Cardozo flounders in Brooklyn

Cardozo center Adenike Oyesile said what her teammates wouldn’t. Still steaming after the Judges’ 59-53 loss in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn to Grand Street Campus, she spoke the cold, hard truth about the performance.
“They wanted it more - point blank,” she said. “We didn’t play like we wanted to win the game.”
Two days after falling to Francis Lewis, leaving an opening to the Queens AA crown they had seemed in control of, Oyesile expected her teammates to be ready against the Wolves, a PSAL Class A semifinalist a season ago. Instead, they fell behind early, 14-5, and after fighting back to regain the lead, wilted down the stretch, undone by a late 10-0 run.
Nicole Garzon (16 points, three assists) gave the Judges the lead, 47-45, with three minutes remaining, but the Wolves (7-3 Brooklyn AA Group II) quickly answered over the next few minutes.
Taking advantage of Oyesile’s reluctance to step up because of foul trouble, Shadae Rice and Wykeemia Gray converted consecutive 3-point plays in the paint, Keona Jones stole a Nikita Green pass and went coast to coast for another basket and free throw, and Gray finished inside following an offensive rebound.
“In every game between two good teams like this there are momentum runs,” Cardozo Coach Larry Carradine said. “It goes back and fourth.”
Unfortunately, for the Judges, there wasn’t enough time for another comeback. Lekesha Harris, who scored a team-high 22 points, knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers, bringing the Judges within three with 15 seconds remaining, but Gray knocked down a free throw to clinch it.
“A couple of turnovers and a few bad decisions cost us the game,” Oyesile lamented afterward.
Foul trouble - Cinandra Palmer fouled out, Oyesile had four and the other starters all had at least three - loomed large in the deciding moments. “We couldn’t put as much pressure on them as we needed,” Green (seven assists) said. “Nobody could pressure the ball.”
Despite the loss, Cardozo took a somewhat optimistic outlook as they headed back to Queens. Sure, they coughed up the lead late. Yet they hung tough against one of the best programs in the city, in the opponent’s gym, after digging an early hole.
“We played a lot better game than we played against Lewis,” Carradine said. “Today, we played team ball. We did exactly what I wanted. We became a better team because of today’s game.”
The consecutive league losses, which dropped Cardozo to 7-3 in Queens AA, one game up on Francis Lewis at 6-4, don’t have the Judges second-guessing themselves, Oyesile maintained. “Not at all,” she said. “We still have the same confidence.”