HILLSDALE - It wouldn't be a large stretch to compare shooting a basketball to such things as a toddler taking his first steps or child learning to ride a bicycle. It's a bit strange at first, and the mental confidence is just as important as the physical motion. Once you get it though, once the brain says OK, it's like second nature.

The basketball metamorphosis for Kate Spinapolice came a couple of weeks ago. The senior hit a big three-point field goal in the semifinal round of the Bergen County tournament against River Dell, and it was as if the light went on.

Since then, she's been a different player, and it was a confident Spinapolice who owned the first quarter of the North 1, Group 3 semifinal game against Wayne Valley, sending her team on to next Monday's finals.

With a 57-41 win, PV heads to Bayonne on Monday night at 8:00 p.m. to play NBIL rival Ramapo, which pulled off what to many was a huge upset of Sparta, 48-43, in the other semifinal.

"I don't know about upset," PV head coach Jeff Jasper said, "but I can tell you that right now Ramapo is playing the best basketball of anybody in the county. (Ramapo head coach) Steve (Silver) has done a tremendous job with them. Even though we beat them in the regular season (47-34), we were very lucky and they were the better team."

On Saturday afternoon, Pascack was the better team against Wayne Valley simply because they played with the type of team effort that is a trademark of the Lady Indians. All the ingredients were there.

Spinapolice with her three point shooting, Sam Schwartz with a strong two-way game at point guard, Heather Zurich with the baseline jumper, Kristen Brown and Bryann Corra with strong defense on Wayne Valley's Heather McDonald. All components of a game where Jen Jurjevic did not have to be front and center.

With teams doing whatever they can to take Jurjevic off her game, the Indians have looked for others to step up, and Spinapolice did that, hitting four three-point field goals on four tries in the opening quarter.

"Sometimes, Kate plays a kind of deferring game," Jasper explained, but in the last few games, she has taken on a whole different mental approach to the game. She starts every game, and she does because we know she can play.

"Kate and Sam are both very heady players who play within themselves, they know what they can do and they fit that into what the team does."

The Spinapolice explosion helped PV to a 21-11 lead after one quarter, and when Wayne Valley (20-6) stepped out to play her, it opened up Schwartz for five second period points, including a three of her own.

Jurjevic, without the need to carry the scoring load, showed her prowess on the defensive end, with three of her five steals coming in the opening period. She also hit four consecutive second quarter free throws on a foul and a technical foul back-to-back, as Pascack Valley (25-1) took a 34-20 halftime lead.

In the second half, Brown and Corra held McDonald without a field goal and only two points after she had 12 in the first half. The leading scorer for Wayne, she never got a good look at the basket over the final 16 minutes.

"I can't say enough about the job Bryann Corra did," Jasper said. "She got four or five real great rebounds, and she did a marvelous job on McDonald despite giving away maybe five inches."

Schwartz controlled the ball in the second half and had eight of her 13 points, and Jurjevic sparked an eight-point run late in the third quarter with two buckets that put Valley up 48-30 and all but cemented the game.

Jurjevic had a game-high 18 points and matched Corra for team honors with six rebounds. Schwartz and Zurich (9 points) each had four assists. Pascack shot 20 of 40 from the floor and 12 of 20 from the line.

Wayne Valley was 12 of 34 from the field and 15 of 23 from the line, and Laurie Schlachter had five rebounds to pace the Indians.