Mid-Hudson girls basketball roster features five returnees for BCANY Festival

Portrait of Ken McMillan Ken McMillan
Middletown Times Herald- Record

The Mid-Hudson region team that will participate in the Basketball Coaches Association of New York Summer Hoop Festival will feature a lot returnees, all-stars and familiar names.

The guards will be Zoe Mesuch of Wallkill, Gabby Murphy of Marlboro, Ava Scaturro of Kingston, Reilly Landisi of Beacon, T.T. Burden of Newburgh, Madison Fileen of Monroe-Woodbury, Leticia Watson of Pine Bush, Samantha Calahan of Highland and Reese Girardi of Warwick.

Wallkill's Zoe Mesuch, left, tries to drive around a Warwick defender during the Section 9 Class AA girls basketball championship game at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley, NY on Saturday, March 2, 2024. KELLY MARSH/FOR THE TIMES HERALD-RECORD

The forwards are Ketura Rutty of Pine Bush, Lila Lovgren of Our Lady of Lourdes and center Maggie Bishopp of Valley Central. All are seniors except the junior Girardi and sophomore Burden.

Pine Bush's Ketura Rutty drives to the net during the Section 9 BCANY Coaches vs Cancer tournament at Monroe-Woodbury High School in Central Valley, NY on Saturday, January 7, 2023. Millbrook defeated Pine Bush. KELLY MARSH/FOR THE TIMES HERALD-RECORD

The alternates are sophomore center Ella Herbert from Sullivan West, junior forward Cassie Jennings of Minisink Valley and sophomore guard Nalyah Campbell of Marlboro.

Mesuch (a Navy commit), Scaturro, Murphy, Landisi and Bishopp are returning from the 2023 club.

Wallkill's A.J. Higby will serve as head coach once again.

Wallkill head coach AJ Higby, center, talks to the team during the Section 9 girls basketball game at Wallkill High School in Wallkill, NY on Thursday, January 4, 2024. Wallkill defeated Marlboro 62-51. KELLY MARSH/FOR THE TIMES HERALD-RECORD

The 12th-annual festival will be hosted by Johnson City elementary, middle and high schools in the Binghamton region from July 26-28. Boys and girls teams from each region will play a minimum of three round-robin games, followed by semifinals, placement and championship games.

Modeled after the sections used in New York State public school play, the other regions attending should be Hudson Valley (the Section 1 schools from Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties), Capital (Section 2), Buffalo (Section 6), Rochester (Section 5), Nassau (Sections 8-11), Central (Section 3) and Southern Tier (Section 4).

kmcmillan@th-record.com

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