Bergtraum's girls hoops team winning in obscurity.

Navigation: Main page

Author: Benjamin, Barbara1

The Murry Bergtraum girls' basketball team is the No. 1 ranked team in the country and the best basketball team in the state of New York for the third consecutive year. They achieved their nation-wide No. 1 ranking after rolling over Arcadia H.S. 63-43 for their third-straight New York State Federation Championship.

En route to the state finals, they whipped Christ the King 65-60. These two schools have a history, and theirs is the best rivalry in the state. Bergtraum's win marked the third time CTK fell to them in the semifinals.

Although The Lady Blazers will go down in PSAL history as the only team â€" girls or boys â€" to win six-straight PSAL New York City Championships and three-straight N.Y. State Championships, sexism raised its ugly head as a number of media outlets relegated them to a footnote on their sports pages. Their accomplishments were overshadowed by the attention lamenting Lincoln's failing to win the N.Y. State Championship, and pondering whether Sebastian Telfair would go to the pros. Harold McClendon, Murry Bergtraum's assistant coach for the past four years, said, "It's unfortunate that the media and the McDonald Games don't give the girls the recognition they desire. They work hard and they hit the books just as hard," said McClendon.

Not one player from Murry Bergtraum has ever been invited to the McDonald's Games. McClendon, who also coaches the Douglas Panthers AAU team, smiles as he says, "I invest the time in coaching the girls because someone invested time in me, and I want to help the players boost their self-esteem and move on to the next level and go to college and graduate."

Harold can recite which player is going to what college as fast as he can recite their stats. Just to mention a few: "Crystal McFadden and Carmen Guzman are at the University of Alabama; Shameena Felix is at James Madison; and Angelina Williams is playing at Farmingdale."

With all the negative publicity given to the public school, the consistent achievements of the Bergtraum team shouldn't be the best-kept secret in New York.

~~~~~~~~

By Barbara Benjamin