Bergtraum 66 F. Lewis 44
After his team lost to Bergtraum 66-44 yesterday at St. Francis College, Francis Lewis head coach Mike Eisenberg offered his opinion of his opponent.
“Everybody else is playing for second place,” said Eisenberg of 17-0 Bergtraum, who gave his Patriots (20-2) their most decisive loss of the season. “The disturbing thing is that we played pretty well today and we still lost by 22.
“We have to play an ‘A-plus’ game and they have to play a ‘C-minus’ for us to have a chance. And I don’t give out too many ‘A-plusses.’ Maybe we can figure something out, but if they play like they did today, nobody’s going to beat them.”
Actually, this was one of Bergtraum’s toughest games of the season. The Patriots hung with Bergtraum during the first half, staying within six points before the Lady Blazers took an 11-point halftime lead.
“I think we wore them down,” Bergtraum head coach Ed Grezinsky said. “Our rebounding was excellent.”
Indeed, Bergtraum’s size had a huge impact on the game, with Tracy Wright had 15 rebounds, while Crystal McFadden added 12 to go along with her 17 points.
“We really wanted this game,” said McFadden, who is Bergtraum’s best player despite being only a sophomore. “They almost beat us in the playoffs last year, so we wanted to prove that we were better.”
On their way to their second straight PSAL championship a year ago, Bergtraum needed overtime to knock off Francis Lewis. Obviously, they didn’t come close to needing it yesterday.
“Sometimes, we come out flat against teams,” McFadden said. “We couldn’t let that happen today.”
They didn’t, and McFadden was a big reason for that. Grezinsky heaped praise on his young star after the game, knowing that she will be the key if the Lady Blazers want to make it three crowns in a row.
“She’s a very mature kid,” Grezinsky said. “I’ve been coaching here for 11 years and she was the first freshman to start for me. This year, I even made her a co-captain with [senior] Cindy Gonzalez. She’s very serious.”
That was evident in her tenacious play and in her confidence after the win.
“Coach really wanted to win this game,” McFadden said. “Hopefully, this gets us going to win another city title.”
But she didn’t stop there.
“We want the state championship, too,” McFadden said.
That won’t be so easy. As good as Bergtraum is at the PSAL level, it is likely no match in the CHSAA for Christ the King, which has practically made the state tournament irrelevant. Bergtraum, with three players now in Division I, lost in a rout to the Royals last year.
Still, it’s only natural for Bergtraum to set some lofty – if not crazy – goals. The Lady Blazers are so rarely challenged during the regular season, they have to find ways to keep things interesting.
When asked if it ever got boring beating good teams so routinely, McFadden paused, smiled and said, “No comment.”
Which is comment enough. Judging by Eisenberg’s reaction to how good Bergtraum is, the players aren’t cocky, just truthful.
“We’re actually normally a good rebounding team,” Eisenberg said after none of his players finished with more than four rebounds. “Today, the effort was there, so there’s not much you can do. Just hope for the best.”
That may not seem like much of a strategy, but that’s about all anyone can do.