By Dylan Butler
Three years later, the Patriots have their coach back as Eisenberg was reinstated last April and with a team that is eight or nine players deep, Francis Lewis again has a great chance to return to the World's Most Famous Arena.
“We have a chance to be pretty good,” Eisenberg said. “We had eight or nine players who have good ability and experience in basketball. I'm going to learn from them, and they're going to learn from me.”
Lewis is one of just seven teams in the Queens 'A' division, joining perennial powerhouses August Martin and Cardozo as well as Hillcrest, Jamaica, Townsend Harris and Bryant in the PSAL's realignment. There are 21 Queens teams in three 'B' divisions this year.
Lissette Morales, 5-foot-8 senior forward who averaged 18 points per game last year, and Diane Ramirez, 5-foot-5 senior guard, are the only players who played for Eisenberg in 1998 and both are expected to lead this young group.
Eisenberg said one key to Lewis' success is sophomore Teresa Rozza, who takes over as starting point guard from graduated Shaq Campbell. Fellow sophomore Alanna Adams, a 5-foot-11 sophomore Eisenberg calls “a throwback player,” should be a force under the basket as will 5-foot-10 Alaina Davis and 5-foot-10 freshman forward Jasmin Lawrence. Junior Nicole Iannotto, a 5-foot-9 forward, is also much improved.
Joel Ascher has built a dynasty in his 20-plus years at August Martin as the Angles have won 12 of the last 18 PSAL titles and seems to make an annual trek to the Garden. But according to Ascher, it won't be as easy this year.
“This is probably going to be the most challenging year in my career at August Martin,” he said. “We have a lot of problems, we don't have experienced big people this year. We might struggle to make the playoffs.”
Gone from a team that went 21-3 and advanced to the PSAL 'A' semifinals last year are Tamika Cox, a 6-foot-3 forward who went to Stony Brook, and 5-foot-11 Tiffany McDonald, a forward at New York Tech.
Also, one of the team's top returning players, Ronniesha Lucas is out for the year with a torn ACL.
Ascher said a lot of responsibility will rest on the shoulders of the team's four seniors: 5-foot-9 Eboni Williams, who is expected to play in the middle, 5-foot-6 Theresa Taylor, a forward, and guards Yashika Williams (5-foot-7) and Cherita Gray (5-foot-5). Junior Samantha Glover, a 5-foot-6 hard-nosed forward, should round out the starting lineup.
Sophomores Monique Jenkins, a 5-foot-4 guard, and Electra Moore, a 5-foot-7 sophomore, should add depth with Moore helping underneath the basket.
Cardozo head coach Larry Carradine returns four starters from a team that beat out Francis Lewis for the division championship last year, including senior point guard Shavonne Roundtree and senior forward January Johnson – two of the top players in Queens. Also back are seniors Kelly Kaso and Christine Curatolo and junior Ashley Prager, but an unexpected loss is sophomore Erin Breen, who transferred to The Mary Louis Academy.
“We're going to be a small team,” Carradine said. “Shavonne, January and Kelly have been there for three years and are seasoned veterans. We should be a good pressing team, but we're very small so we have to be able to force teams into mistakes with our pressure.”
Townsend Harris is yet another school hurt by graduation as the Hawks lost Kristie Von Ohlen, the school's all-time leading scorer with 1,048 points who is now at New York University. Also gone is 6-foot-1 center Roseanne Antonelli.
With the exception of 5-foot-8 junior Kristina Casper, the team's leading returning scorer who averaged 13 points per game last year, and Danielle Carlino, a 5-foot-9 senior center, Townsend Harris is guard heavy.
Sophomore Andi Strauss, a 5-foot-6 point guard, 5-foot-8 junior Jessica Scharoff and 5-foot-3 senior Tayla Oberfield are all top returning players while 5-foot-7 freshman Shanay Freeman should blossom into one of the better players in Queens in the near future.
“You can never have enough guards,” said Townsend Harris head coach Larry Cerulo. “We're going to try and utilize our speed.”
Jamaica also lost a huge chunk of last year's team that went 14-10 and lost to Curtis in the first round of the playoffs.
“We lost everybody from last year,” said Jamaica head coach Steve Heiss. “We're going to be real inexperienced. We'll see how it goes.”
The biggest loss for the Beavers is 6-foot-3 Osato Edobar-Osula, who is at Division I George Mason. Also gone are starters Uniqua Radford, a 5-foot-10 forward and 6-foot-3 Trevlyn Hadley. An unexpected loss for Jamaica was point guard Kim Hall, who moved to Florida before her senior year.
Heiss will look to a pair of sophomores, 6-foot Nicola Vernon and 5-foot-8 Ashaki Anokye, for leadership this year.
Bryant and Hillcrest round out the division.
