A Quick 60
The Challenge
MSGVarsity.com Sports Talk
High School SportsDesk
A grand game for Goldstein, McDonough
Photo by Dylan Butler
Related media
PHOTOS
Brittany McDonough was just trying to have a normal day of school. Of course she knew a major milestone was hanging over her head, but the Goldstein senior guard wasn’t thinking too much about scoring her 1,000th career point
That is, until last period.
“When I woke up, it was the first thing I thought of, but I was OK during the day,” McDonough said. “My last class was gym, though, and when I got here [MSG Varsity] was setting up all the cameras. It was nerve-racking then because it was like, ‘Wow, in two hours its going to be here.’”
McDonough accomplished the goal early in the second quarter, becoming the second player in Goldstein history to reach the plateau. And the Dolphins came away with a 51-31 win against James Madison in a PSAL Brooklyn A South first-place clash Wednesday in Brooklyn.
“No one really knows about this school, but it’s good to be the second one,” McDonough said. “My name will be on the plaque. It’s good to know my name will always be in the school.”
Needing five points to join close friend Christina McKeever in Goldstein’s 1,000-point club, McDonough and her teammates got off to a slow start. Madison raced out to an 7-1 lead before the Dolphins struck.
McDonough buried a 3-pointer 32 seconds into the second quarter and followed with a layup with 6:54 left. The game was temporarily halted as the small gym erupted. McDonough received hugs at the bench and was awarded a commemorative ball.
“She’s the quarterback, the best point guard in the whole ‘A’ league,” Goldstein coach Adrian Buchhalter said. “This year, she’s had to step up her scoring more because that’s what the team needs.
A three-point play by Danielle Bonsignore followed to cap a 19-0 run that gave Goldstein a 20-7 lead.
“When we get on one of those rolls and start changing the [defensive] traps, we rotate different traps so we kind of confuse,” Buchhalter said. “Once we started going, we were gone.”
Led by Twanda Holder, who had 11 points and 15 rebounds, Madison (4-2) scored the final seven points of the first half to pull within 20-14, but Goldstein (5-0) put the game away in the third quarter, outscoring the Golden Knights, 20-6, in the eight-minute span.
Nora Elbassiony scored a game-high 15 points, moving within 85 points of joining McDonough in the 1,000-point club. But this day belonged to McDonough, who also added seven rebounds, six assists and six steals.
So how does the Goldstein senior celebrate reaching a major milestone?
“My family is coming over and then I’ve got to do my homework,” McDonough said. “And then I’ve got school tomorrow.”
Contact Dylan Butler at dbutler3@cablevision.com
Follow him on Twitter: @Dylan_Butler
Tri-State Top 20: Final poll
NYC power rankings: Spring sports
All-Metro boys and girls basketball: 2012-13
2012-2013 All-City teams
