BAYONNE - In a battle of county champions, Bayonne hosted Paterson Eastside in the semifinals of the NJSIAA North 1, Group IV girls basketball playoffs last night in Bayonne.

It took an extra four minutes to decide, but in the end seventh-seeded Ghosts went home with bragging rights for Passaic County and a date with Bergen County powerhouse Ridgewood in the sectional final after picking up a 47-38 overtime win the fourth-seeded Bees.

"We just wanted to get to the sectional finals and try to get a state championship," said Eastside coach Ed Black, whose team won the Passaic County Tournament last week. "We want a state championship."

The last time the Ghosts were in a sectional final was back in 1985 when they played Ridgewood and beat the Maroons for the sectional crown.

Eastside was led by sophomore phenom Essence Carson. The 5-foot-10 Carson had a game-high 21 points, 12 rebounds, seven blocks and four steals. Fellow sophomore Nasheema Johnson scored 10 points and junior Vinisha Mack added nine, including knocking down 5-of-7 from the line in overtime.

But it was Eastside's defense that really beat Bayonne (21-6); crowned HCIAA champs last Saturday. The Ghosts used several zone schemes, including a diamond-and-one on freshman point guard Jen Mayo, to shutdown the Bees' offense.

"Outside of their full court pressure and the couple of times they went 1-3-1 they were playing a diamond-and-one on Jen Mayo almost the whole game," said Bayonne coach Jeff Stabile. "It took us a while to get Mayo to accept the fact that it was a box on her. It was almost like she was in a little bit of disbelief."

Mayo only scored two points but the disruption of Bayonne's offensive flow affected everyone, even star senior forward Danielle Dugan. Dugan was held scoreless in the first half and, although she did finish with 13 points, including knocking down two free throws with 4.6 seconds left in the game to send it into overtime, she never got going offensively. Senior Joanna Borawski scored 10 points and junior Beth Mayo hit for nine.

"We just never got the lead and that hurt," said Stabile. "We talked about getting the lead in the overtime. But we just couldn't catch that break."

Dugan scored seven of her team's final nine points in regulation to help the Bees into overtime. But in the extra period it was all Eastside (20-7), and more specifically Carson.

Carson scored five of her eight overtime points in the first 51 seconds to get the Ghosts going, hitting a baseline runner before getting a steal and hitting a layup while being hacked by Borawski. After knocking down the free throw Carson had quickly given her team a 39-34 lead. It would be all Eastside would need.

"The first two possessions of the game we scored," said Carson. "Those were two big baskets. It helped us get over the hump. Then we pressured the ball more and were smarter on defense."

Bayonne couldn't get a good look at the basket in the overtime and its only points came courtesy of Dugan on two foul shots and a pull up jumper.

"Their quickness is something to deal with," said Stabile. "Their size and their quickness took away a lot of breaks that we had. It made us a little weary under the boards when we took our layups.

"We just had to get a couple of layups underneath and we didn't get that."