By Dylan Butler
It seemed the only people who thought the Francis Lewis girls’ basketball team had a chance to win the PSAL ‘A’ title were the Patriots’ 12 players and two coaches.
Everyone else in the crowd of 8,969 Saturday at Madison Square Garden waited for the blowout, waited for three-time defending champions Murry Bergtraum to take over the game, especially with the Patriots playing without starting point guard Teresa Rozza, out with torn ligaments in her left ankle.
One quarter passed, then halftime, and finally the fourth quarter was about to start — still no Lady Blazers blowout.
Finally, second-seeded Bergtraum put the game out of reach, outscoring No. 1 Lewis 20-8 in the fourth quarter to win its fourth straight PSAL city crown, 63-44.
The Lady Blazers advance to the State Federation championships in Glens Falls where they will face Catholic Central in the Class ‘A’ semifinals Friday at 1:30 p.m.
“It was harder without Teresa, but the feeling by a lot of people was that we had no chance,” said Lewis head coach Mike Eisenberg. “My kids were the most confident people in New York City that we could beat them. And for three quarters we showed that.”
But in the fourth quarter, injury-depleted Francis Lewis (27-4), who defeated the Lady Blazers, 50-44 Jan. 13, simply ran out of gas as for the first time Bergtraum (26-2) was able to get out and run on the slower Patriots.
Shameena Felix (12 points) and Crystal McFadden (16 points, 10 rebounds) each slashed to the hole to start the fourth quarter to extend Bergtraum’s seven-point lead to 13, 49-36.
It didn’t look like McFadden, who was named the game’s MVP for a second straight year, would have much of an impact early on as the junior forward picked up her third foul with 5:34 left in the second quarter and sat for the remainder of the first half.
“Sitting on the bench, I thought I was going to start to cry,” McFadden said. “But I just settled down and cheered for my teammates.”
Seeing McFadden saddled with foul trouble also gave a boost to Francis Lewis.
“Would the Knicks think good things if Shaquille O’Neal went out with three fouls early? It wasn’t the worst part of my day, I know that,” Eisenberg said.
Maria Miaoulis (13 points, seven rebounds) and Jasmin Lawrence did a great job of finding open shots in the first half. Lawrence led Francis Lewis with 15 points and on back-to-back jumpers the sophomore guard gave the Patriots a 24-23 lead with 2:27 left in the second quarter, forcing Bergtraum head coach Ed Grezinsky to call timeout.
But in the second half, Bergtraum mixed up several zone defenses, including a diamond-and-one to limit the Patriots’ perimeter shooting. Once the shots didn’t fall, the Lady Blazers dominated the glass, outrebounding Lewis 39-22.
“We got tired,” Eisenberg said. “Usually we play nine, 10, 11 kids but today we basically played seven. We just got tired and they’re a great team. They’re not the four-time city champions for nothing.”
For Grezinsky and the Lady Blazers, each championship gets sweeter and more difficult to win while Francis Lewis, which fell to Bergtraum, 72-36, in last year’s title game at the Garden, got a little closer and with all but two players returning next season, have a great chance of being back in the title game next year.
“We beat Bergtraum by six but we also know we have to beat them at the Garden,” Miaoulis said. “We had a great year and we played our hearts out. We’re happy we got this far.”
“I’m not thinking about next year,” added Eisenberg. “I’m not thinking about Bergtraum because that gives me a lot of stressful headaches.”
Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.
