In a world where sixth and seventh graders are being ranked by recruiting services and an eighth grader’s recruitment to a high school feels like a college process, Ashley Gomez took a much more modest path.
She came into Murry Bergtraum three years ago with little fanfare and played sparingly her first two seasons. Even last year, as a junior, she was a key reserve, but little more on a loaded team.
Yet Monday night she was at St. Francis College in her native Brooklyn to accept the PSAL Wingate Award, given to the best senior in a respective sport.
“Just shocking being from where I started from freshman year to now,” Gomez said. “Big change from not playing at all into being the Wingate winner.”
Gomez’s story is a lesson in commitment, dedication and hard work. She had an excellent summer in 2010 playing for the New Heights travel program and committed to play in college at Canisius in the fall. This season at Bergtraum, she was the team’s undisputed vocal leader, the heart and soul of the Lady Blazers, leading them to perhaps their most unexpected title in their string of 13 straight.
“She’s a very bright girl,” Bergtraum coach Ed Grezinsky said during the season. “She’s a real leader and she really wants to step up this year. She was like our sixth player last year. I think she really wants to make the most out of her senior year.”
There’s no doubting that she did just that. Gomez, a third team All-City selection by The Post, was named most valuable player of the PSAL Class AA city championship game against South Shore at Madison Square Garden. The 5-foot-7 guard helped shut down 6-foot-4 UConn-bound superstar Breanna Stewart of Cicero-North Syracuse in the New York State Federation Class AA semifinals. And Gomez had 22 points against Hollywood (Fla.) Christian in the semifinals of the ESPN RISE National High School Invitational in North Bethesda, Md.
“Everything that happened this year was unexpected,” Gomez said. “I wasn’t expecting to be the leader, but it was a role that needed to be filled. It was a very surprising year with a great outcome. Nobody really knew what was going to happen. We had a lot of doubters, but we proved them wrong.”
She said she plans on taking a leadership role as soon as she can at Canisius. It was something that she really couldn’t do for most of her time at Bergtraum, though she embraced being a leader on her other teams.
Doing it for the 13-time champion Lady Blazersn as a senior? That was priceless.
“Definitely in high school,” Gomez said, “it feels the best.”