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All-Long Island Girls Basketball

Mark La Monica

April 13, 2003

Front row, from left: Jasmine Walker (Copiague), Kia Wright (Copiague), Nassau Player of the Year Lisa Karcic (New Hyde Park) and Suffolk Player of the Year Angie Clark (Copiague). Back row, from left: Nassau Coach of the Year Annette McKeough (New Hyde Park), Christina Buckley (Division), Brittany Smith (St. Dominic), Alissa Rubino (Comsewogue), Calisha Clark (Wyandanch), Jessica Hosenbold (Half Hollow Hills East), Linda Sapanski (Massapequa) and Suffolk Coach of the Year Carole Olsen (Copiague). (Photo by Thomas A. Ferrara)

The 10 girls basketball player who stood out on the Nassau, Suffolk and CHSAA courts this winter.

LISA KARCIC
Nassau Player of the Year
New Hyde Park (6-0, Junior): Her numbers impress. Across the board, which extends to five tangible categories, and just as many intangible ones. But Karcic's most impressive trait was leading her Gladiators (22-4) to the Class B state public schools title. No Nassau player had done it in 20 years. Karcic totaled 50 points in the two-day tournament, the most for any player in any of the four classifications. Unselfish as she is talented, Karcic averaged 19.6 points, 11.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 3.2 steals and 3.0 blocks. A two-time All-Long Island pick, Karcic scored 25 points or more nine times, and 30 or more four times.

ANGIE CLARK
Suffolk Player of the Year
Copiague (6-1, Senior): She played with helium in her shoes and a turnaround jumper sweeter than candy. Easily the most dominating low post presence on Long Island this season, Clark averaged 23.3 points, 15.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 4.3 steals and 3.3 blocks. The forward led Copiague (25-2) to its first Class A state public schools championship, the first for a Suffolk school in eight years. In just three seasons, Clark amassed 1,191 points and 977 rebounds. Her 631 points as a senior set a Copiague single-season record. Clark, a two-time All-Long Island forward, is sorting through Division I programs.

CHRISTINA BUCKLEY
Division (5-6, Sr.): Frenetic. Energetic. Talented. That sums up this point guard. "She has to have the ball in her hands," coach Steve Kissane said. Buckley, blessed with great ball-handling skills, averaged 15 points, 9 assists and 4.5 steals as Division (18-3) posted its second-best record ever. Her 189 assists set a single-season school record, too. And that comes with sitting out nine fourth quarters. The St. Anselm-bound Buckley totaled 794 career points. No record books exist for a point guard's handles, but Buckley will be the standard for future Division guards. "No one pressed us this year," Kissane said, "and it was because of her."

CALISHA CLARK
Wyandanch (5-6, Sr.): Nothing could keep Clark away from the court for an extended period of time. And by extended, we mean more than four minutes. She slammed face-first into a cement wall during the Suffolk Class B semifinals, and came back three minutes later to help her team nearly pull off the comeback. Clark averaged 17.6 points, 3.5 rebounds, 7.1 assists and 5.2 steals this season for Wyandanch (18-2). In her six-year career, Clark totaled 1,981 points, tops in Wyandanch history and fourth in Suffolk. Pretty impressive considering she's the eighth Wyandanch player to earn All-Long Island honors. Clark, still deciding on colleges, scored in double figures in 60 of her last 61 games. She also had 35 point-assist double-doubles.

JESSICA HOSENBOLD
Half Hollow Hills East (5-9, Sr.): Cell phone companies get jealous when Hosenbold walks into a gym. She has better range than all of them. "If you guard her in her face, she's just going to take another five steps back," coach Mike Bongino said. "A girl would say 'I'm not going to guard her all the way out there.' Yeah, well, you better." The Penn-bound Hosenbold sank 241 three-pointers in five years, including a Suffolk record 63 last season and another 59 this season. Hosenbold ranks sixth on LI with 2,103 career points. Hosenbold led Suffolk with 26.5 points per game this season and helped Hills East (17-3) to its first playoff win in more than 25 years.

ALISSA RUBINO
Comsewogue (5-9, Sr.): Watching the film from the Suffolk Class B final against Glenn, coach Bob Davis did something he never felt compelled to do in 20 seasons. He phoned his two-time All-Long Island point guard. "I just didn't know what else to do," Davis said. "It was like an instructional tape on how to play point guard." Rubino averaged 16.0 points, 9.3 assists, 6.1 rebounds, 6.9 steals this season. Rubino, who will play at AIC, ended her five-year career with 1,334 points, 545 assists, 509 steals, 506 rebounds and one retired jersey. She led Comsewogue (21-3) to three straight B titles.

LINDA SAPANSKI
Massapequa (5-10, Sr.): Here's the sequence that led to many an easy basket: Catch the ball in the high post, turn, head fake, step left and drive the lane for a left-handed runner. It seems simple enough, but no one could defend the natural righty on that play. "She left a lot of coaches wondering if she was lefty or righty," coach Shari Roessler said. Sapanski averaged 14.6 points, 13 rebounds, 4.5 steals and 3 blocks and has a scholarship to Bentley. The 5-10 center emerged in the second half of the season, blocking shots and grabbing rebounds. She guided the Chiefs (19-4) to her third Nassau Class A title in four years.

BRITTANY SMITH
St. Dominic (5-9, Sr.): She quietly set out to be a champion. When that time came, everyone heard her. Smith put on a two-day expo at the state Federation tournament. She totaled 54 points, including a tourney-record 10 three-pointers, to lead St. Dominic (22-8) to the Class D title. A two-time All-Long Island guard, Smith averaged 20.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 2.2 steals this season. The UAB-bound Smith hit 49 three-pointers and shot 73 percent from the foul line. In the Federation semifinals, Smith scored the last nine points as St. Dominic won, 47-45. In four years, the first at Uniondale, Smith scored 1,545 points.

JASMINE WALKER