Mary Louis ‘Buzzes’ past Kearney

The first time Joe Lewinger saw Amanda Burakoski in game action, he knew at that very moment he was fortunate. It was last fall, in Mary Louis’s first scrimmage, when Burakoski, then a freshman, scored 30 points coming off the bench for the Hilltoppers.
“I was like, cool, alright,” the Mary Louis coach recalled. “I looked up to God and said thank you.”
After an impressive freshman year, Burakoski, known as ‘Buzz’ for her ability to effortlessly fly around the court like a bee, is still improving. She produced her best performance yet Monday evening, scoring a career-high 33 points - the most by any player in Lewinger’s seven years at the Jamaica Estates school - as the Hilltoppers walloped Bishop Kearney, 80-54, at Pitaro Gymnasium.
Casey Shevlin added 15, Kelly Puwalski had 14 and Maral Javadifar tallied 10 as Mary Louis inched to within a game in the loss column behind the Tigers, who were led by center Maria Laterza’s 26 points, for second place in the CHSAA Brooklyn/Queens division.
The 6-foot Burakoski, a Greenpoint, Brooklyn native, ignited a momentum-turning 13-0 run to end the opening quarter with seven points, three steals and a block, and had 18 by halftime on a bevy of jumpers, coast-to-coast layups and floaters in the lane.
“When she’s hot, she doesn’t miss at all,” Shevlin said. “She’s only just brushing the surface of what she’s gonna do.”
Perhaps, so are the Hilltoppers (14-4, 5-3). They came out of the gate blazing, winning their first 10 before a narrow loss at home to Christ the King, always a national powerhouse. After a disappointing 78-64 loss to Bishop Kearney (14-3, 5-2) on January 19, where they came in overconfident, they fell into third. The defeat, Lewinger said, certainly served as motivation for this game. When he showed the team the videotape, many of his players could not even watch the lackluster performance.
“We knew we didn’t play the way we’re capable of,” Shevlin said.
However, they made several adjustments this time around, hitting the boards with ferocity and filling the passing lanes for steals. Beforehand, Shevlin inspired her teammates with a pep talk, citing the matchup’s importance.
“We all felt it today; pregame everybody was into it,” Burakoski said. “For this game, we had to step it up.”