“She is a good athlete, but not exceptional. I don’t think she was the fastest girl on the court in any game or practice she played in.” So said Herricks Girls” Basketball Head Coach Glenn Lavey about senior Lady Highlander Alison Ricchiuti.
Ricchiuti has been named Nassau County Player of the Year by both the Nassau County Coaches Association and by Verizon FIOS.
Her introduction to varsity basketball came as an eighth-grader on a 5-13 team. While she demonstrated strong potential for the game, potential is nothing but disappointment if one does not do anything meaningful about it. Her work ethic throughout her career has been outstanding.
Ricchiuti’s two biggest role models among Herricks all-time Lady Highlanders have been Natalie Castano, the program’s last 1,000-point scorer, and current assistant coach Kim Mui, Herricks last All-Long Island Player back in 2008 (Ricchiuti wore No. 3 in honor of Mui). The world is full of so-called athletes who show up on the first day of team practice. That is the bare minimum that one would expect of them.
Ricchiuti worked out four times each week for two to three hours per day the past four summers. She kept a journal, set and reset goals. Ricchiuti attended point guard college training camp, and she played AAU Elite Basketball for two years for the Long Island Lightning. There is no ‘extra’ if one really wants to be good.
The energy, skills, and determination of this unassuming, somewhat reluctant star have helped to lead her team to a 58-13 overall record and two conference titles over the past four years. Over her varsity basketball career, Ricchiuti has been named All-Conference, a two-time Conference Player of the Year, and has been All-County three times.
She has also earned All-Long Island honors and Second Team All-State honors placing her truly among the elite. Along the way Ricchiuti has become Herricks all-time leading scorer with 1,347 points.
“Alison was not a girl who I expected to achieve such great heights,” coach Lavey noted. “That, however, is pretty often the case. Sheer talent and potential never amount to much in the long run without dogged determination, an intense desire to be better each day than you were the day before . . . to surpass yourself. These qualities have been her hallmark, and they will serve her well as she attends Ithaca College, where she will continue both her education and her basketball career.”
