Name: Rachele Burriesci
School: The Mary Louis Academy
Sport: Basketball
Position: Forward
Year: Senior
Height: 5-foot-7
Rachele Burriesci is the lone reason Mary Louis basketball coach Joe Lewinger tracks the obscure stat, “charges drawn.”
Despite giving up several inches and pounds to just about anyone she plays in the low post, the 5-foot-7 senior forward battles with the best of them, is a tenacious defender and, yes, draws a number of charges per game.
In fact, the hard-nosed Burriesci draws so many charges that after coming back from a broken ankle she suffered in the summer, she had to visit a chiropractor recently to get her back and shoulders realigned.
Against rival Archbishop Molloy, Burriesci drew three charges but also scored 12 points and grabbed 7 rebounds for the Hilltoppers in a 57-51 win Friday.
“She is the hub of the offense and defense,” Lewinger said of Burriesci, who has drawn interest from New York Tech. “She knows basketball; she’s the only person on the team to see the whole floor on defense.”
Despite facing a constant double-team, Burriesci then scored 10 points in Mary Louis’ 47-42 loss Monday.
Honor Roll
Rahshon Clark had 22 points in Beach Channel’s Queens Borough semifinal win over rival Far Rockaway and netted 16 points in a quarterfinal victory over Forest Hills … Far Rock’s Richard Forbes had 19 points and 12 assists in a Queens Borough quarterfinal win over Bayside, and then the city’s leading scorer netted a game-high 28 points in the loss to BC … Ivan Marnika scored 18 points for Molloy in a loss to Xaverian and a win over McClancy … Bryan Dunston scored 13 points with 10 rebounds for St. John’s Prep in a win over Nazareth … After scoring 20 points and grabbing 16 rebounds in the Cardozo girls’ basketball team’s come-from-behind win over neighborhood rival Bayside in the Queens Borough quarterfinals, junior forward Britni Bolden scored a game-high 29 points in a loss to August Martin in the semifinals … Caitlin Kennedy scored 24 points and had 12 rebounds in St. Francis Prep’s 61-59 win over Molloy … Francis Lewis swimmer Timothy Hwang won the 100-yard butterfly Sunday at Lehman College in 1:13.83 at the PSAL 2003 Novice Swim Meet.
