Saints to try their luck

Jasmine Daniels is spending July living out of her suitcase. Her Neumann-Goretti basketball teammates will head home today from a Messiah College team camp, but she’ll hop on a plane to Nashville for the Amateur Athletic Union nationals with the Philadelphia-based DBL Phoenix.

On Wednesday, the Saints’ starting point guard will head to Las Vegas, where she’ll rejoin her Neumann-Goretti teammates at the National Youth Basketball Championships. Daniels finally returns home Aug. 1. It’s a hectic schedule, but the junior is excited about competing in the national spotlight.

"I was saying last season that it would be nice to be ranked liked the boys," Daniels said, referring to her male counterparts’ mention in last year’s USA Today top-25 high-school poll. "Hopefully, we will get as noticed and be as successful."

Neumann-Goretti is among 40 teams from across the United States expected to participate in the Las Vegas tournament. The team raised about $3,200 for the trip at a beef ‘n’ beer last month and, as of last week, coach Chip Reitano said he hoped to raise an additional $2,500.

Going national is a huge step for the South Philly program, which was once considered the laughingstock of the Philadelphia Catholic League. When Reitano, who is heading into his sixth season, took over the program, he inherited a team that had won two games in three years. Last season, he ended the squad’s 19-year playoff drought. The team lost to Cardinal O’Hara in the first round, but it was still an important hurdle.

"One of the things I instilled in them as a coach is believing they could win," Reitano said. "It’s an attitude."

A STRONG SHOWING against the nation’s top teams might help the Saints take the next step toward winning a Catholic League championship. The squad prepared for the Vegas games by practicing for four days at the Messiah team camp in Grantham. The camp, which included 32 varsity squads, is part of Reitano’s summer training regimen of working on fundamentals and games.

The summer games are even more important this season with the arrival of Division I prospects Jimerea Lee and Shante Cummings, who will both be seniors. They transferred to Neumann-Goretti last fall from Hallahan, but the Archdiocese of Philadelphia ruled the girls had switched schools for "athletic intent" and were ruled ineligible to play. Junior Amberel Diaz, who played freshman year at Goretti, has transferred back after a season at Franklin Learning Center.

"We are definitely hoping to get closer as a team," Reitano said. "We are going to use [the Vegas games] as a chance to build team chemistry."

At the Messiah camp, the athletes stayed in dorms and ate their meals together. Sophomore-to-be Alison Nelson, who is hoping for a bigger role after playing scant varsity minutes last season, said she is enjoying the road trips.

"We went to Florida last year and that was really fun," said the guard, referring to last winter’s Rock Holiday Classic. "Las Vegas should be another exciting place. It will give us a chance to jell as a team and play with each other before the season starts."

More than 300 college coaches are expected to attend next week’s showcase. Several Neumann-Goretti athletes are already drawing big-time college interest. Center Gloria Brown, who will be a junior in the fall, is being pursued by Division I schools Stanford, Temple, Kansas and Clemson. Cummings has the eye of North Carolina and Michigan State – who both played in last year’s NCAA Women’s Final Four – as well as North Carolina State and La Salle. Lee has scholarship offers from Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Rutgers. Daniels is drawing early interest from Duke, as well as some Division II and III schools.

Senior-to-be Stephanie McAllister has not yet received college attention like her teammates, but said she is heading into the tournament with no expectations.

"If the coaches are impressed with you and you’re not expecting it, then it makes you feel better," the forward said.

The Goretti Lambs basketball program won Catholic League titles in 1976 and 1978, the only championships for the all-girls’ school. Almost three decades later, there are more scholarship opportunities and national tournaments for female athletes. Goretti consolidated with St. John Neumann prior to the 2004-05 school year.

"Unfortunately, the girls that played in the ’70s when Goretti had a good team didn’t have the same opportunities," Reitano said, but added that he expects today’s athletes to reap the new benefits. "You are going to be hearing about some of the kids wearing a Saints uniform for a long time down the road."

When Neumann-Goretti leaves Las Vegas Aug. 1, more people might know the Saints are the real deal.

"I think we can go out there and win the tournament with the team we’ve got now," Daniels said.

To make a donation toward the Saints’ trip to Las Vegas, call the Neumann-Goretti athletic office at 215-215-465-8437 ext. 277.