Ayana Ratliff’s stock continues to soar.
Less than a month after leading Bishop Loughlin to the New York State Federation Class A championship, Ratliff helped Brooklyn/Staten Island to a dominant, 84-44 win over Queens in the Wheelchair Charities HS Basketball Classic championship game Thursday night at York College in Queens.
Ratliff had 15 points Thursday night adding to her 13-point total in a semifinal win against The Bronx on Wednesday. The unsigned 5-foot-8 guard dropped 30 points in the Federation final last month against Curtis.
“I just try to play my game and wait and see what kind of colleges I can get,” Ratliff said sheepishly.
The lanky scoring machine still doesn’t have a Division I offer, but she got good news this week: a qualifying SAT score. Ratliff is looking into going down to the Boo Williams AAU tournament next weekend in order to get seen by more coaches.
“I think I did the best I can throughout the last months and these games,” she said. “I think they see what I can do.”
Brooklyn/Staten Island coach Anwar Gladden was impressed over the last few weeks. He believes she is “absolutely” a Division I player, but blossomed late and didn’t travel on the AAU circuit early enough.
“She’s good,” Gladden said. “I’m happy it’s working out for her. I’m anxious to see where she ends up. I wish her good luck with that.”
This is Gladden’s third year coaching the Brooklyn/Staten Island squad and his first championship. This is an event that he has an affinity for and was organized in how he put together his team. He ran three tryouts and cut players the fourth day. Gladden was proactive in getting the word out there that the Wheelchair event was happening and its significance.
“I let every coach in Brooklyn and Staten Island know,” Gladden said. “I let the PSAL I know. … I wish the spark came back. Years ago, this was like the McDonald’s game in New York City. This was the big thing. This was the top players from the city.”
Bishop Ford’s Aaliyah Lewis had 10 points and Bishop Loughlin’s Nyree Alston and Goldstein’s Nora Elbassiony each had nine points for Brooklyn/Staten Island. Reana Mohamed of Mary Louis had 16 points, Murry Bergtraum’s Jasmine Nwajei had eight points and Long Island Lutheran’s Staci Barrett added seven points.
Ratliff was named Brooklyn/Staten Island and tournament most valuable player. That’s another trophy for a girl who has been piling them up recently.
“She has good size, can get to the basket, can handle, can shoot,” Gladden said. “She needs to learn how to play the 1 a little. … The skills are there to play on the next level.”