Sports

Speedy senior duo runs Banneker past FDA

FDA freshman Iasha Hill scored 14 points. (Damion Reid)

Alexcia Barnes corralled a long rebound on the right side and fired a pass deep down the left side line. Fellow Benjamin Banneker guard Kaylah Gholson ran under it and took one dribble and two steps for an easy fast break layup.

“I knew she was there,” Barnes said.

The two dominated on the fast break, easily beating Frederick Douglass Academy down the floor. Gholson called them the “fastest guard duo in the PSAL.” The two are close friends on and off the court and played together over the summer for the Exodus Lions AAU team. Barnes scored 20 points and Gholson had 13 as Banneker outlasted FDA, 56-45, at the Big Apple Recruiting Christmas Classic at Bishop Ford Sunday.

“When they go, we go,” said Banneker assistant Edwin (Munch) Lopez, who filled in for head coach Moreno Fernandez.

Barnes finished in transition off a Gholson steal, found Vanessa Shortt for a layup along with her baseball pass connection with Gholson during a 12-4 second quarter run that put Banneker (2-3) up 28-14. The Warriors extended the lead in the third. Gholson turned a miss by FDA’s Shayla Russell, who scored the majority of her 20 points at the free throw line, into an easy layup on the other end to give Banneker its largest lead at 39-22 with 3:23 left in the third.

“When we get our run going its unstoppable,” Gholson said. “You can’t stop the flow.”

The Warriors’ transition game started with their dominance of the backboards. Emerald Roberts, who scored six points, Efun Sade Cadle and Kunnuh Wisseh all chipped in on the glass. It was Wisseh who was constantly making the second and third effort.

“She is a hard worker,” Barnes said. … “We call her ‘The Incinerator’ — clean up.”

Banneker, though, has struggled to finish off games this season, most recently a tight loss to Boys & Girls at home. FDA freshman guard Iasha Hill, who recently moved to Brooklyn from North Carolina scored 14 points on a variety of drives and short jumpers to keep the young Lions (1-6) afloat. The team has just two seniors on the roster.

“She is not afraid,” FDA coach Roelethia Willis said. … “Give her a lane. Give her a little peak and she is going to take it.”

She gave the Lions a chance to shoot their way back in the game during a 15-5 run over the third and fourth quarters, during which Keyanna Charles connect on three 3-pointers. A Hill fast break layup cut the lead to 44-37 with 4:47 left in the game.

“My team started hustling at the end as they started to lose their nervousness,” Hill said.

Banneker players admittedly said it lets down too often when it takes a lead in the fourth. FDA, especially Russell, began getting more aggressive on the boards and in the paint. The Warriors, though, quickly thwarted any hopes of a comeback with back-to-back layups from Barnes and Wisseh.

“We just had to gather ourselves together and make sure our defense was on point,” Barnes said. “After that, the offense came on.”