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Better late than never for Robinson

Better late than never for Robinson
By Marc Raimondi

For everyone else it was the second quarter, but Karin Robinson already had an entire game under her belt.

“I was pretty warmed up,” the Mary Louis senior guard said with a laugh.

Robinson might not have started the Metro Classic girls’ basketball all-star game Sunday at Archbishop Molloy High School, but she certainly finished it.

The George Mason-bound dynamo, who arrived from a Rose Classic game with five minutes left in the second quarter, had 14 points to lead The Boros to a 68-63, double-overtime win against The Burbs, earning her the game’s most valuable player honors. Robinson also had a pair of pretty assists to Cardinal Spellman’s Troi Melton in the first overtime.

“Overall, I think her game is really good,” Melton said. “She can drive, she can shoot, she can pass.”

Melton had 10 of her 14 points after the third quarter, including a pretty pull-up jumper after a spin move on the baseline that gave her team a 60-58 lead in the first overtime. The 5-foot-11 shooting guard was someone that really impressed Boros Coach Tom Catalanotto of Molloy in the team’s two practices.

“She can do so much,” Catalanotto said. “She’s athletic. This is a kid that can grab the rim. People don’t realize that she can shoot the ball. She’s got a great pull-up shot. And when she goes to the basket, who’s going to get in front of her? The girl is a beast.”

It was a game that didn’t feel like an exhibition from the very start. The contest, whose proceeds benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Howie Frajberg Medical Foundation for Alzheimer’s, was a war from the opening tip. There were girls diving on the floor for loose balls and fullcourt pressure defense. Catalanotto said he felt like he was coaching his own team.

“I felt like it was a Mary Louis-Christ the King game,” Robinson said.

Catalanotto and Assistant Coaches Rock Rosa (Fieldston) and Jaywana Bradley (Manhattan Center) told the players beforehand to play with pride for the city, to not treat it like a regular all-star game. The Boros had not won since 2006 and only emerged victorious in two of the six Metro Classics since the event started in 2004.

“I told them to play for the name on the front of their shirt,” Catalanotto said. “Be proud. Play for the city. When we walked out of the locker room, that’s what we said. We said, ‘City.’”

Molloy sophomore guard Amani Tatum had 11 points and South Shore junior forward Fannisha Price added seven points. St. John the Baptist senior guard Alexis Smith, who is headed to Illinois, led The Burbs with 14 points and her teammate Kamala Thompson (Dartmouth) and Ossining sophomore Saniya Chong each chipped in 10 points.

“I thought it was a great game, especially since it went to double overtime,” Robinson said. “I played with some great players against some great player. Despite the fact that we only had two practices, I thought we did pretty good.”