NEW YORK, NY - While a lot may have changed, the goals are still the same for the Murry Bergtraum girls basketball team. The Lady Blazers did not win the PSAL Championship for the first time in 16 years, and if they want to get back atop the mountain, they will do it without their longtime head coach Ed Grezinsky who stepped down in September.

Change can sometimes be tough, but this group, led by Seton Hall bound Ashanae McLaughlin '15, look up to the challenge of reclaiming what many of the Bergtraum girls feel is their crown. Against a tough Grand Street Campus team on Monday evening in Manhattan they showed just how good, and how deep they are in their quest for a title, in fighting off a tough Wolves team for the 55-46 victory.

McLaughlin, who doesn't feel like there is a chip on her shoulder after last year's PSAL semifinal loss to Francis Lewis, looks at the challenge this year as a sense of getting back to where she feels Bergtraum belongs, and while she says there was an initial surprise of Grezinsky leaving, that is now deep in the past in her eyes as she is now squarely focused on a championship.

"That's the past and I can change or do anything about the past," McLaughlin said. "It's all about working hard now to get that chip back, and if anything last year is just motivation to make sure I go out and end my high school career with a championship."

Even though she was sick on Monday and not at 100%, McLaughlin was out there to prove that they are a team to be reckoned with this season, looking to prove that point against Grand Street and their star, forward Shanique Edwards '17, a transfer in this season from Nazareth.

Early on it was all Bergtraum as they came out and were able to get out in transition for easy buckets by McLaughlin and Julissa Rodriguez '17, while Grand Street struggled against the physicality inside of Bergtraum early on, playing on Monday for the second consecutive day after losing a heartbreaker to St. Anthony's on Sunday night.

The Wolves were down by as many as 13 in the opening quarter before cutting the deficit to 10 after one, and then with head coach Corey McFarlane making an adjustment to pressure the ball and trap more, it seemed to rattle the Lady Blazers as uncharacteristic turnovers led to easy Grand Street baskets, and after Asianae Johnson '18 knocked down a pull-up three from the left wing, it was just a 26-22 game with the Bergtraum lead trimmed to four, something that was infuriating new Lady Blazers head coach Nerva Jean-Pierre.

"We went away from the plan," Jean-Pierre explained. "We knew they were going to press us and trap us, and we played it well at first, but then we got dribble happy and tried to do too much and it hurt us."

The one that did help Bergtraum was when they were able to break the press, they had Rodriguez and Dai'yanni Davis '17 waiting on the other end of the floor for layups as Grand Street would all-out attack the ball, leaving wide open layups for the forwards of Bergtraum once they did break midcourt. Alexandra Smith '15, the Lady Blazers big interior force, was saddled with foul trouble for much of the half, which did change a lot of the game plan for Jean-Pierre, but after a rough quarter where they did struggle, Bergtraum still mama fed to hold a 34-25 lead at the half.

With Edwards held to just 1 first half point, Grand Street was still very much in the game, and Darieli Abreu '16 was a big reason as to why as she was able to slice her way to the rim, being one of the lone Wolves who were able to finish once inside, and Fernanda Reyes '15 connected on a pair of 3rd quarter threes as against the trapping Grand Street defense, Bergtraum was faltering and with 1:13 to go in the quarter, it was a 42-37 game.

Kaisha Lucky '16 could've cut the deficit to just 3 at that point, but she missed a point blank layup attempt, and the rebound was pushed by Bergtraum and McLaughlin found an open Cinnamon Dockery '18 on the left wing for a big three ball. An ensuing steal then led to Rodriguez finishing a putback right at the end of the quarter to make it a 47-37 Bergtraum lead after three, and those last couple plays were was Jean-Pierre saw as the biggest moments of the game.

"That was the key of the game right there," Jean-Pierre admitted. "We made a couple stops, and then we got a couple of scores which gave us a bit of breathing room and let us relax."

Relaxing was a big part of what Jean-Pierre stressed in between the 3rd and 4th quarters as he said he stressed for his girls to calm down and relax, noting they were in the lead and advising them to slow it down a bit.

That's exactly what the Lady Blazers then did. Heeding the coaches advice, they used the clock, running down the shot clock on near every possession in the 4th, and when they did need a big bucket, Rodriguez was the one who stepped up, hitting a big runner in the lane with just over 3 minutes to play, and then McLaughlin, who gave a fantastic effort even though under the weather, hit clutch FT's to seal it.

Lucky hit a three with just over 30 seconds to go, and even though Grand Street did have a couple more good looks at long range shots after that, nothing else would fall as the final seconds ticked down to give Murry Bergtraum the 55-46 win.

Rodriguez led all scorers with 19 points in the win for the Lady Blazers, with McLaughlin adding 12, with 7 of those coming in the opening quarter to set the tone early on.

Abreu paced Grand Street with 11 points, while Lucky added 10. Edwards only managed 3 points in the game as the Lady Blazers did an excellent job in focusing on her and taking her out of the game for the most part.

It's another win for Bergtraum who now improve to 4-0 on the new season, and while it wasn't always pretty, Jean-Pierre is happy to have grinded it out.

"They are a very good pressing team, and our big girl (Smith) was never able to get in a rhythm because of fouls so we just had to figure out another way to get it done, and we did," Jean-Pierre said.

For McLaughlin, she stressed the involvement of the younger players such as Rodriguez, Davis and Dockery in the win, and with their improvement day in and day out, she is confident that this team is pointed in the right direction going forward in their goal of a championship, and with the new coaching staffs help, she believes they will get there.

"Absolutely, we are very capable of getting the championship, we just have to all work together. Nothing is different from the past at all. The coaches know what we are trying to do, and they are doing all they can to help us get our chip back."