South Shore is approaching rarefied air.
Top-seeded South Shore handily won its second-straight Public School Athletic League Class AA girls’ basketball crown with a 55–39 victory over No. 2 Francis Lewis in the final at Madison Square Garden on March 12. The Vikings have been to six of the last eight title games and are positioned to put itself alongside the league’s other storied programs.
“Today when you talk about New York City PSAL girls’ basketball, you go August Martin, you go Murry Bergtraum and I think you can put South Shore as next up in line,” said coach Anwar Gladden.
The Vikings are not there yet. August Martin won 12 city titles and Bergtraum won 15 straight before being knocked off by Lewis in 2013. But it is time to start talking about the potential South Shore dynasty in the making. The Vikings have just one Public School Athletic League loss in the last two years and were unbeaten this season after losing All-American Brianna Fraser, winning all but two games by double digits.
“When it was their opportunity to step up, we dominated the PSAL from start to finish this year. We went undefeated. Today was just the icing on the cake as far as the PSAL.”
His club will have a good chance to continue that trend. South Shore loses just two seniors in Jordan Washington and Aliesha Thomas and returns four sophomores from this year. Washington fully understands what is back and knows more help is always on the way.
“We have like five more juniors and they are going to step up and get another chip,” she said. “And [Gladden] has more players and I think they can keep doing well.”
It wasn’t always this way. Just four years ago it was South Shore who was the other wrong end of the Bergtraum’s 15th crown and lost to Lewis at Barclays Center in 2013 — four-straight final losses. Now that they are on top, Gladden understands the expectations are high and what it is like being the team trying to chase the top dog.
“I feel for those guys on the other side because I know what that feeling is like,” he said. “You put in the hard work and dedication for a whole season. I don’t wish that on anybody.”
Now, as the hunted, he said his league opponents have nothing to lose by playing him, just like there was no shame losing to Bertgtraum at the Garden because a Lady Blazers win became as sure a thing as death and taxes. He says learning to deal with the expectation of winning is a much different experience.
“It’s pressure,” Gladden said. “You know you are the dominant team. You know you are the best team. You got over the hump. The pressure is on. You just got to continue to push these young ladies to live up to those expectations.”
If they do, the pressure will grow, but so will the number of trophies in the collection. The dynasty-to-be will become a reality.
