Jai Moore has all the skills to be one of the city’s best girls’ basketball guards, and she put that fully on display in Midwood’s hard-fought 54–48 home loss to defending Public School Athletic League Class AA city champion Francis Lewis last Friday night.
Moore was arguably the best player on the floor or most of the contest. She scored a game-high 24 points, including 11 in the third quarter, and helped the Hornets break Lewis pressure for three quarters.
“Jai is unbelievable,” said Midwood coach Mike Moore, no relation. “Once she realizes this is her team and everything has to go through her, we will be a better team.”
She capped a 10–0 run with a basket that put the Hornets up 21–19 in the first quarter. Midwood (9–4) played its best basketball when Moore sizzled shooting in the third. She connected on five of six jumpers. Her three-pointer from the left side put the Hornets up 40–38 with 37 seconds remaining in the frame, even with fellow guard Kayla Formey in foul trouble.
“I just know my team needed it,” Jai Moore said. “It felt really fast. My coach told me I have the ability.”
She and her teammates weren’t able to keep it up in the fourth quarter. Midwood had just one field goal and was outscored 14–8 in the final frame. A young bench led to fatigue amongst the starters. Having junior forward Lydia Burns foul out with 2:57 go in the game removed a key component to Midwood’s press break, and took its best interior player off the floor.
“Once she got that fifth foul and I had to go to my bench — my bench is honestly young and inexperienced. That’s a tough situation to put any kid in,” Coach Moore said. “That hurt us a lot.”
Robyn Francis paced Lewis (12–1) with 12 points, including two key baskets late in the fourth quarter. Cassidy Khan scored 10 points for the Patriots and Tayliah Brisco and Chi La Bady added nine each. Sharpshooter Alexandra Moogan chipped in 14 points, including four three-pointers for Midwood.
That game was a missed opportunity to knock off one of the league’s best teams. Midwood, which reached the city semifinals a year ago, has lost to both Murry Bergtraum and Francis Lewis now, and twice to division rival South Shore.
Coach Moore is hoping to use the narrow loss to the Patriots as a way to show his players what they are capable of once the playoffs come.
“I’m happy with their progress,” he said. “That’s the defending champions and the game wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter. If there is anything called a moral victory, that was it.”
