Borough powers face uphill climb

As they've done with the boys, the Public School Athletic League has added an AA super division on the girl's side where Bronx will face Manhattan and Queens contends with Brooklyn. The rigid competition comes at a tough time for borough powers August Martin and Francis Lewis.
Francis Lewis hasn't had much trouble in recent years with the rest of the borough, winning 83 of 84 league games in reaching the city championship five of the last six years. But this Patriots club is different from those in the past.
They graduated four starters, three of which are now Division I players - Diatiema Hill, Vionca Murray and Shatira Miller - while forward Kristina Ford is prepping at Notre Dame Prep, and may join them next fall.
&#8220I'm going to be doing more teaching of basketball than coaching of basketball,” Coach Michael Eisenberg said. &#8220Hopefully, we can sneak in and surprise people.”
Junior point guard Sylvia Davis will shoulder much of the burden. Improving sophomore guard Andree De Leon, a reserve a season ago, will start alongside Davis in the backcourt, and 5-foot-8 senior Michele Runko will be in the pivot.
&#8220Whatever our potential is,” Eisenberg said, &#8220that's what I strive for.”
While August Martin hasn't reached such grand heights as Francis Lewis, the Falcons were understandably optimistic entering the fall. They returned a pair of promising young starters - point guard Krystina Agard and forward Patrice Lewis - in the starting lineup with senior guards Shenese Major and Fachell Chamble.
But as the season begins, longtime Coach Joel Ascher is worried - extremely worried. Latoya Griffith and 6-foot-1 center Tenille Smallwood, a couple of sophomore reserves, haven't progressed the way he expected.
&#8220Sometimes, we look good, sometimes we look bad, sometimes we don't look at all,” Ascher said. &#8220We're not fitting well together right now. People don't understand what they're supposed to do. It's going to be a struggle until we get it right.”
Adding to their woes, the Falcons graduated last year's leading scorer, Denille Evans, who is now at Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey, and Lisa Salmon and Brittany Joseph were ruled academically ineligible to start the year.
But as long as Agard and the 6-foot Lewis, who combined to average 22 points per game a season ago, progress, they should hold their own, even against the heightened competition.
&#8220I would say more or less a lot depends on how they do,” the coach said. &#8220The rest of the team has to fit in.”