Cinderella ride ends with a thud

When Bryant’s Christi Rattu found her game last month after returning from reconstructive knee surgery in July, so did the Owls, advancing all the way to the PSAL Class B semifinals for the first time since 2000.
Her teammates failed to support her at St. Francis College, as Bryant’s remarkable playoff run came to a sudden halt Tuesday evening. The eleventh-seeded Owls were blasted by No. 10 Jefferson, 68-33, in the semifinals.
Rattu scored a game-high 22 points on five 3-pointers, but as Jimmy Exarhos, the frustrated Bryant Coach, said afterward, “The rest of the team didn’t show up. I thought we just weren’t ready to play.”
Elisha Raiford, the Owls’ leading scorer and rebounder, managed just five points, and Denise Diego also had five. Bryant (17-6) finished in a tie for third place in Queens II-B, but as Rattu regained her form heading into the playoffs, the team jelled. But their magical run came to a disappointing end against a better Jefferson (21-6) squad.
“It’s very frustrating, it’s heartbreaking,” Rattu said. “It was a bad day. Some people were intimidated. We worked too hard to just fall apart [like this].”
After upsets over No. 3 Newtown (who had beaten them twice during the regular season) and powerhouse Martin Van Buren, the sixth seed, Bryant had no answer for the Orange Wave’s size and athleticism. “We thought we had a chance,” Exarhos said, “but obviously when we got on the court it was different.”
Rattu drained a 3-pointer on the Owls’ opening possession, but they would never lead after that. Jefferson scored the next eight points and led 11-6 after the opening quarter. A 15-4 second-quarter run pushed the Orange Wave’s lead to 30-11. Impressive freshman Lucky Takima led Jefferson with 21 points and senior Talaya Robinson added 15.
The lopsided defeat, “shocked the hell out of me,” Exarhos said. “This was not the team I coached the last three or four weeks.”