It had to be a funny feeling for veteran Marist girls basketball coach Bill DeFazio when he walked into the gym for the first time for a practice and realized that neither Tara Walker nor Makeda Gleaton was on the floor for the first time in four years.
After all, DeFazio had to have become accustomed to having Walker and Gleaton, the standout tandem that led the Lady Knights to two HCIAA championships and one NJSIAA Parochial B state championship during their career. The dynamic duo combined to score nearly 3,600 points and grab 2,200 rebounds over their four-year stay at Marist. Walker became the school’s all-time leading scorer. It was a run never before equaled by two teammates – and perhaps never may be paralleled ever again.
But DeFazio was ready for the hard, cold reality – that both players had graduated and moved on. It was time to begin a new era.
"I sort of prepared myself for it during the off-season," said DeFazio, who has been a standout girls’ basketball coach, first at St. Anthony and then, for the last decade, at Marist. "I made a thing of it mentally not to even think about them. Tara and Makeda are gone. And I haven’t mentioned their names once. I haven’t once stopped and said, ‘Oh, if we had Tara,’ or ‘Oh, if we had Makeda.’ I don’t think it would have been fair to the kids we have if we even mentioned them."
Added DeFazio, "We had a great run with those two, but it’s time to move on and play for now, not play for what we did in the past. No one has mentioned them. This team has to get on with it and find its own identity."
Two games into the new season, the Knights are still searching for the identity. They have dropped their first two games to extremely formidable opposition, namely Martin Luther King of Manhattan and More Catholic of Staten Island, both in close games that could have gone any way.
"We had so many opportunities, every opportunity in the world to win both games and came up a little short both time," DeFazio said. "I think we’re still trying to get into game shape, because Martin Luther King played 14 games and More Catholic played six and we were just starting. I think we’ll be fine when we get in game shape."
Part of the reason for DeFazio’s optimism is the play of sophomore forward Angela Fitzgerald, who has scored more than 20 points in each Marist game thusfar, including a brilliant 28-point, 19-rebound performance in the overtime loss to More Catholic.
Another key performer is senior guard Jen Lewandoski, who will handle both the point guard and off-guard roles at times this season.
Both Fitzgerald and Lewandoski started on last year’s state championship team, with Fitzgerald earning Second Team All-Area honors from The Hudson Reporter a year ago.
"I don’t think there’s a question at all about Angela or Jen," DeFazio said. "Fitzgerald’s still a baby and still learning, but she has the ability to step her game up and be a consistent scorer. Jen has to play more of a different role. She’s the key. She can shoot and is well skilled with her ball handling. And we need her floor presence so much."
Three other players who played significant roles on last year’s HCIAA and Parochial B championship team have also returned. Sophomores Katherine Mariano, Kim Reid and Tiffany McQueary are back, but are being asked to play more of an increased role this season.
"Instead of playing eight to 10 minutes a game, they’re now being asked to play 30 minutes a game," DeFazio said. "I think Reid and Mariano have to play the biggest roles."
Reid, a 5-0 guard, played a big role last year, hitting the clutch shot that won the HCIAA championship game.
DeFazio said that the Lady Knights will receive a huge boost from a talented freshman guard Renee Veles, who has been highly touted on the CYO and AAU levels.
"Veles is battle tested," DeFazio said. "She is very aggressive defensively and brings a lot to the defensive end of the floor. She’s a good shooter with a good floor presence."
DeFazio doesn’t have much of a bench. He’s counting on those six players to carry the load this season.
"I think it’s a challenge for me as a coach to get this team to play the system," DeFazio said. "We have to be more fundamentally sound, more so now than ever, because we’re lacking the artillery we had in the past. We’re starting a freshman, three sophomores and one senior, so we’re still learning."
Despite the youth, DeFazio expects his team to be in the hunt to possibly defend the HCIAA title they captured a year ago.
"I think it’s a real balanced league with a lot of good teams," DeFazio said. "But I think we’re in the mix. I think there’s more parity in the HCIAA than ever before. It should be interesting."
"This team reminds me of some of the teams I had at St. Anthony, when everyone counted us out as dead because we lost some good players," DeFazio added. "But with those teams, we went back to basics and got through. We’ve lost our first two games this year, but we’ll get through."
There were some rumors shuffling about that DeFazio was going to step down as soon as his star players graduated.
"Everybody thought I was leaving, but that’s not what I’m all about," DeFazio said. "It’s more of a challenge to get the program back to where it was as state champions. I love what I’m doing and I love coming to the gym every day. When I change that feeling, then that’s when I’ll get out. But not now."
And that’s good news for the HCIAA defending champions. – Jim Hague