Sports

Bergtraum fights off rival Kennedy for OT win

Ashanae McLaughlin saw Deaisia Acklin racing into the left side of the lane with Murry Bergtraum holding a two-point lead and time running out in overtime.

“I just stepped to the side and I reached my hand in and I snatched the ball,” the freshman guard said. “I knew I had a chance to take it, so I did it.”

McLaughlin poked the ball to half court and ran into the arms of her teammates racing off the bench in celebration. The defensive play put an end to her late-game heroics and sealed Bergtraum’s grueling 70-68 win over the host Knights in a PSAL Bronx/Manhattan/Queens AA girls basketball game Monday night. The win is the Lady Blazers’ 10th straight in league play.

McLaughlin scored 13 of her 16 points after halftime. She hit a jumper in the paint that gave the Lady Blazers a 57-47 lead with 3:31 left in the fourth and banking a trey early in the overtime. Dionne Coe, who fouled out in the fourth, had 20 points, including four 3-pointers, and Shequana Harris added 15 points and seven assists for Bergtraum (14-5, 12-2). Zakiya Mason tallied 10 of her 11 points in the second half to lead the comeback and Acklin had 10 for Kennedy (15-8, 10-4). Robyn Daley and Celene Simms each added nine.

“She is a great player,” Bergtraum coach Ed Grezinsky said of McLaughlin. “She is going to be one of the best in the city.”

While the budding star had plenty of highlights, it was senior forward Aries Adams, a role player, who put the Lady Blazers up for good. Kennedy sharpshooter Joya McFarland gave her team their first learn of the game at 66-65 on a 3-pointer from the right side. Adams answered with a putback and knocked down two free throws with 12.8 seconds remaining to put her team ahead, 70-68.

“My teammates were just like, ‘You got to make them. You got to make them,” said Adams, who had nine points and seven boards. “In my head I’m just like, ‘I can’t miss. I can’t miss.’ I just had to take my time and make them.”

On the ensuing play, Acklin had a sideline inbounds pass knocked off her hand out of bounds. Bergtraum, which led by as much as 17 in the third quarter, missed two free throws to set up McLaughlin’s steal. The Knights had a chance to win in regulation as well. Mason tied the score at 59 with 29 seconds left in the fourth. Coe missed a runner that gave Kennedy the ball. McFarland missed an open look at a 3-pointer from the right side and Mason hesitated for a split second and came up short on a put back in the paint.

“I felt like we had a chance to beat them,” Mason said. “All we had to do was work a little bit harder and we could have pulled through.”

The Lady Blazers, the 13-time defending PSAL champs, took away Kennedy’s stars with junk defense, but its role players stepped up and its trapping defense did the trick. Bergtraum led by eight with 2:01 remaining, but Kennedy, which missed countless easy layups early, ended regulation on an 8-0 run.

“We still have playoff,” Glenn said. “I don’t care what seed we get, if we come to play we will be alright.”

Grezinsky didn’t want to talk about seeding, with a game against Francis Lewis still to go. Lewis fell to Bergtraum in their first meeting by one. But with South Shore losing to Lincoln and Kennedy, the Lady Blazers are making the case for that top seed.

“We are starting to come back,” McLaughlin said. “We are starting to get our name back.”

While doing so, she is making one for herself.

jstaszewski@nypost.com