LI Lightning Wins Nike Tournament

The Long Island Lightning

The Long Island Lightning girls basketball team 7th graders put the exclamation point on a great 2006 AAU season by becoming the first girls team from Long Island to win the Nike SWOOSH Tournament of Champions for the New York Metro area.

The Lightning defeated Manhattan, 42-40, in the championship game played at Riverbank State Park, located at 145th St. and Riverside Drive in Harlem.

To reach the finals, the Lightning -- winners of the Long Island region --

defeated Queens, 54-18, and a combination Westchester/Bronx team, 48-32. The Westchester/Bronx team was made up of strong players from the Bronx as well as the Westchester Hawks, a strong AAU team that won the Junior Nationals this summer.

The Long Island Lightning is coming off an unprecedented third-place finish at the AAU nationals in Missouri, the highest any girls Lightning team has ever finished.

The summer team had three girls from Garden City -- Caitlin McGuinness,

Lauren Nuss and Kimberly Ryan.

Unlike the AAU season, which allowed only girls born in 1994 to compete, the Nike SWOOSH Summer League permitted girls who were heading into

8th grade to participate. In all, 1,700 girls took part in the Nike tournament for the New York Metro area.

It came down to two very talented teams. Manhattan, which beat the Staten Island Rebels, an AAU nationals team, in the first round, is made up of girls who will be playing at city powerhouse Murray Bergtraum.

Manhattan led 23-15 at halftime before the Lightning came alive in the second half. Using their vaunted pressure defense, the Lightning forced turnovers and scored 16 unanswered points in the third frame to lead 31-23. Manhattan made two baskets in the closing minute to narrow the deficit to 31-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was tight throughout. Manhattan took the lead before the Lightning mounted a comeback behind the great starting five of Darius Faulk, Brianna Thomas, Christina Raiti, Kimberly Ryan and Lauren Nuss. Christina hit a big basket to give the Lightning the lead, and Kimberly made a key free throw in the final minute to give Long Island a 42-38 lead. Manhattan scored another basket and had one last chance at tying the game, but could not convert.

It was a great win for the Lightning to be able to beat the best competition in the New York area (against older girls) and collect another trophy for their efforts.