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South Shore High School beats Grand Street to finally win city title

March 16, 2015 By Rob Abruzzese Brooklyn Daily Eagle
South Shore High School girls basketball team won its first PSAL city title when it beat Grand Street Campus 42-30 at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Eagle photo by Rob Abruzzese
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Fifth time’s a charm for South Shore.

South Shore High School beat Grand Street Campus 42-30, winning the Public School Athletic League AA city championship at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

South Shore finally won its first city title after playing in the finals five times in the last seven years.

“This group of seniors has been the number one seed for four years, so this caps off their careers,” South Shore head coach Anwar Gladden said. “They’ve been the dominant team in the series for the last four years. They just were never able to close it out, and today they capped off a great public school career.”

The difference for South Shore this season has been the presence of All-American Brianna Fraser. Fraser, who is committed to Maryland University, averaged 16.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season and she showed off that skill in the final against Grand Street.

South Shore led the entire game, but Grand Street played well early on behind the stellar play of sophomore Shanique Edwards, who led the game with 12 points at halftime. Grand Street’s Amni Graham hit a layup midway through the second to make it a one-point game before Ashley McDonald hit a three to give South Shore some breathing room.

After being held to seven points in the first half, Fraser went to work in the second. Grand Street’s Arelis Cora hit a three with 7:13 left in the game to cut South Shore’s lead to 30-28. Fraser then hit a layup to make it 32-28 and followed that up with a three-point play to give her team a seven-point lead with 5:51 left.

That five-point swing in less than two minutes killed any momentum Grand Street had.

“We were still down at that point, but it felt like we were right there on the verge of breaking through,” Grand Street coach Corey McFarlane said.

Fraser finished the game with 22 points and seven rebounds. In the second half it seemed like there was nothing that Grand Street could do to stop her.

“She had a really great high school career; she still has more to do,” Gladden said of Fraser, whom he’s known since she was in seventh grade. “Brianna has a lot more ahead of her, collegiately and, God willing, professionally. She’s just growing. To watch her grow up, play well today and mature into the player she is today — it’s a proud moment.”

After the game, Gladden attributed some of the success to past experience playing on the big stage. He also said he tried to carry all of the pressure to finally win on his own shoulders so the girls could just go out and play.

This is the first championship for Gladden, who had previously coached South Shore to the finals in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2014. Fraser and her teammates had heard all sorts of insults as a result of losing so much in big spots, but that monkey is finally off their backs.

“It feels great to finally win a championship being that I was here for four years,” Fraser said. “Now I can finally say we did it.”

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