By Dylan Butler
Christine Klusko knew what was at stake. A Forest Hills win at Robert F. Kennedy Friday and she and her teammates would capture the final playoff berth in Queens B-II. A loss and the two teams would square off again in a one-game playoff. Klusko could see the end of her high school career and she didn’t like it.
“I played my final home game the other day and I hated the feeling,” she said. “I love this team, they’re like family.”
Using the potential end of her high school career as motivation, Klusko and the Rangers jumped out to a 17-0 lead en route to a playoff-clinching 43-21 win.
Forest Hills (15-8, 8-4), which lost to Bryant in the PSAL ‘B’ semifinals last year at St. John’s University, advances to the playoffs to face JREC in the first round Thursday.
“We just want to get to the same spot as last year,” senior point guard Katherine Shea. “We didn’t do as well as we could have last year. We know what we have to do to get where we want to be.”
In the last meeting between the two schools, Panthers head coach Dave Cohen employed a tough 2-3 zone in a 32-30 victory at Forest Hills. But on Friday, the Rangers were prepared.
“We knew what they played and we prepared for days specifically for that,” said Rangers head coach Mark Zaretsky. “We were well prepared for their 2-3 zone.”
“They anticipated and prepared for [the zone] and before we could make a change, it was 17-0,” Kennedy head coach Dave Cohen said.
Jackie Lagoa finally put the Panthers on the board with a bucket from the left blocks with 1:13 left in the first quarter. The bucket sparked Kennedy (10-13, 6-6), which trailed 21-7 at the end of the first quarter.
The senior forward added eight more points from the paint in the second quarter as the Panthers trimmed Forest Hills’ lead to just seven, 25-18 at the break.
“We felt great at the half,” Cohen said. “We did a good job of weathering the storm.”
But it was the Rangers second run that put the game away. The combination of Klusko (14 points and 11 rebounds) from the blocks and the composed point guard play of fellow senior Shea, who smartly slowed the game to a crawl in the second half, led the Rangers to a 10-0 third quarter, giving Forest Hills what was an insurmountable 35-18 lead. The Rangers outscored Kennedy 8-3 in the fourth quarter to clinch the victory.
“We used so much energy to come back that we ran out of energy in the third quarter,” said Lagoa, who scored a team-high 10 points. “But I’m proud of my team. Everyone worked hard.”
While Shea (13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds) and Klusko did the job on the offensive zone, Zaretsky praised the defensive effort of Jackie Butler, who stymied Kennedy’s explosive point guard Michelle Wallace.
“She did exactly what we were looking for,” Zaretsky said. “Jackie was spectacular on defense, harassing [Wallace]. She played tenacious on the defensive end and keyed on one of their best players.”
Cardozo 39, Townsend Harris 31. Shavonne Roundtree, who was recovering from back spasms, had 17 points, five assists and five rebounds and January Johnson added 11 second half points and 10 rebounds as the Judges (17-6, 9-4) edged Townsend Harris for the final playoff spot in Queens A Monday. Kristina Casper paced Harris (17-5, 8-5) with 14 points.
The Judges forced the one-game playoff with Townsend Harris by defeating Jamaica, 60-38, Friday. Christina Curatolo had 13 points in the victory.
August Martin 67, Bryant 52. Annette Cabrera had 12 points and eight assists for Bryant in the loss. Martin improves to 14-6, 9-3 in Queens A.
Lane 57, Richmond Hill 47. Iris Cartagena had 19 points and seven assists and Taniqua Banks added 15 points and 10 boards for Lane (12-11, 6-6 Queens B-I). Maria Velasquez had 23 points for winless Richmond Hill.
Long Island City 53, Newtown 37. Anastasia Bitis (12 points) and Nina Ly (10 points) led LIC (12-10, 7-5 Queens B-III).
Van Buren 56, Flushing 44. Cherise Soto had 18 points and Shauntae Parker added 14 for the VeeBees (16-6, 10-2 Queens B-III). Monet Pledger placed Flushing (5-16, 2-10) with 20 points.
Bowne 66, Newcomers 51. Laura Burlacu had a triple-double for Newcomers (19 points, 19 rebounds and 13 steals), but it was enough as Nashaun Burrell (21 points) and Angela Frogoso (20 points) led Bowne (19-2, 10-2 Queens B-II).
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
