are Friday at St. John Villa at 5:45 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The championship game will be Saturday at Cardinal Spellman at 7 p.m.

Here are Wednesday's quarterfinal match-ups:

(1) Bishop Ford vs. (8) St. John the Baptist,...

1. Long Island Lutheran (19-4): Lutheran was idle this week as it prepares for the Class A Federation tournament, starting March 22.

2. St. Anthony's (22-5): Rebecca Musgrove had 11 points and 10 rebounds and Chastity Taylor scored 13 points to lead the Friars to their third straight CHSAA league championship, Sunday, 48-36 over St. Mary’s. St. Antony’s will be the fifth seed in the CHSAA...

Junior guard Tamara Simpson had 33 points, including the 1,500th of her career, as No. 4 Portledge topped Horace Mann, 54-33, in a NYSAIS Tournament quarterfinal on Thursday.

Morgan Follett added 13 points in the win. Simpson, who’s averaging 29 points in her last three games, including 34 against Lawrence Woodmere in an IPPSAL semifinal, has 1,512 career points.

Portledge (22-3) will...