By: Sean Moylan
This season, Vince Cipriano will look for his great senior leadership to lead the Florence Township Memorial High girls’ varsity basketball team back to the playoffs.
The Flashes are expecting Caitlin Fitzpatrick (a senior forward-guard), Lauren Jacobsen (a senior center), Carly Blanton (a senior guard), Kiara Boone (a junior forward), Jessica Foulks (a junior guard-forward) and Erin Sweeney (a sophomore guard-forward) to log a lot of minutes on the court.
"Those six will be my iron women," added Cipriano. "After that, we don’t have a whole lot of experience."
C. Fitzpatrick is an all-star player who can play any position on the court. Jacobsen offers Florence size and some strong inside moves while Blanton is a good ball-handler and scorer. Foulks is an excellent shooter. Boone is a tenacious defender and Sweeney is a good rebounder and inside player.
"At 5 feet 5 inches tall, Sweeney does a heck of a job," added Cipriano.
Elizabeth Shaffer (a junior center), Maria Chapman (a sophomore forward), Payla Loran (a sophomore guard), Katie Schreck (a sophomore guard) and Molly Fitzpatrick (a freshman guard-forward) could also see some varsity time. Chakera Hightower, a fine young player, also has looked good in practices.
"We had a nice turnout (23 girls came out for the team)," said Cipriano, whose Flashes recently played well in a scrimmage versus Cinnaminson.
Cipriano, who is entering his 24th year as Florence’s head coach, is used to his teams making the playoffs. Last year’s club finished 13-12 and made the state tournament. But if the Flashes can stay healthy this year’s team can be even better. As always, Cipriano will be assisted by his good friend George Chwastyk, who always does a wonderful job with Florence’s girls’ junior varsity basketball program.
Florence is scheduled to open with a home game versus New Egypt at 6:15 p.m. on Friday. Florence will play at Delran 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

