The Lady Generals recently hosted the second annual Kim Klein Memorial Tournament. The tournament honors Kim Klein, who passed away from cancer in late 2015. She was a tremendous supporter of the Lady Generals basketball program. Throughout her struggles, she always came out to every game both during and after the season and in the summer to support the girls, including her daughter, Angeline Klein. Her enthusiasm and smile lit up the gym and showed the girls to never give up.
Wheatley High School and Division Avenue High School squared off to open the tournament, with Division winning the game to move on to the finals. The Lady Generals took on East Meadow in the second game.
The Lady Generals opened up a 17-0 lead to start the game and never looked back. East Meadow couldn’t find an answer for the Generals full court press and outstanding shooting from behind the three point arc. The team made a season high with 11 3-pointers. The team was led by Angela Cozza’s (14 points), Angeline Klein’s (12 points) and Shannon Myles (8 points) as well as Annie Zielinski and Dorianna Cardon, each chipping in with 6 points a piece. Kristen Cassidy and Mackenzie Tierney added to the scoring as well by putting up 5 points each.
The Generals won the game 64-32 advancing to the finals against cross town rival Division.
In the finals, the Lady Generals started out slow, trailing Division 9-0 to start the first quarter. The team settled down to take a 23-20 lead at the half. The Lady Generals put the game away with a smothering defensive effort in the fourth quarter, leading to the team out scoring Division 14-2 in the final quarter.
Outstanding scoring efforts came from Gabby Volpe (12 points), Angela Cozza (10 points) and Angeline Klein (11 points). Once again, Shannon Myles, Mackenzie Tierney and Amanda Peluso provided solid defense, shutting down Division’s top scoring threats.
The All-Tournament team for the tournament consisted of Ally LaMonica of Wheatley; Emily Shurina of East Meadow; Nora Tracey of Division and Angeline Klein of MacArthur. The tournament’s Most Valuable Player was given to Shannon Myles of MacArthur.
With the proceeds raised from the tournament, the Girls Basketball Program will be setting up a scholarship in Kim Klein’s name, which will be presented every year to an outgoing senior of the basketball program, that shows the character and strength that Klein embodied.
A special thanks goes out to the Lady Generals Parent Club for their support in setting up this wonderful tournament in memory of a very special wife, mom and sup porter of the basketball program.
—Submitted by Dave Radtke, coach, MacArthur Girls Basketball
