Scholastic Roundup: These ladies are making noise with a basketball

February 18, 2022 Andy Furman

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There’s much noise on Remsen Street these days – thanks to the women’s basketball team at St. Francis College.

And that noise is going far beyond downtown Brooklyn.

The Lady Terriers defeated Long Island University in the Battle of Brooklyn last week – it was their 13th win in 21 tries.

Those wins are being celebrated world-wide, since the squad boasts one player from Serbia, one from London, England; two from Hungary and one from Australia.

Nevena Dimitrijevic is a 5-3 junior from Kragujevac, Serbia who attended Druga Kragujevacka Gimnazija.

She averaged 15.8 points-per-game at the Spanish Championships, and says she chose St. Francis College, “because of the women’s basketball team.”

Khaleah Edwards is a graduate transfer from Wagner College where she scored 914 points in her four-year career – highlighted by 158 three-pointers –good for seventh on the all-time list.

She’s a grad of City of London Academy and the 5-9 performer was a relative newcomer to the game of basketball – she took up the sport four years ago.

A standout at both City of London High School as well as with the Peckham Pride Club Team, she’s competed in AAU summer tournaments in the United States. Her teams claimed two U18 National Championships, two National Cup Championships and one Women’s Elite Academy Basketball League (WEABL) Championship. In 2016, she was MVP of the U18 National Championship Team.

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Eszter Varga is a 5-10 sophomore who attended Babits Mihaly High School in Somogy, Hungary. She averaged 13.9 points-per-game during her high school career; and she was a starter on the 3×3 National Team.

While playing in the European Championship qualification games, she earned MVP honors.

Sheridan Kavanagh is a native of Melbourne, Australia. The 5-10 freshman attended Strathmore Secondary College where she averaged 15 points and seven rebounds-a-game.

She competed in basketball as well as swimming, water polo and netball and was MVP for both basketball and swimming — and was named team captain in her final year of basketball. She said she chose St. Francis College, “because of location and the basketball program.”

Fruzsina Horvath, a 5-11 sophomore attended Korosi Csoma Sandor Gimnazium High School in Budapest, Hungary where she averaged 10.2 points-per-game in the Hungarian Two League during the 2019 season.

The Lady Terriers have three players averaging in double-figures – topping the list is fifth-year senior Ally Lassen with her 12.1 point-per-game average.

Ally hails from Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey attended Pt. Pleasant Boro High where she earned Class B South Player of the Year from the Shore Conference – and was named to the Shore Basketball Coaches Association Senior All-Star Game.

She was a 1,000-point-plus scorer in high school, and on her Senior Night she scored 41 points, and pulled-down 20 rebounds in a win over Howell.

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There’s been some heated feedback on the Scholastic Roundup proposed Mt. Rushmore for PSAL High School Basketball Coaches.

Spencer Ross, a former PSAL basketball performer himself at New Utrecht High School – he later earned a basketball scholarship to Florida State – chimes in with his thoughts.

Ross, by the way is a member of the New York City Sports Hall of Fame, and soon to be inducted into the Brooklyn Sports Hall of Fame.

He was nominated a year-ago, but the ceremonies were put on hold thanks to the pandemic.

He was the Radio and/or TV voice for every major New York sports team – and he even called games for the Boston Celtics for a season.

He was also the TV voice for harness racing from Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceway on WOR-TV.

“I think Mickey Fisher has to be on the top of the list,” Ross said. “He coached Boys High 23 years and won five PSAL titles.”

Some of the starts he coached for the Kangaroos – Lenny Wilkens, SiHugo Green and, of course Connie Hawkins.

Green was the Number One pick in the 1956 NBA Draft, Wilkens and Hawkins are Hall of Famers.

Fisher also coached Tommy Davis, a two-time National League batting champion.

“The Hawk told me he never called him anything but Mr. Fisher,” said Ross, “and that didn’t change when he graduated. Complete love and respect.”

Fisher later left to become Athletic Director at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. He died of a heart attack at the too young age of 58.

“Mickey loved the game. He had two law degrees, but loved working with kids for pennies rather than becoming wealthy,” Ross said.

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The New York Times called Fisher, “the most successful high school basketball coach,” in New York City.

Fisher attended Boys High School, graduated in 1922 and was a member of the soccer team in 1921.

In one stretch his teams won 60 games and lost just two.

He took a one-year leave of absence in 1960 as he was sent to Israel by the U.S. State Department to train the Israeli national basketball team and to coach it in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

Fisher was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.

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Ross says he also remembers the legendary Jammy Moskowitz who began coaching basketball at James Madison High School in 1926 and led his teams twice to New York City PSAL championships. Moskowitz’s lifetime record at Madison – 475 wis and 198 defeats.

“Jammy wore the same outfit each and every game,” said Ross. “A dark blue sports jacket, yellow buttoned-down Oxford shirt and gray slacks.”

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR