Behind Pierre-Louis, Newtown gains 1st final

For all the improvements in their supporting cast, Newtown still goes only as far as their star forward, Natasha Pierre-Louis, can take them.
Although they’ve won games without her putting up major numbers, and have five other girls who can score, there was no secret where Coach John Sarrantonio wanted the ball to go in crunch time. “We tried to isolate everyone out of the way,” he said. “We wanted to get her the ball.”
She got it enough, especially after halftime. Pierre-Louis scored 18 of her game-high 24 points in the second half, including 12 in the final eight minutes as Newtown topped No. 3 Curtis, 48-44, in the PSAL Class A semifinals at Hunter College Saturday afternoon to reach their first-ever city basketball final.
“Unbelievable,” senior point guard and defensive specialist Talaya Melton said. “Unbelievable.”
The Pioneers didn’t get off to the start they were looking for. Melton picked up two early fouls. They turned the ball over seven times and shot four air balls, leading to an early 11-2 deficit. “Our effort on defense was really poor,” Sarrantonio said.
For all those reasons, with 1:40 left in the opening quarter, Sarrantonio put Melton back in, sparking a 15-6 surge to get even.
Sophomore Danyelle Foster drained a pair of 3-pointers to ignite a 12-3 third-quarter run, giving the Pioneers the lead for good. It wasn’t safe until the final seconds, not until Pierre-Louis, who also grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds, hit eight free throws.
The history-making afternoon for the northwest Queens school set off a raucous celebration in the stands, where the pro-Pioneers’ rooting section went ballistic, and on the court, as the entire team chased Pierre-Louis and the other starters around jubilantly after the final horn. “It’s been building up for four years,” she said.
They didn’t have an exact explanation for the wild scene. It was a combination of the frustration from last year’s quarterfinal upset defeat to Bryant and the culmination of entire season’s worth of hard work coming to fruition. “Since November 1st, the first day we could practice,” Sarrantonio said, “I said we could go all the way, we can be here, and we have, so it’s pretty cool.”
There was another reason for the team’s excitement, a motivational tool many players acknowledged.
When the playoff pairings were initially announced, Newtown (27-1) was awarded the top seed because Jefferson was disqualified for using ineligible players during the regular season. But the PSAL flipped their decision after an internal investigation, and gave the Brooklyn school the top seed.
Now, the two teams will meet Saturday for the city championship. “It’s a big buildup game,” Pierre-Louis said. “Who’s really No.1? We’re ready for anybody.”