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The New England Lady Gators!

www.ladygatorsaau.org


Leo Maloney, Director/Coach
leojmaloney@yahoo.com

About the Director
Leo Maloney is entering his 16th year as Director of the Lady Gators, and is returning to the sidelines after a 5-year hiatus. He has watched the organization grow to be one of the most well known and respected AAU organizations in the Northeast. The Lady Gators host 4 of the top and best organized Girl's AAU tournaments in the country, with over 500 teams participating each year from the US and Canada. 

The tournaments are held in 4 different locations in Massachusetts, and are hosted by several Division II and III College venues. Most of the venues are multiple-court sites, and several are air conditioned.

This year will be the 13th annual Shootout Classic, 10th annual Spring Fling, 5th Annual Spring Challenge, and 3rd annual College Showcase.

In it's first 3 years, the "Lady Gators College Showcase" has grown from 23 teams participating and 13 college coaches attending, to 48 teams and 34 college coaches. Our plans are to have the "Showcase" max out with 88 of the top 15U-17U Teams in the region participating. We hold this tournament to showcase the talent of girls who want to play in Division II or III colleges, and expect to have over 100 college coaches in attendance within a few years as the reputation of the tournament spreads.

 


 

Len Palizza, 14U Team
rireb13@yahoo.com

 

Coach Palizza joined the Lady Gators staff in 2001. At that time he took over a struggling 14U team. Three years later, as 16U's, the team finished with a 35-9 record. Six members of that team went on to play college basketball and are just finishing their freshman year.

Coach Palizza has extensive experience as a basketball coach. He has spent a year as an assistant coach at Roger Williams University, 4 years as a high school assistant coach, 8 years as a high school head coach, and 13 years as an AAU head coach.

In 1996, Coach Palizza founded a 14U team called the Rhode Island Rebels (no connection to the RI Rebels that exist today). Three years later, as a 16U team, the Rebels were 32-12 playing at an elite level up and down the East coast. They went 9-3 in two trips to the Blue Chip Tournament in Philadelphia and also went to the Junior Nationals. Nine of the 10 girls on the team went on to play college basketball (4 Div I, 4 Div II, and 1 Junior College). Four of the 5 members of the 1999 Rhode Island All-State team were Rebels. All in all, Coach Palizza has worked with approximately 26 girls in the 14-16 age bracket in AAU, of which 15 have gone on to play college basketball.

Coach Palizza's 14U team finished 15-17 in 2007. Although the team went 0 for their last 11 games, they stepped up their level of competition and all but one of the losses was close and competitive. A couple of "highlights" of the season were losing by 11 to the CT Shamrocks National Team  and by 5 to the CT Storm National Team. The team's last 3 tournaments were the Saratoga Sparks, the Lady Gators College Showcase, and the Liberty Belles Shootout - 3 very strong tournaments. The team's inexperience at that level was their disadvantage this year, but is not expected to be a problem next year.  If everybody comes back and one more "big" girl can be recruited, Coach Palizza predicts they'll beat 7-8 of the teams they lost to.

Tryouts for the 2008 season have not been set yet, but if any 5'10" girls are interested in joining the team, please email me.


 

Kerri Higgins, Assistant Coach 10U Team
klhiggs32@yahoo.com

 

The Lady Gators are very happy to welcome Kerri Higgins as the assistant coach of the 10U team. Kerri began playing AAU basketball at the age of 10. That year her team won the Massachusetts State Championship and traveled to the Nationals in Orlando, FL. She continued to play AAU for the next 8 years. She played basketball for Wakefield High School, where she was the 2002-03 team captain, Middlesex League All-Star 2002 & 2003, Middlesex League All-League 2003, team MVP 2003, and received the 2002 Coach's Award. In 2002 she was selected to the Massachusetts "Best of the Best" for female basketball players. The U.S. Marine Corps named Kerri the Wakefied High School Female Athlete of the Year in 2003.

Kerri played two years of basketball at the collegiate level at Suffolk University and was the a leader of the GNAC conference in three-point shooting through much of the 2004-05 season. Upon graduation, Kerri began working for Mellon Financial in May of 2007.

Kerri has coached AAU for three years as well as worked as a basketball trainer for Hoop Specialists formerly of North Andover.


Leo J. Maloney, Director
Lady Gators Basketball
5 Nottingham Way
Stoneham, MA 02180
Phone: 781-438-6163
email: leojmaloney@yahoo.com