When the Leon Goldstein girls basketball team walks into a gym, it hardly looks imposing. Actually, it wouldn’t even look like a basketball team if the jerseys and shorts didn’t give it away.
The Dolphins don’t have a player taller than 5-foot-7 – and she just happens to be their point guard. They lack superb athleticism and jumping ability.
But somehow, some way, Goldstein is probably the top Class B team in the PSAL.
“We don’t have much size,” coach Adrian Buchhalter said. “But we throw a million defenses at you.”
Just like his team doesn’t look like it’s there to play basketball, he doesn’t coach like it. Goldstein traps and pressures all game, loves to run and he uses almost his entire roster – sometimes subbing four or five girls in at once.
“It looks like a hockey or an NFL game,” Buchhalter said.
And it works.
Goldstein, last year’s ‘B’ runner-up, is 10-2, including a 9-0 mark in Brooklyn B South. Last week, the Dolphins beat rival Lafayette, which beat them in the 2008-09 championship game, a 58-51 come-from-behind victory. Goldstein was down by as much as 12 points in the first half, but used its pesky pressure and trapping to turn the game around.
“The depth took over,” Buchhalter said. “The trap started to work.”
The system is what defines Goldstein, but the players carrying it out deserve credit, too. Offensively, everything starts with point guard Brittany McDonough, a lanky, 5-foot-7 sophomore. Her handle is excellent, she’s one of the best passers in the city and she can shoot the 3. McDonough is averaging 14.8 points and 11.1 assists per game – and the latter total would be more, Buchhalter said, if some of her teammates could handle her highlight-reel passes.
“If you’re going to lay off her, she’s going to make a jump shot,” Buchhalter said. “When you get up on her, she’s going to go around you. … People forget that Brittany is only a sophomore.”
So is guard Nora Elbassiony, who is as strong and tough as McDonough is crafty. She’s small – under 5-foot-5 – but is averaging 11.4 points per game and can also light it up from the perimeter. Her key this year has been getting in shape – something so important to what Goldstein wants to do.
“She’s in great condition,” Buchhalter said. “We try to play up tempo. For me, it doesn’t pay to let a big team set up. We’re not going to get a lot of rebounds.”
Like McDonough, junior guard Chrissy McKeever is 5-foot-7, one of the team’s giants. She helps out on the boards and is the Dolphins’ second leading scorer (13.2 points per game).
After those three, Buchhalter rotates six other girls in and out liberally. Danielle Natoli and Stephanie Caravello bring defensive intensity. Nicole McKeever – Chrissy’s older sister – can shoot well. Danielle Bonsignore, a tough rebounder despite being all of 5-foot-6, and Jessica Greenwood are precocious freshmen. Brianna Rogers brings senior leadership.
“They gotta keep games close,” Buchhalter said. “We’re good in the fourth quarter, because everyone gets a lot of rest.”
Goldstein is likely the ‘B’ favorite. The Dolphins played Bishop Kearney and St. Anthony (N.J.) very tough and have the experience of a long playoff run already. The players don’t feel that way, though. The school’s girl volleyball team, which Chrissy McKeever plays on, beat FDR three times in the regular season before losing to the Cougars in the ‘B’ semifinals.
“I keep bringing that up and so does Chrissy McKeever,” Buchhalter said.
For now, Goldstein will look toward a meeting with Thomas Edison at the PSAL ‘B’ Girls Basketball Showcase on Feb. 6 and a huge rematch with Lafayette on Feb 12 – the Dolphins’ Senior Night.
“Are they hungry? Yeah,” Buchhalter said. “They’d like to get back [to the championship]. But they’re not looking that far ahead.”