PSAL girls basketball beat writer Marc Raimondi breaks down the top-seeded Murry Bergtraum Lady Blazers in advance of Sunday’s Class AA championship game at Madison Square Garden.
Murry Bergtraum
Nickname: Lady Blazers
Head coach: Ed Grezinsky (19 years)
Record: 21-3
Starting five: G Cori Coleman, G Ashley Gomez, G Shequana Harris, F Monae Abrams and F Shaniqua Reese
Key reserves: G Dionne Coe, F Widly Couloute and G Kassandra Flowers
Team notes: Looking to extend its record to 13 straight PSAL city titles. … Has won 13 total championships already. … Lost four starters from last year’s team. … Fell twice in a row at home over the holidays, but has won an incredible amount of games in the fourth quarter. … Bergtraum has beaten seven different teams in the final: August Martin, Sheepshead Bay, Curtis, John F. Kennedy (2), Manhattan Center, South Shore and Francis Lewis (5).
SCOUTING REPORT
(from league coach under condition of anonymity)
“Not nearly as talented as Grezinsky’s other teams, but almost as dangerous. … The difference between this group and the ones in the past is that some of those got by on talent alone. This group loves each other. You can see it on the court and off the court. There’s a real chemistry and Ed has been a big part of that, too. … Grezinsky has done has best coaching job since he was a football coach this year. The man is always more prepared than anyone – and that’s when he was 20 points better than every team. Now that he’s not you’re seeing just how good of a coach he is. A team doesn’t win as many close games like that late unless the coach is doing a tremendous job. … South Shore has more talent on paper. They have more depth. They’re more athletic. But the Bergtraum girls have proven themselves as gutty and winners. … Cori Coleman can change a game, even though she isn’t having the season she did last year. You still have to keep a hand in her face and locate her every possession. … There isn’t a coach in America that wouldn’t want to have a kid like [Ashley] Gomez. She’s their heart beat. … Shaniqua Reese has been the x-factor for them and without her and [Monae] Abrams rebounding and working down low, they wouldn’t be here. … If Bergtraum stays close, I can see them finding a way to win.”
PLAYER CAPSULES
Cori Coleman
Year: Senior
Position: Guard
Height: 5-7
Notes: Has been most clutch player in New York City. … Has hit big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter against St. Peter’s, H.D. Woodson (D.C.), John F. Kennedy and Manhattan Center in the quarterfinals. … Has Division I interest. … Dead-eye shooter and athletic.
Grezinsky’s take: “Cori is a very, very talented player. She can beat you in a lot of different ways. Has confidence in herself.”
Ashley Gomez
Year: Senior
Position: Guard
Height: 5-8
Notes: Heart and soul of team. … Has a Division I scholarship to Canisius. … Pass-first point guard who can also score. … As she goes, Bergtraum goes.
Grezinsky’s take: “She’s the leader on and off the court. Tough girl. Hard-nosed girl. Plays hard, plays with a lot potential. Leaves it all out on the court.”
Shequana Harris
Year: Junior
Position: Guard
Height: 5-6
Notes: Extremely fast and athletic. … Improving jump shooter. … Has broken out toward end of the season. … Likely Division I player.
Grezinsky’s take: “Really talented player, an underrated player. I think her best years are ahead of her. I think next year she’s gonna be even greater. I think she’s gonna be somebody you’re gonna see playing major college basketball in the next few years.”
Monae Abrams
Year: Senior
Position: Forward
Height: 5-9
Notes: One of the strongest players in the league. … Finishes almost everything inside. … Rebounds very well for her size.
Grezinsky’s take: “Monae is like a meat and potatoes type of player. She’s undersized, but she plays a lot bigger than her size. She’s very strong. She’s really been a big factor for us this year.”
Shaniqua Reese
Year: Senior
Position: Forward
Height: 5-10
Notes: Superior athlete. … Long arms and a good finisher around the rim. … Has adjusted well playing the post. … Has been at four schools in four years. … Certain Division I player. … Had the game-sealing layup and blocked shot in semifinals.
Grezinsky’s take: “Tremendous athlete, can jump to the ceiling, can create. Somebody we had to move to the post and it wasn’t easy to her. She’s done big things for us in big games.”
BENCH
Notes: Bergtraum only goes abough eight deep. … Guards Dionne Coe and Kassandra Flowers can get hot from the outside. … Junior forward Widly Couloute has improved exponentially.
Grezinsky’s take: “Dionne is a very talented player, very good shooter, has improved a lot this year. [Widly is] a tremendous athlete. I’ve put her in the post and she’s gotten better and better. Kassandra she was on the same par with Ashley and Cori coming into the school, but she was ineligible for two years.”
COACH
Ed Grezinsky has dodged questions about this being his best coaching job yet. He wants to give all the credit to Bergtraum’s “winning players,” as he calls them. But there’s no doubt that he’s had to work harder than ever with this current group. The Lady Blazers have made him pull his hair out with 10 or 11 brutally close games in the fourth quarter. In previous years, he’d have to deal with maybe one or two. Publically, Grezinsky has joked that they have been bad for his heart and he wished some more a little easier. But he seems rejuvenated this year, like a new man. If Bergtraum can win Sunday, the legendary coach will have written perhaps the most amazing chapter yet in his run.
