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Lewis advances past Martin


But whenever the Patriots had a big game,…

By Dylan Butler

A balanced attack has been one of the main ingredients in the Francis Lewis girls’ basketball team’s solid regular season that featured just three losses and no player who averaged more than 10 points per game.

But whenever the Patriots had a big game, like a 53-47 win over Brooklyn Tech in the Wingate Christmas/Kwanzaa tournament championship game or the Monsignor King title victory over Bishop Kearney, one player rose to the occasion to lead the team.

So with the Patriots trailing Queens rival August Martin by one with four minutes left and a PSAL ‘A’ semifinal berth on the line, sophomore guard Teresa Rozza again stepped to the forefront.

Rozza scored her team’s final 16 points in the last four minutes — including 12-for-14 from the free throw line — to lead Francis Lewis to a 66-60 win Saturday at Elmcor.

“We all wanted the ball, but for some reason my man kept leaving me and I got [the ball],” said Rozza, who scored a game-high 26 points. “Being hot from the free throw line also helped.”

No. 3 Lewis (23-3), which avenged a 41-point loss to the Angels on Jan. 31, will take on second-seeded Sheepshead Bay, which defeated Cardozo 71-53, for the right to take on either Murry Bergtraum or Brooklyn Tech in the PSAL ‘A’ championship game at Madison Square Garden. Tip-off Saturday at Alumni Hall is slated for 2 p.m.

“I thought we had a very tough draw. We had just had a very tough quarterfinal game and it’s certainly going to be a tough semifinal game,” said Lewis coach Mike Eisenberg. “But if we want to play [in the final] on March 18, we’re going to have to beat all good teams.”

While Rozza was unstoppable late, she missed three of her first four free throws in the second quarter with Lewis trying to extend a 26-18 lead. Two straight three-pointers by Cherita Gray (16 points) helped to ignite August Martin (16-6), which trailed by just six, 34-28 at the half on Eboni Williams’ layup.

“Teresa’s a player who at all times needs confidence,” Eisenberg said. “She thinks if she misses one free throw it’s the end of the world. I told her, ‘I know you’re going to make your next seven or eight in a row.”

Eisenberg was right.

Rozza drained her next seven foul shots as the Patriots erased a 51-50 deficit to take a 54-51 lead with 3:30 left in the fourth quarter. She also converted Lissette Morales’ steal for a layup to give Lewis a 56-51 lead.

“I missed some shots and I got down and stuck to passing,” Rozza said. “But then I went back to shooting.”

But No. 6 Martin came back to tie the game at 56 on Williams’ bucket from the right blocks and a three-point play by Gray. Rozza answered by going 3-for-4 from the line and added an uncontested layup as Lewis went up 61-56 with 1:02 to play.

Martin got as close as three, 63-60, on Gray’s basket from the right blocks, but Rozza closed the game out with three more free throws and a critical steal in the final 22 seconds to clinch the win.

“Once [Teresa] gets going, she’s a very confident player,” Eisenberg said. “That’s why she was the MVP at the Wingate and the Monsignor King tournaments. She has played well, especially in the fourth quarter. We need her to play well for us to play well.”

Lewis trailed 12-8 in the first quarter, but took a 20-14 lead courtesy of a 12-2 run capped by a Morales layup from Rozza’s lead pass with 6:09 left in the first half. The Angels had several quality chances to regain the lead in the first half, but they missed a bevy of open shots and free throws.

“Our shooting was awful today,” said Martin coach Joel Ascher. “We had a whole lot of shots today and we didn’t make them. You have to be ready and focused to play, you have to want it. They wanted it more than us. They played a good game.”

After avenging one of its regular season losses in the quarterfinal round, Lewis has an opportunity to do it again against Sheepshead Bay in the semifinals. The Lady Sharks defeated the Patriots, 67-53 Jan. 6 at St. John’s University. If Lewis can get past Nastassia Boucicault and company, the Patriots could have yet another chance for revenge if Bergtraum defeats Brooklyn Tech.

Reach Associate Sports Editor Dylan Butler by e-mail at [email protected] or call 229-0300, Ext. 143.