December
11, 2002
March 21,
 |
| Heather Zurich (left) and Kristen Brown (center), shown here playing defense, will be counted upon to carry the offensive load. |
HILLSDALE - Defending sectional champion Indian Hills figures to be good again, Northern Highlands is always tough, and Mahwah should be a difficult opponent this season. But when a team has won 24 straight league titles, like the Pascack Valley girls basketball team has under head coach Jeff Jasper, worrying what the opposition might be doing is way down on the list of concerns.
"The way I look at it is that we are always competing against the game itself. We just have so many things that have to be learned," said Jasper, after his team, missing eight seniors from last year's squad that won a sectional championship, finished up a tri-scrimmage against Dumont and Teaneck on Saturday morning. "My expectations are high and my standards are high."
With the graduation of point guard Sam Schwartz and last season's leading scorer Jen Jurjevic, now a freshman playing at Iona, PV will have an all-new backcourt heading into the new season. It's a lot to replace, but there is also a lot to work with.
Sophomore
Heather Zurich will go from her role last season of complimentary player to
that of featured scorer. The 6-1 Zurich will play the two-guard where her
textbook jump shot and ability to put the ball on the floor will be tough
for opposing defenses to handle.
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| Junior Bryann Corra (left) returns up front from last season's team that went 26-2 and won a sectional title. |
"She is going from a non-stressful supporting role to now being thrown in to being a major focal point of what we do," said Jasper, of Zurich, an excellent all-around athlete who was a part PV's successful volleyball program during the fall season. "Every kid up on that board (of 1,000 point scorers) has gone through the same growth pattern. Nobody steps in and becomes the player with out all of the steps that get you to that point. But you watch (Zurich) shoot her jumpshot and you know that she is legit."
But PV will have and use other options including Kristen Brown, a junior who Jasper called "the hardest working player in Bergen County." Brown, a third-team all county selection last season, does a lot of the dirty work up front and can score in a variety of ways, including getting free along the baseline and crashing the boards
"Brown can do so many things and she is going to relieve some of the pressure from Heather because she will get points that nobody else can get," said Jasper. "She is a very good player, she's got a lot of upside."
But the
foundation of PV's success over the past quarter century has been the defense,
and all five starters and the top nine in the rotation are all expected to
contribute on the defensive end. Junior Bryann Corra returns up front the
season and is a defensive stopper who can also chip in offensively.
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| Nicole Lentine is one of three seniors on the PV roster. |
There are three seniors in the PV rotation, Sarah Fuchs, Christina Dunn, and Nicole Lentino; two juniors, Dana Beierle and Jaclyn Cerange; and sophomore Erin Thames. All will play an important role inside Jasper's clearly defined offensive and defensive schemes.
"They are all somewhat interchangeable with what we want them to do," said Jasper, who is entering his 30th season as the Indians' head coach. "We'll have the two kids that will be on the floor at all times, that's (Kristen) Brown and Heather (Zurich), and the other kids will all fill in those other spots."
Last season Pascack Valley went 26-2, won its 11th sectional title under Jasper and its first since 1993. The Indians were the top seed and the undefeated defending champion heading into the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament before being upset by River Dell and will likely be in the middle of the county and state title chases against this season.
But where the Indians end up is not as important to Jasper as how they get there.
"You ask anybody on our team what our goals are and they'll tell you that our goal is to be better today than we were yesterday," said Jasper. "We are only really competing against the game, competing against ourselves. I like to keep it that pure."
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