For New Mission, a new mission

By Amara Grautski, Globe Correspondent | February 15, 2010

New Mission earned its first Boston City League championship title last year, defeating Brighton, 47-43, behind a 20-point performance by Bianca Flores.

The Titans return this season, having earned the No. 1 seed in the South but won’t have Flores or her 3-point shooting ability to rely on this week. In Wednesday’s semifinals at Madison Park High, Fenway takes on Burke in the opener at 4 p.m. and New Mission takes on Latin Academy at 5:30, with the winners meeting in Friday’s final at 5 p.m.

A look at the semifinal matchups:

New Mission (15-1, 13-1) vs. Latin Academy (10-2, 14-4) The Titans starters include sophomores Edna Cristo-Jon and Shacora Williams, freshman power forward Donaziah Fountain, junior small forward Chreese Hall, and their leading scorer Nyiesha Kelley.

Kelley is averaging 17.8 points per game, 9.2 assists, and 6.5 steals. Behind Kelley are Hall (15.5 ppg) and Fountain (14.3 ppg).

Coach Greg Berry called the 5-foot-10-inch Fountain the best eighth-grade basketball player in the city last year. Adding more height is 6-foot freshman Teakeyah White.

Berry said his team is faster and stronger defensively than last year’s league championship squad.

The Dragons, the second seed from the North, start junior Robi Cardoso at point guard, junior Davetta Kenner at guard, senior Tricia Deyoung at small forward, junior Maya Scott at power forward, and senior Kaelyn Sullivan at center. All started last season, with the exception of Kenner, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament in the second game of the season.

Cardoso leads Latin Academy offensively, averaging 23 points and eight assists per game. Scott is the leading rebounder, snagging about eight boards a game. Kenner also contributes about 15 points per game. Cardoso and Kenner are lethal from the 3-point range.

Latin Academy coach Bill Dever said this year’s team boasts a strong bench that goes about nine or 10 players deep. Off the bench are Kelly Sullivan, Delia Schroeder, and 5-11 junior Danielle Lydon.

The fourth-year coach also believes his team’s speed is one of its strengths, although he realizes New Mission is just as quick.

“I would say overall there are a lot of similarities,’’ Dever said. “Both teams don’t have a lot of size and both rely on speed to have success. What [New Mission is] good at is mostly capitalizing on a lot of turnovers.’’

Fenway (14-4, 14-0) vs. Burke (15-3, 11-3) Starting for the Panthers are freshman point guard Tajanay Veiga, sophomore guard Kayla Cox, junior Cleusa Sequeria, junior forward Regina Crawford, and senior center Naamah Brown.

Fenway is led by Veiga, who is the driving force of the young team and is averaging more than 20 points a game.

Coach Steve Drayton believes what sets his team apart from the other three is its experience outside of the city. The Panthers’ four losses were all to non-city teams: Chelmsford, Tewksbury, Lee, and Fontbonne.

“I tried explained it to the girls that the idea is not just to sit in the city, but to see other ball, and see how it’s played outside the city,’’ Drayton said. “Hopefully it has an effect in the city championships. If you look at the city teams, a lot of them go undefeated and go to states and lose in the first round.’’

But the Panthers will face stiff competition in Burke’s junior guard Khadijah Ellison, who is one of the top players in the state.

Burke’s lineup includes junior guard Khadijah Ellison, junior guard Frederika Lawson, senior guard Kelsea Miles, freshman center Cassandra Teneus, and senior guard Deanna Rivera.

Ellison and Lawson are both averaging about 23 points per game, and Burke coach John Rice believes his team has great chemistry and his backcourt could be one of the strongest in the state.

On ESPN’s women’s basketball recruiting website, Ellison is listed as the No. 54 player for the class of 2011. For comparison, Boston College-bound Katie Zenevitch of Central Catholic is listed as No. 63 for this year’s senior class.

But Rice knows a single player can’t carry an entire team.

“Overall our weakness is depth,’’ Rice explained. “We’re only going to have eight players for the cities, and two of those kids are freshman. This is their first time playing, so we don’t have much depth or so much size.’’

Undefeated
With No. 1 New Bedford’s loss last night to Whitman-Hanson, only three unbeaten teams remain: Wellesley (18-0), Pentucket (22-0), and Cohasset (20-0).

Milestones
Asia Ewing (Westford), Erin McNamara (Pentucket), and Tori Faieta (St. Mary’s) all scored their 1,000th career point this week . . . Lauren Battista of Oliver Ames broke the Tigers’ scoring record of 1,500 points during a 24-point performance against Franklin . . . Blue Hills coach Chris Flynn posted his 400th career win in the Warriors’ 62-32 rout of Diman and Ipswich coach Amanda Carter-Zegorowski earned her 100th win Tuesday with a 54-48 victory over Lynnfield.