By Joseph Staszewski
Jasmine Nwajei made the most of her second chance, allowing Murry Bergtraum’s incredible string of PSAL city titles to continue.
The Rockaway Park native, who transferred to the lower Manhattan school from Mary Louis last February, had just missed two free throws after South Shore trimmed what was a 16-point Bergtraum halftime lead to 2 with less than two minutes to play.
But the Wagner College-bound guard got another opportunity to put the contest away, this time making both free throws. The Lady Blazers held on for a 48-43 win in the PSAL Class AA girls’ basketball final at Madison Square Garden Saturday morning. It’s Bergtraum’s 15th-straight city title and earns it a date with CHSAA winner Bishop Ford at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the state Federation semifinals in Albany.
“I figured I had to make these two because in order to get the win we don’t want them to get the next basket and play from behind,” Nwajei said.
She scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed five rebounds. She admitted to being a little nervous before her first game at Madison Square Garden. Nwajei said she didn’t know much about Bergtraum until joining the team. Her focus was on the Catholic schools during her three seasons at Mary Louis.
“I didn’t pay too much attention to the PSAL,” Nwajei said. “I played a coupla games and I see what it’s all about now.”
This season was about putting egos aside for Nwajei and her talented backcourt mates, Truman transfer Joella Gibson and Ashanae McLaughlin, who combined for 46 points. Nwajei said early it looked like they were playing for themselves as individuals. By January, they put all that aside because of their desire to keep the streak going.
“By the end of the season, we started playing more together,” Nwajei said.
McLaughlin went to the free throw line and gave Nwajei a big hug after she made the first of two free throws to seal things and told her to “end this.” Nwajei lets out a big smile. It was at that moment she let it all sink in: the Garden, the title and trip to the Federation tournament.
“I was definitely enjoying it,” Nwajei said. “The time was low and we were winning the game.”
