I found her liking Peter to be pretty much out of left field and unrealistic. You're underselling the impact of Peter's abandonment of the academic team (twice). In fact, the second time comes before a championship and after a conversation in which it's made clear how much she cares about the team and her role within it.
So is it possible that she's had a crush for some time on him? Sure. Is this likely, given what the movie shows us, both implicitly and explicitly? No.
In fact there are things she does that go against us thinking that she's crushing on him hard enough to ignore him abandoning the team. For example, when they're going out for the rebellious activity right before the match, she doesn't make it a point to invite him -- instead she just happens to run into him. She also doesn't invite him to her party until she hears it might get Spider-Man to make an appearance. All in all, the fact that she likes him comes off as a strange surprise that doesn't make it.