Denis Nolan took the bus to work Thursday due to icy roads and used public transportation to get home from his Lincoln girls basketball team’s game against Midwood.
“I’m going to have to commute this way the rest of the year,” he joked.
That’s because Lincoln pulled off its biggest win of the season – and perhaps most significant of Nolan’s two-year tenure – by upsetting Midwood, 40-38, in PSAL Brooklyn AA Group 1 girls basketball in Coney Island.
On their Senior Night, Tanisha Montague and Tyana Hale put in superb performances. Montague led the way with 15 points and Hale added 10 for the Railsplitters (12-10, 7-7 Brooklyn AA Group 1).
“They really played inspired,” Nolan said.
Lincoln was playing its best basketball of the season until last week when Banneker defeated the Railplitters. But part of the reason for that was Nolan benched the seniors after they missed practice to go on a senior ski trip. Lincoln’s victory against one of the PSAL’s elite teams was very much in the making when it lost to Thomas Jefferson, 41-40, on Monday.
As the scores would attest, the Railsplitters’ trademark has been keeping teams off the scoreboard. Lincoln held Midwood sharpshooter Francess Henry to just three points. Hornets coach Artie LaGreca praised the Railsplitters’ strong halfcourt ‘D.’
“We’ve been really, really good defensively lately,” Nolan said.
Despite giving up size and strength to Midwood (14-10, 10-4) inside, Lincoln outrebounded the Hornets, 34-24. Erica Juarbe, a 5-foot-6 sophomore, had 11 boards, five more than Midwood’s 6-foot-2 center Jewel Tunstull.
“Hopefully, this gives us a little momentum going into the playoffs,” Nolan said.
Midwood seemed to have just that when it beat Manhattan Center on Saturday. But the Hornets have been getting “lucky” lately against the lower-level Brooklyn teams, according to LaGreca. They beat Grand Street Campus and Banneker by just one the last two weeks. They weren’t lucky Thursday.
“They totally outplayed us in the second half,” LaGreca said.
Tunstull had 14 points and Beranda Felder added 10. LaGreca said his team turned it over too many times, like the 28-giveaway output against Banneker on Monday.
“We talked about trap games,” the coach said.
This one definitely qualifies with Francis Lewis on the schedule for Friday. Midwood could potentially need a victory to stay out of the eighth seed, which would mean a meeting with Murry Bergtraum in the quarterfinals.
“I don’t know how it should affect my seeding,” LaGreca said. “I would hope it doesn’t knock us down too far.”
