January
25, 2004
March 21,
 |
 |
| Pascack Valley's Heather Zurich scored 24 points, two more than the Indians' defense allowed in the win over Mahwah on Saturday evening. | |
MAHWAH - Sometimes it looks as if the Pascack Valley girls basketball team is oblivious the competition, to the score of the game and to the time on the clock. Robotic would be a good term if the offense not so fluid, the defense not so fundamentally sound and the decisions not so split-second.
No matter the situation, the Indians are in search of the perfect game of basketball regardless of the opponent, point in the season or the game's meaning in the standings. Although they are likely never to find perfection, their efforts have led to a perfect 12-0 start, including Saturday night's 56-22 win over Mahwah.
But until
there are no more turnovers, no more missed shots, no more offensive rebounds
surrendered and no more fouls committed, perfect is not the word that PV head
coach Jeff Jasper would use to describe his team.
 |
| Mahwah's Sara Grimaldi trying to find a hole in the PV defense. |
"We're not that good. We have many, many things to work on," said Jasper whose pursuit of perfection as a coach has led to 25 straight league titles and 11 sectional championships in his 30 previous seasons as PV's head coach. "Everyday we go to practice the individual work that has to be done with these kids is amazing. They are wonderful to work with, but we have tons of things that need to get done and they can identify every single one of them."
If Friday night was any indication, one area where Pascack Valley is not lacking is zone offense. With Mahwah (3-7) playing a 2-3 to avoid 1-on-1 situations against PV's many capable ball-handlers, the Indians used the high post as the starting point of its offense.
With
Erin Thames and sophomore Hilary Scachetti working the foul line area and
making smart passes to the wings and the opposite blocks, Pascack Valley opened
a 17-5 lead after the first quarter with All-County junior Heather Zurich
scoring 11 of her game-high 24 points in the opening eight minutes. Dana Beierle
scored only two points, but her job as the point guard is to distribute, and
she did that well against Mahwah.
 |
| PV's Bryanne Corra about to score a basket from her favorite spot on the baseline. |
"(Point guard) is the best position on the floor. You're job is not to shoot it, but to get the ball to the right place at the right time," said Beierle. "On this team we have a lot of players that can score so the challenge for me is to make sure they all get the ball in the right spots."
Zurich gets just about all of her opportunities within the flow of an offense that rarely, if ever, throws up a forced or rushed shot, and that is by design.
"(Coach Jasper's) expectations for us are so high and you can't ask for more than that, a coach that works you so hard every day to play the game the right way," said Zurich, a junior who has been starting since her freshman season. "Basketball has become an all-year sport for us and it's a lot of fun. Everyday we just try to be better than we were yesterday."
PV opened
the second quarter on a 7-2 run and finished the half with a 12-3 spurt capped
by Zurich's fastbreak basket that beat the buzzer against a Mahwah team playing
shorthanded. The T-Birds' senior captain and leading scorer Dana Herbst left
the team earlier this season to pursue other interests and second leading
scorer Jen Wegner was unable to play because of an illness.
 |
| Melissa Corbett was one of three T-Birds to finish with six points. |
"Every year we strive to make the state tournament, we've been in the playoffs three of the last four years and we certainly expected to get back there again," said Mahwah head coach Mike Tremblay. "At 3-7, we have a long way to go, an uphill climb, but starting Tuesday we'll be ready to go. We are going through a little adversity right now, but these kids work hard and they are trying to battle through it."
Three players -- Melissa Corbett, Emily Pavelle and Sara Valenti -- all scored six points for Mahwah, while Lauren Meccia added four.
PV's
Kristen Brown was the only other player to reach double figures in the game.
Brown finished with 14 and added nine rebounds, crashing the offensive glass
and playing her usual all-out style. Bryanne Corra added eight points, working
the baseline that is her spot in the PV offense that finds the open (wo)man.
 |
| PV's Hilary Scachetti going up for two of her six points against Mahwah's Sara Valenti. |
"We've been working a lot against zone and we've been getting better at it. We just know where everyone is," said Corra, a senior who was a major piece to the Indians' Bergen County champion volleyball team in the fall. "We've been playing well together as a team and that is the way it is set up."
If Pascack Valley wins out in its remaining games before the cutoff for the Bergen County tournament, it will earn the top seed and might even be able to absorb a loss and still grab the top spot. But the Indians were the top seed last season when Tenafly upset them in a 2-point quarterfinal loss.
So to Jasper, a top seed would be nice, but not as important as where his team stands when the tournament is over.
"I haven't researched it but I would say that since 1980, I am sure that we have probably been the No. 1 seed more than any other team," said Jasper. "Not that that is any big deal because you still have to play the tournament. Somebody has to be No. 1 and if it is us it means that we are being rewarded for what we have done leading up to the tournament, but that means little once it starts."
For more pictures from this event or to purchase a Collector's Print of this story, visit the NJS.com School Store!
|
|
|
| About Us | Contact Us | Home | Advertise |
Questions?
E-mail the editor editor@northjerseysports.com
All contents © copyright 2001-2004 HSSportsWeb.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
|
|
