By Joseph Staszewski
Francis Lewis will have to live with proving they can play with Murry Bergtraum for now.
The Patriots pushed the 15-time defending PSAL champions to the break in a heartbreaking 76-74 defeat in Class AA girls’ basketball Dec. 18 in Lower Manhattan. It was a battle of the league’s remaining unbeaten teams that Lewis led 74-71 with 2:15 remaining in the game only to see the Lady Blazers score the contest’s final five points.
“We realized that we are right there,” Patriots guard Chila Bady said.
Her team had a chance to win in the closing seconds, but Bergtraum star Ashanae McLaughlin twice kept them from getting a shot off. She jumped out and stole a pass to Sierra Green at the top of the key and raced down the floor for a layup to put Bergtraum up 76-74 with 4.2 seconds left. She then caught Taliyah Brisco from behind and stripped the ball away with a tick left on the clock to end things.
“Very disappointing, all that hard work that we put in,” Bady said of the closing seconds. “It’s sad that we lost by two. I really thought we were going to win.”
She and her teammates played with no fear and took it to Bergtraum throughout the game. Lewis lost last season’s final meeting by just 51-47. Bady, who scored a game-high 19 points, led a 19-5 run over the third and fourth quarters. She hit a late three-pointer to close the third and her two free throws to start the fourth gave Lewis a 62-55 lead. Bergtraum had led by as many as 10 in the second quarter.
“I wanted to be really aggressive today,” Bady said.
The team went on the spurt with Green, who was in foul trouble, and Dominique Williams on the bench. For Patriots Coach Steve Tsai, that showed his team is deep enough to win even when Green doesn’t have a big day. Legendary Murry Bergtraum Coach Ed Grezinsky’s team guarded her tight every time she was on the floor.
“We want to get everyone involved and that makes us hard to guard,” Tsai said.
Brisco and Williams each had 13 points for Lewis (6-1). Robyn Francis scored 11 points and Green added eight. McLaughlin paced Bergtraum (8-0) with 17 points, Joella Gibson had 16 and Alexandra Smith chipped in 13.
Tsai pointed to more than the final play for the defeat. Lewis is undersized and let Bergtraum forwards Smith, Ardella Brown and Daisya Drayton dominate the glass. The Lady Blazers got too many second-chance points.
Lewis, which already beat last-season runner-up South Shore, will get a second chance of its own when it takes on Bergtraum at home Jan. 22. Bady thinks that outcome will be different. The goal was thought to be playing the likes of the Lady Blazers and Vikings in March as well. The Patriots have proven they can make that happen.
“This is who we want to be with at the end,” Tsai said.
