When it was all over and colleague Joe Staszewski and I finally finished all our work from this weekend’s PSAL/John F. Kennedy Challenge, it was about 5 a.m. Monday morning. After 25 games, 17 stories and about 68 combined hours of work in two days, it was time for some much-needed sleep.
Along the way there were some incredible games, thrilling upsets, many, many talented girls basketball players doing their thing and way too much fried food. The sixth annual Kennedy Challenge, the biggest event on the East Coast, was the best one yet.
Here’s a bunch of things I observed from the weekend:
— Kennedy coach and event organized O’Neil Glenn did his best job yet with matchups – and I’m not even saying that because I was one of his advisors. OK maybe partially. But in all seriousness, it seemed like just about every game was close. A few were decided in the closing seconds. The Kennedy-Long Island Lutheran contest Saturday was an absolute thriller.
— Kennedy still has the best concession stand food anywhere. The jerk chicken, chicken wings and macaroni and cheese were all delicious. But be warned. Two days straight of eating all that stuff catches up to you. By 4 p.m. Saturday, my stomach was rebelling against me. I should have done what ASA coach Adia Revell did – went with the salad.
— South Shore was undoubtedly the story of the weekend. Many people – myself included – expected St. Anthony’s (L.I.), one of the best teams in the state, to rout the Vikings on Saturday night. Unfortunately, that’s just the way things have been going for PSAL teams this year. But coach Anwar Gladden has this group excelling right now. They beat St. Anthony’s, 57-50, and came back the next day to beat up on Mary Louis, which was ranked No. 4 in the city by The Post at the time. For the first time in a long time, I have to say Murry Bergtraum has a legitimate challenger to its throne.
— Nazareth is ranked No. 13 in the country by USA Today, but you’d be hard pressed to find 12 teams better. The Lady Kingsmen really have everything. They’re so long, so fast, so athletic and they’re also one of the best shooting teams coach Apache Paschall has had in awhile. The only two teams Naz has lost to all year? No. 5 St. John’s College and No. 6 Bolingbrook. Both games were close late. That should tell you all you need to know.
— Bishop Ford coach Mike Toro needs to employ Sunday’s strategy more often. During his team’s game against national power Riverdale Baptist, he was chatting it up more with the reporters on press row than with his own team. At one point, he told me to be quiet because he was actually trying to coach his team. I jokingly responded, “Is that what you call that?” Less is more, Coach. Less is more.
— Nazareth’s Bianca Cuevas is the best freshman point guard in the area, but Katelynn Flaherty of Manasquan (N.J.) is right up there. She can do a little bit of everything. I was also extremely impressed with H.D. Woodson 6-foot wing Jephany Brown, who might have been the best college prospect I saw all weekend. Just incredible agility and athleticism for a big girl. National Christian Academy’s Brittany Murray, St. Anthony’s Symone Kelly, Riverdale Baptist’s Tyonna Williams, University’s Brittney Sykes and Holy Trinity’s Katie Poppe also caught my eye. I don’t even have to bring up the Rutgers-bound trio of Syessence Davis, Shakena Richardson and Briyona Canty.
— A couple of familiar faces popped up over the weekend. Former Francis Lewis coach Mike Eisenberg was in the gym to see former player Tatiana Wilson of South Shore and former New Heights coach and Bergtraum assistant Chez Williams was hanging out for a bit with the Nazareth crew. Hope we get to see those two on the sidelines again before long.
— Speaking of Bergtraum, the Lady Blazers are officially the most fun team to cover in New York City. It seems like every one of their games goes down to the wire with an exciting finish. It might not be great for coach Ed Grezinsky’s heart, but it makes for some damn good articles.
— A few of the stars from the weekend in losing efforts might end up being huge for their teams down the stretch. Kennedy junior Joya (The Destroya) McFarland drained six 3s and scored 26 points against Long Island Lutheran. Molloy’s Kamille Ejerta had 16 points with five 3-pointers against New Rochelle.
— Shoutouts to Kennedy managers Saadisha Martin and Shannon Smith for their tireless efforts on the scoreboard and book, respectively, all weekend. Those two and the rest of the Kennedy staff worked long hours for very little pay to make the event a success. Good thing I was seated next to at the table. Without my constant jokes, she would have surely fallen asleep on the shot clock horn.
After two days being on his feet, Glenn could barely walk Sunday night, the former NFL player’s football injuries taking their roll. But he had a bright smile on his face nonetheless. It was a great weekend and word on the street – with a few other national-level teams interested – next year should be even better.
