BX. GIRLS FINAL

Kennedy 64

Lehman 43

Michelle Pacheco thought she was just going to pick up an award for her performance in Kennedy’s 64-43 win over Lehman yesterday in The Bronx Borough Championship.

Instead, she got to meet one of her idols.

Handing Pacheco her medal was former Liberty point guard Teresa Weatherspoon.

“I didn’t even know she was here until they called my name,” said Pacheco. “She’s what basketball is all about. There’s nobody better. She’s like Allen Iverson to me.”

Pacheco played a bit like Weatherspoon – and Iverson, for that matter – in the win at Lehman College, a win that should propel the Lady Knights to one of the top seeds in next week’s PSAL playoffs.

The guard scored 24 points as Kennedy beat Lehman for the third time in four tries this season. The top-seeded Lady Knights’ only loss in the series to No. 2 Lehman came in their last meeting.

“That was a bad game for us,” Pacheco said. “We didn’t come out with intensity or heart in that game. Today, we did.”

The 5-foot-3 Pacheco played an important role in that, consistently driving to the basket and scrambling for turnovers.

“We dove on the floor, we did what we had to do to win today,” Pacheco said. “We weren’t like that last time.”

Pacheco’s exploits helped Kennedy to its second straight borough title, but head coach O’Neil Glenn has his sights set higher than that.

“This is fine,” Glenn said. “But the city is where it’s at.”

His point guard agreed, and thinks her encounter with Weatherspoon yesterday will only help the team’s chances.

“I grew up watching her,” Pacheco said. “My mom used to take me to see her play for the Liberty all the time at Madison Square Garden. I told her I looked up to her and she said, ‘Thanks.’ That’s only going to make me play harder.”

Pacheco would be hard-pressed to play better, however. She hit perhaps the game’s most important shot, a third-quarter jumper when the Lady Lions had cut the lead to single digits. That play got Kennedy back up by 11,and Lehman never challenged again.

“I felt that once I made that shot, it made all the difference,” Pacheco said. “We really wanted this game. But this isn’t where it ends. We want to go from champions in The Bronx to champions in the city.”