Cindy Neal, the former Smithfield High Hall of Fame girls basketball coach and current Bay View athletic director, said it best:

“Heather Buck may be tall, but Brittany Wilson does it all,” Neal said last Thursday night.

Neal had just watched Buck, the Stonington (Conn.) High 6-foot-3 All-American who has signed with UConn, and Wilson, the Bay View two-time senior All-Stater who is headed to Northeastern next year, match up against each other in an interstate, nonleague game that Bay View won, 77-64.

Buck finished as the game’s high scorer with 29 points while Wilson had 26, but it was Wilson’s all-around play, especially in the second half, that was the highlight of the game.

Wilson, a 5-9 forward/guard, has taken her game to the point where she now legitimately can be compared to some of the best girls who have ever played high school basketball in Rhode Island.

Different players have used different skills to earn their spot on the list of all-time best Rhode Island high school female basketball players. Chelsea Marandola and Christina Batastini were great shooters. Wilson is a good shooter, but her style of play reminds me of the way Shannon Perry thrilled Rhode Island basketball fans when she was playing for La Salle back in the late 1990s.

Believe me, being compared to Perry is a huge compliment.

Perry and Wilson are basically the same size. Perry was listed at 5-8 during her playing days at La Salle, Syracuse and Bryant University. Wilson is listed as 5-9. But the similarity between the two goes well beyond height.

Like Perry, Wilson is quick, has great leaping ability, can run the floor with the ball and contributes to her team’s success at both ends of the court. Wilson also seems to have that special ability to take over a game when her team is in trouble like Perry did so often during her La Salle days.

Wilson has a great team around her this season, so there are not a lot of nights when she needs to be the constant center of attention. But when she needs to take over the spotlight, she can, like she did in the second half last Thursday night sparking a Bay View comeback. She scored points, she made a host of steals, including several on high passes into Buck and she continually initiated fastbreaks with her rebounding.

She does it all and it’s fun to watch it.

Much interest in Bennett

Speaking of talented Rhode Island athletes, Warwick’s Mac Bennett, currently a sophomore at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut, already is being pursued by some of the nation’s college hockey powers.

Bennett, the son of former Cranston East and Brown hockey star Jim Bennett, is a smooth-skating 6-0, 170-pound defenseman. In December he helped Hotchkiss captured the team title and earned individual all-tournament honors at the Flood-Marr tourney, a highly regarded prep school holiday tournament.

The word is Michigan, Boston College and Boston University are among the schools that would like to have Bennett skating for them in a few years.

Battle of the best tonight

It’s always interesting when Mount St. Charles and Catholic Memorial play a hockey game, but this season their annual nonleague, interstate matchup is even more intriguing.

It will be Massachusetts’s No. 1 against Rhode Island’s No. 1 tonight at 6 o’clock when the Mounties and Knights meet at the new Dedham Ice Arena.

Undefeated Catholic Memorial currently is the No. 1 ranked team in the Boston Globe’s Massachusetts high school hockey poll with an 11-0-4 record. Mount St. Charles, which has lost nonleague games to Fairfield Prep of Connecticut and Holy Angels of Minnesota, solidified its position as the top team in Rhode Island last Friday night with its 9-4 victory over Hendricken. It was the Mount’s third victory this season over the two-time defending state champion Hawks.

Mount looks to wrap it up

Mount St. Charles will not have much time to rest up after tonight’s meeting with Catholic Memorial as the Mounties will be back in action Thursday night trying to clinch the R.I. Interscholastic League Division I regular-season title at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

Mount will meet La Salle in the second game of a doubleheader at 8 o’clock at the Dunk on Thursday. If Mount St. Charles posts its 12th league victory of the season, the Mounties will be assured of the top seed for the Division I playoffs and no less than a regular-season co-championship.

Hendricken may not have much chance of catching Mount in the race for the regular-season Division I title, but the Hawks can clinch the No. 2 seed for the state tournament with a victory over Moses Brown in the 6 p.m. game of Thursday night’s program.

Gatorade: Uttley state’s best

North Kingstown’s Brett Uttley has been named the Gatorade Rhode Island boys Soccer Player of the Year for the second consecutive year. Uttley, a two-time high school All-American, led the Skippers to the state title and an undefeated season last fall as he scored 13 goals and assisted on 16 tallies.

Logan bound for Georgetown

Chancellor Logan, the 2006 North Kingstown High All-Stater football player who is spending this year at The Gunnery School in Connecticut, has committed to play at Georgetown next year.

Logan, a running back, was the New England Prep School Athletic Association’s Class B Player of the Year last fall as he rushed for 1,272 yards and scored 21 touchdowns.

1,000 points for Hanuschak

Cumberland’s Brian Hanuschak, a senior basketball player at St. Andrew’s, surpassed the 1,000-career-point mark last week with an 18-point performance in a 71-48 victory over Masters Academy.

Rogers to honor DeWitt

Former Rogers High and Bryant (College) University basketball star Ernie DeWitt will have his Rogers number retired at a halftime ceremony of the Rogers-Narragansett game on Feb. 19 at Newport. DeWitt scored 1,545 points in his three years at Rogers, from 1975-77. He then went on to Bryant where he become the first Rhode Island college player to score 2,000 points and grab 1,000 rebounds.

Hawks making a splash

Hendricken’s victory over Barrington last Monday in a showdown between the undefeated boys swimming powers makes the Hawks the favorite for the team title at the state meet on Feb. 24.

The Hawks are looking for their 19th consecutive state team title.

jgillool@projo.com