Sixth Man wrong again
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- March
- 24
I really thought Rush-Henrietta had a chance, but the Section 5 champ was pounded by Murry Bergtraum, 47-33.
I know it was just 14 points, but Bergtraum jumped ahead 10 early and pretty much led by that much or more throughout.
It was a pretty lackluster game overall, with Bergtraum’s defense being the deciding factor. I don’t know for certain, but I think they actually did a flat out double team on Shenise Johnson of Rush-Henrietta, a player many of you are probably familiar with. Now I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a double team like that, but it worked. Johnson was “held” to 13 points and 16 rebounds, and she committed nine turnovers.
Erica Morrow, an all-american headed to Syracuse, had 17 points. Shakeya Leary had 17 boards.
And with that, the girls basketball season in New York state is officially over. If you want to watch the Class AA final, it will be on tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. on MSG.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, March 24th, 2007 at 4:38 pm by Josh Thomson. 
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Josh Thomson has done some of everything since joining The Journal News in March 2003. He began working for the Gannett weeklies during the winter of 2002 as a freelance writer. He joined the daily staff soon after and has since covered various high school and pro sports. Away from sportswriting, Josh lives in Westchester and spends his free time either with his fiancee, Sarah, or expertly managing his various championship-winning fantasy sports teams. He's visited 21 major-league baseball stadiums and insists that Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the best by far. Josh graduated from Carmel High School in 1998, then went to Boston University, where, in 2002, he received a degree in communications with a minor in history.
josh,
every blogger shares the view that you’ve done an incredible job this season elevating girls bball coverage to a whole new level. WE THANK YOU!!!
Josh,
Wow—did Bergtraum play a straight out double team on Johnson, with the rest playing man to man (leaving someone on RH permanently open) or did they set up a a “box and 1” on her?
on vacation…Thank you. I truly couldn’t have done it without everyone checking in as often as they did.
Timster…that’s what I mean. Perhaps I have an untrained eye, but at times it definitely seemed like Bergtraum was doubling her in every sense of the word. In at least two situations I remember vividly, #24 on Rush-Henrietta was left open, would catch the ball, and then go totally unguarded. Bergtraum dared her to shoot and sent no one to so much as put a hand in her face. I don’t know if I’d ever seen anything so blatant, but obviously it was effective.
Josh,
Didn’t get a chance to see the RH-Bergtraum game this morning on MSG but the Democrat and Chronicle reporter claims that Bergtraum threw combinations of a “box and 1” on RH superstar Shenise Johnson and a “triangle and 2” on Johnson and point guard Bria Jackson. These defenses should have left tall RH forward Eva Riddick and sharpshooter Melanie McFadden wide open but they scored 4 and 0 points respectively. The RH forward that you spotted (#24, whom I believe is forward Alysha Poles) as wide open because of these double team schemes scored 0 points as well. I suppose you could chalk up RH’s inability to score to Bergtraum’s full court 32 minute pressure defense.
At any rate, thanks for the bird’s eye view of a game that generated far less interest because it didn’t involve a local team. But after having watched RH battle White Plains for the last two years, I was kind of pulling for them.