By Anthony Bosco
Queens had five girls’ high school basketball teams competing for five different championship trophies this weekend and three of those teams came home with titles.
The three teams that won all captured state crowns in the Catholic High School Athletic Association, in different divisions. The Christ the King Royals won the coveted ‘A’ crown, followed by St. Francis Prep earning the ‘B’ title and The Mary Louis Academy claiming victory in the ‘D’ competition. All three teams will head upstate to Glens Falls to compete for the New York State Federation titles in their respective classes.
The two teams that lost, Francis Lewis and John Adams, may not be crowned champions this season, but what they did in losing was equally as impressive. Maybe even more so.
One look at the girls’ high school basketball landscape in recent years points out the fact that Christ the King and St. Francis Prep are virtual locks to make the trip up to Glens Falls every year. Christ the King is a nationally ranked program led by some of the area’s most talented players, while St. Francis Prep has been half a step behind the Royals for most of the past decade. Mary Louis, on the other hand, is a new success story.
While Shay Doron and Dawn Gorynski have led CK and Prep, respectively, and have made a name for themselves in the process, Donna Lohrey and the Mary Louis Hilltoppers have also had their share of successes this season, culminating Saturday with a win in the CHSAA ‘D’ state championships at St. John’s University.
Coached by Joe Lewinger Jr., Mary Louis is a scrappy bunch of undersized players — Lohrey included — who have simply worked hard all season long to put themselves in position to head upstate, the first time the school has made the trip.
I’m not trying to say that Mary Louis is in the same category as both CK and Prep, but what they have done making it to Glens Falls is a huge lift for a program that was long considered a walk-over win for their more respected opponents in the Brooklyn/Queens Diocesan.
Lewinger is a good young coach who has improved the program since taking it over two seasons ago. Whether or not the team can continue to climb the ladder up to the ‘C’ division next year, only time will tell. But this season has seen the Mary Louis basketball team make a name for itself and that is something I thought I would never see.
As for CK and Prep, their trip upstate is not surprising, but something has got to be said for these two teams that have continually achieved success among the toughest competition around.
CK, coached by Bob Mackey and led by stars Shay Doron and Cigi McCollin, rolled the league play undefeated this season and were a virtual lock to represent the CHSAA at the State Federation Tournament this weekend in Glens Falls. Last year, CK came up short of winning the Federation title for the first time in more than a decade, something Mackey and his girls will try to prevent this season.
St. Francis Prep, is led by coach Tom Finn and by the scrappy play of Dawn Gorynski, who became perhaps the most under-recruited female high school athlete in my tenure here at the TimesLedger. The club had its ups and downs during the league season, but come crunch time was right there — pushing the CK Royals to the limit in the Brooklyn/Queens title game.
Even if Prep had won, it still would have been the ‘B’ representative at the Federation tournament, something worked out prior to the start of the season. But an upset sure would have made things interesting.
On the other side of the coin are the two Queens teams that earned spots in the Public School Athletic League’s two girls’ city championship games, Francis Lewis and John Adams, in the ‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions, respectively. Neither team won their title game, but they too have proved to be consistent winners whose heart was without question.
The John Adams girls’ team, making its third straight trip to the city championship — winning two years ago and losing in overtime last season — fought valiantly against Bronx Leadership last Thursday night at St. Francis College, but came up a point shy in a heartbreaking loss.
Still, the team was impressive. Led by coach Harold Krieger and star Francesca Romano, the Spartans did everything but win. They displayed true grit throughout the game and certainly showed that girls’ ‘B’ basketball in the PSAL can be played with just as much intensity as its ‘A’ counterpart.
The Francis Lewis Patriots also showed heart and courage in losing to Murry Bergtraum last weekend at Madison Square Garden. With star Teresa Rozza forced to sit out with an ankle injury, coach Mike Eisenberg and Co. knew they would have to play perfect to hang with the two-time defending champs.
And for a while they did. The Patriots fought for every loose ball, battled under the glass and made tough shots, but in the long run Bergtraum simply had too much.
Even with the losses, the week was a stellar one for Queens high school girls’ basketball. So let’s hear it for the girls.
Reach Sports Editor Anthony Bosco by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 130.
