Forman’s Annabelle Ford-Rippolone, left, goes for the ball with teammate Grace Miller against Chase’s Angelene Guglielmo during their HVAL semi-final matchup in Waterbury on Thursday. Christopher Massa Republican-American
BY MARK JAFFEE
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
The Forman School girls basketball team is basking in the glory of its first Hudson Valley Athletic League tournament championship.
Team captain Taylor McNair, of Oxford, led the Lions in scoring in all three tournament games. She scored 17 points in a 57-25 win over Master’s in the opener and followed with 17 more in a 35-30 win over Chase Collegiate in the semifinals.
In the title game last Saturday, she netted 14 points in a 36-21 win over Christian Heritage. Forman ended the season at 14-7.
“The girls feel great about themselves,” said Forman coach Jon Davis. “Our schedule was made more challenging, and with our talent, I knew that we had a better chance to be more competitive. We had a lot of optimism and thought we would have one of the strongest seasons in quite some time.”
The Lions proved it down the stretch, especially in the postseason.
“It was the best we’ve played all season,” said Davis. “It was a great accomplishment to play like that at end of the season. I thought we were capable of being in a position to win a championship and that’s exactly what happened.
“Taylor certainly continued to step up for us,” said Davis. “Dani (Oddo), Courtney (Schullery, of Warren) played well. Grace Miller elevated her defense and rebounding. Annabelle (Ford-Rippolone) and Aaliyah (Simons) didn’t do much scoring, but they stepped up and played great defense.”
Oddo, a junior, and McNair, a postgraduate, will play in the Class D New England All-Star game Sunday at 2 p.m. at Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor. Oddo and McNair were also selected to the All-HVAL first team while Shullery was a second-team pick.
McNair and Newbern Foreman are the only seniors on the roster.