Sure, Lab Museum United was the higher seed and earned a home game. But the last time the Gators played Tottenville, they lost in a rout.
That didn’t faze coach Katie Jungers’ girls, though. They never felt like they were the underdogs.
“We never believed it once,” Jungers said. “We really, truly believed we were going to win this game.”
And win they did.
Marshall-bound guard Jenny Ramirez poured in 34 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had 10 steals to lead No. 4 Lab Museum United to a 59-47 win over No. 12 Tottenville in the PSAL Class A girls basketball quarterfinals Tuesday in Manhattan. On Jan. 21, the Pirates beat the Gators, 63-46, in dominant fashion.
“The beautiful thing is we’re not the same team we were even a month ago,” Jungers said. “We’ve really come together. They’re really focused.”
Of course, the coach has Ramirez to thank for a lot of that. The electric, 5-foot-4 point guard also had six assists and ran the offense to perfection. She guarded Tottenville’s high-scoring star Cheryl Lopez and kept her from taking over the game.
“She’s in a different element at this point in her game,” Jungers said of Ramirez. “I’ve never seen her play so smart. She made extremely good decisions.”
Ashanti Plummer had eight points and 12 assists and Kelly Niles, Tabitha Wakefield and Catrina Fleischmann all came up big in different spots. LMU meets top-seed Goldstein in the semifinals 3 p.m. Sunday at Hunter College. The Gators have never been this far in Jungers’ four seasons and the standing-room only crowd proved that the two schools – Lab and Museum – took notice.
“There were people outside the door,” Jungers said. “It was amazing. We never had a crowd like this in our school.”
The coach said her team has taken things to a new level in the postseason. Playing against tough competition at different events – like ones at John F. Kennedy, Bishop Ford and JFK Paterson (N.J.) – has helped prepare LMU for the postseason, Jungers said.
For that reason, she and her players weren’t worried about playing Tottenville (17-8) again.
“I can understand why we would be fearful,” Jungers said. “But I wasn’t. these last couple playoff games, I’ve seen a different team.”
Goldstein 58, Martin Luther King 40: Nora Elbassiony had 21 points, including three 3-pointers, and Brittany McDonough had 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead top-seed Goldstein (22-2) in the ‘A’ quarterfinals. The Dolphins meet No. 4 Lab Museum United in the semifinals 5 p.m. Sunday at Hunter College. No. 8 MLK finishes 18-2.
Curtis 72, New Dorp 53: Danielle Leguillou had 18 points, Brittany Carroll had 17 points, Kristen Olsen had 13 points and Danielle Santucci added 10 points for No. 2 Curtis (18-8) in the ‘A’ quarterfinals. The Warriors take on No. 38 Bayside, an upset winner of No. 3 Wings, in semifinals 3 p.m. Sunday at Hunter College. No. 10 New Dorp finishes 13-12.