Last season's success gives SK girls basketball program boost for '08

Nothing can give an athletic program a boost quite like a little success. Just ask South Kingstown girls basketball coach Joel Tuoni, who had 30 girls come out for South Kingstown's summer league team several months after the Rebels jumped onto the Division I radar by winning their first 12 league games and advancing to the Final Four.

"This is a great group. We're looking forward to having some fun this season," said Tuoni, who was able to field two teams for the Narragansett summer league this year because of the strong turnout.

In addition to competing in the summer league, Tuoni and his assistant coach Scott Rollins entered a team in the University of New Haven team camp in Connecticut and the 12th annual Assumption College Shootout in Worcester, Mass.

South Kingstown gave a good showing, finishing undefeated at both August events.

The Rebels first went 4-0 in New Haven with victories over Wilton, Conn., the AAU Connecticut Panthers, Wachusett, Mass. and an all-star team of players attending the camp without their high school team.

The following weekend at Assumption College, they went 3-0 in their pool with wins over teams representing Trumbull (Conn.) High School, St. Bernard's Central Catholic High School out of Fitchburg, Mass. and Leominster (Mass.) High School.

The next day in the single-elimination playoffs, South Kingstown built a 22-20 halftime lead and went on to defeat Holy Name Central Catholic High School of Worcester, Mass., 48-31, in the opening game.

The Rebels trailed by one at the break in their semifinal matchup against Notre Dame Prep, but rallied back to win, 31-24. Junior Meg Morrissey finished with 11 points, going 7-for-8 from the free throw line down the stretch to help seal the win, while fellow junior Allie Jones and sophomore Annie Lawler each chipped in six points.

"That was a rock fight," said Tuoni. "(Notre Dame) came out in a very physical man-to-man, so that was good for us."

That win set up a meeting with Coyle-Cassidy High School of Taunton, Mass. Jones (17 points) and Lawler (8 points) helped South Kingstown take a 21-14 halftime advantage en route to a 44-33 victory.

"I didn't realize it until my father pointed it out to me, but we only trailed for 7 basketball minutes in 10 games," Tuoni said of his team's performance at both New Haven and Assumption. "So that's pretty amazing."

Also playing for South Kingstown in the two tournaments were: Katie and Christina Dufficy, Ashley Fry, Ali Lord, Morgan Stafford, Hannah Smith, Dominique Stromley, Casey Etter, Torrey Martin, Rajeeyah Jones, Paige Ethier and Danielle French.

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