After mixing with the boys, the girls in the Newburgh Zion Lions’ basketball program are getting a league of their own.

The organization is holding registration for its new All-Girls Basketball League on Tuesday and September 7 at the St. Mary’s Church Gym on Gidney Avenue in Newburgh.

The league will have two divisions, ages 12-14 and ages 15-17, and games will be on Sunday mornings in September and October.

“I’m so excited,” Newburgh Zion Lions director Harold Rayford said. “I’m so happy this is about to happen. Watching the girls play and watching them develop over one year – and I know what we can do over the next two years.”

The idea for the league started about two years ago when, during a citywide basketball league at the Newburgh Armory and Unity Center, there were some girls playing and some of the parents suggested he start an AAU program for girls.

Rayford was hesitant because he said it can be hard to get girls to play, but they had a tryout for three age groups – 12U, 14U and 16U – in the spring and about 60 girls came out to the tryout.

“We actually had to cut girls, and that’s one thing I don’t like to do,” Rayford said. “I don’t like to turn any kid away, but we had to, it was the first year and we ended up stacking the teams kind of deep and we kept most of them.”

That AAU team had a great season, Rayford said. They all came to twice-weekly practices. Last year, the team went to six tournaments and won several tournaments as a first-year program.

“That was kind of exciting,” Rayford said. “So fast forward, I told the girls, ‘listen, I want you ladies to play in the all city-wide league. It’s going to make you stronger and tougher, and I want you to play.”

About 30 signed up and were mixed into the all city-wide league, which wrapped up last week at the Armory.

Orange won the 9-11 division and Lime Green won the 12-14 championship on August 15.

That’s when Rayford went to his longtime partner and Zion Lions assistant director Mike Fields with the idea and he was onboard, even though at the time they didn’t know where the league would play as the Zion Lions’ longtime home, the old St. Mary’s Gym, had suffered some water damage after some vandalism to the area sewer.

Work was finishing last week on repairs and a new coat of paint and polyurethane on the gym floor.

“I wanted it to be nice when the girls come in,” Rayford said. “We can’t afford a new floor, so we just did some patches and some little stuff to look good.”

The Zion Lions had been historically a boys’ program and Rayford had last coached girls in 2010, when his youngest daughter was playing AAU.

He’s also a certified Orange County basketball official, and he says there is a need for an area where young girls can learn the game.

The league will start with the two age groups, and after the season, Rayford said interest will be gauged again with an eye toward creating a younger age group. He expects to draw girls mostly from Newburgh, but also from around the area.

Even in advance of registration, word has been getting around as some of Rayford’s coaches like Lyndsie Nosek, Sarah Williams and Ali Mohamed have also spread the word on social media.

Rayford would like 40 as a minimum and about 60 as a maximum with a hope for four to six teams in each division, but he doesn’t want to take on too much too fast.

“You only want to do what you can handle when you first start something new,” Rayford said. “You want to run it smooth. You want it to be good so I never take on more than I can handle. Four teams in each age group is good, but I’m willing to do six.”