Fox Lane girls shine on senior night with win over Greeley

Cora Moore comes up with a steal on defense against Greeley. Riley New leads a fast break on senior night. Morgan Clinton finishes strong inside for the Foxes. Jim MacLean Photos

By JIM MACLEAN 

By now, it is hard to imagine the Fox Lane girls basketball team without the Class of 2026 on the court. Fox Lane has eight seniors on the roster, and two of them have been on varsity for five years and another one for four years.

So it was a special night for the eight seniors to take the court on Senior Night, Friday, Feb. 6, against rival Horace Greeley. The Fox Lane seniors made the most of it, enjoying a pregame ceremony with family and friends, and then putting on a show in front of the big crowd to pull away for a 49-28 victory.

Riley New is one of the seniors who have been on varsity since eighth grade, and she led the way for the Foxes with 17 points in the win over Greeley.

“I’ve been playing with these girls since we were little, so this night really means a lot to us,” New said of senior night. “We’re all best friends, and I got to play with my sister the last two years and it’s been great. For all the fans to come out and see us tonight, we work really hard in practice and nobody really sees that, so this is a special night for us.”

Morgan Clinton is another senior that has been on the varsity since eighth grade, and Cora Moore has been on varsity since ninth grade. Senior starter Kami Boniello had to leave the game after a few minutes as she battled an injury, and senior Lily Rosenthal has been out injured all season. Senior twin sisters Amanda and Natalie Mazzuca and senior Nora Dooley were hustling all over the court on senior night as the seniors made their presence felt one more time on the home court for their last regular season home game.

“Obviously, senior night there’s a lot of emotions, the girls thinking about their careers, playing Greeley our biggest rival, all of that plays into it and all night we had a lot of seniors that played a lot of minutes,” Fox Lane coach Kris Matts said of his senior class. “Riley and Morgan have been on varsity for five years and their careers have been very impressive. Morgan has over 600 rebounds and 600 points, an amazing career, and Riley is approaching the 1,000-point mark. Cora has been on varsity four years and she’s been great. They’re all great kids and they expect so much from themselves. They’ve been playing together forever and they’ve worked really hard their whole career. We have a good record because of their hustle.”

Amanda Mazzuca got the Foxes started as she scored the first hoop of the game and the Foxes never trailed, opening up a 13-7 lead at the end of the first quarter with Dooley hitting a pair of outside shots. Riley New scored 11 of her points in the first half, and Moore came up with a steal on defense and scored at the buzzer to make it a 26-14 lead at halftime.

Moore also finished in double figures for the Foxes as she scored 11 points overall. Clinton added 8 points, while Dooley scored 6 points for the Foxes. Amanda Mazzuca finished with 4 points, and Dylan New scored 3 points to round out the scoring for Fox Lane.

“The score made it look easier than it was, Greeley played a strong game,” added Matts. “Nora Dooley really stepped up today. We struggled at the line, but defensively we played our usual tough game. I’m very happy with our intensity, but if we are going to make any noise in the playoffs we have to make shots.”

With the win Fox Lane improved to 11-7 overall as the Foxes have been on a hot streak, winning four of their last five games. In addition to the win at home over Greeley, Fox Lane won three games on the road at Blind Brook, Yorktown and Byram Hills, while losing a tough one on the road at Harrison. The Foxes have two more games on the road at Rye and then Mahopac on Friday, Feb. 13, to close out the regular season before heading into the playoffs.