Mary Louis gains team win

When he’s asked about scoring depth, Mary Louis Coach Joe Lewinger smiles. It’s a devilish grin.
Entering the season, he wanted the Hilltoppers’ opposition to treat them like a one-person show, to focus all their energy on Amanda Burakoski, the St. John’s-bound guard.
“I’m just glad people say it’s all about Amanda,” he said.
Performances like Monday evening’s 51-45 league-opening victory at Molloy, Lewinger’s first at the Briarwood school in seven seasons, may change all that.
Burakoski still led the Hilltoppers with 18 points and senior guard Kelly Puwalski was the only other player in double figures with 17 and seven rebounds. But with Burakoski struggling in the final quarter and the Stanners overplaying Puwalski and cutting a 14-point deficit to six, Lewinger’s unsung players provided the difference.
Freshman point guard Karin Robinson scored all four of her points in the final stanza and added two steals. Sophomore forward Andrea Busch contributed with a few important offensive rebounds, a jumpshot and a free throw, senior Ollieanna Burke added a big basket, and senior center Kelly Carman scored inside.
“In the end,” Burakoski said, “the whole team stepped up. Everybody got involved.”
Nobody was doing much of anything for either side in the early going. Mary Louis (6-4, 1-0) missed their first 10 shots, yet trailed by just a point, 4-3, when Burakoski sank a 3-pointer with 4:11 left in the first quarter. With each team improving this off-season and perhaps threatening Christ the King’s reign of dominance, there was a lot of talk attached to the league opener for each side.
“We were excited but nervous at the same time,” Burakoski said.
“It was kind of a tense atmosphere,” added Molloy senior forward Kerri White, who scored a team-high 18 points.
It showed, particularly in the first half, where missed lay-ups and poor execution was uncharacteristically the norm. Mary Louis shot 15 percent from the field while Molloy clocked in at 16 percent. Neither team was much better afterwards, either - the Hilltoppers finished at 27 percent and Molloy 21. What really killed the Stanners (6-4, 0-1) was going 23-of-36 from the free throw line.
The game turned in the third quarter when Burakoski and Puwalski found the range, combining for 14 points and three 3-pointers in a 19-7 third quarter.
Molloy slowly crept back into the game when Mary Louis went into an elongated drought. After sophomore guard Kelly Guerriero (nine points) sank a baby jumper, the lead was just 38-32 with 5:03 remaining. Yet Burke knocked down a jumper and Busch, Robinson and Carman supplied the necessary hoops down the stretch as Burakoski surprisingly went scoreless the rest of the way.
“Every good team needs role players,” Lewinger said, “and just because you’re considered a role player doesn’t mean you’re not important.
“Maybe that was [Amanda’s] role in the fourth quarter - not to score,” he later added. “We needed defense, leadership and time management.”