Lewis built Ford tough

Behind first year senior’s career high, Patriots win 6th straight crown
BY ZACHARY BRAZILLER
Predicted by many to be in danger of relinquishing their throne atop Queens Public School girls’ basketball, Francis Lewis simply reiterated their dominance this season.
The Patriots beat their chief competitors, Cardozo, for the second time last Wednesday afternoon, outclassing the Judges, 62-52, at home behind career-highs of 21 points and six blocks from first-year senior Kristina Ford.
After falling in the city championship for the second straight year last March, the Patriots lost two of their five starters to graduation, and appeared to be vulnerable.
Nonetheless, led by their two constants - Virginia Tech-bound forward Vionca Murray and Diatiema Hill (Massachusetts) - Lewis won their sixth straight Queens A title, and ran their unbeaten streak in league play to 69. Murray led the Patriots with 21 points and 16 rebounds while Hill added 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
“We don’t rebound as well as last year, we don’t defend as well as last year, but some things we do better,” Lewis Coach Michael Eisenberg said. “I think this team has exceeded many expectations.”
None more so than the first Patriot off the bench, Ford, in her inaugural year of high school basketball. The 6-foot-1 forward produced her finest afternoon against Cardozo, igniting an 18-4 run with three straight baskets bridging the last two minutes of the first quarter and the first five of the second. After the spurt, Lewis led the Judges 30-14, and the result was merely inevitable. Cardozo would make a run late, cutting a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to four at one point, only to see the rangy Ford seal it with a three-point play.
“It’s hard coming back against a team like that,” Cardozo Coach Larry Carradine said.
Ford, no stranger to the sport – she played A.A.U. ball with the Pro Bound Angels and in various playgrounds in the area – didn’t have any interest in trying out for the basketball team until her junior year but then was deemed academically ineligible. Last spring, Eisenberg told her if she got her grades up, she would be a factor.
“He told me he would work with me,” she said. “I didn’t have any doubts. Eisenberg’s a great coach.”
The coach has seen positive strides in Ford’s game. “She’s a Division I athlete,” he said. “She’s improved a lot since the beginning of the year.”
Returning their entire starting lineup from a year ago, Cardozo (17-5, 11-2 Queens A) was expected to challenge the Patriots (19-2, 14-0 Queens A) at the top of Queens A. But they lost the first meeting between the two teams, blowing a second half lead. And in their latest encounter, came out flat, and far worse, unprepared.
“They made more adjustments than us,” admitted Cardozo point guard Marissa Flagg, who led the Judges with 14 points and six assists. “Hopefully, we get one more chance at them in the playoffs.”