March
18, 2004
TOMS RIVER - If one arrived at halftime of the first-round Tournament of Champions game between Paterson Eastside and Bloomfield Tech and looked up at the scoreboard, it would be understandable to think that the game was all but in the bag. Eastside led by 25 points and the game was not even that close.
But the most dangerous team is one backed against a wall with its season on the line and absolutely nothing to lose.
Down 35-10 at the half, Bloomfield Tech mounted a miraculous comeback and cut the lead down to three on two occasions. But both times the Lady ghosts stepped up in the one area that had been plaguing them all season, free throws. All-American Essence Carson nailed two free throws, and Antoinette Linney followed with a pair of her own with 2.3 seconds left to ice the game and send Paterson Eastside into the T of C semifinals with a 68-66 triumph.
The third-seeded Ghosts will play No. 2 Morris Catholic today at the Rittacco Center at Toms River North High School in a 6 p.m. start.
"Right from the get-go, we were out of position and they made us pay," said Bloomfield Tech head coach Mike Davidson. " In big games, you have to play with poise and we did not do that in the first half. Plus, we were playing a great team that made every mistake seem huge. To be honest, they just blew us out in the first half and there wasn't much we could do about it."
Bloomfield Tech took an early 2-1 lead in the opening minute on a basket by Ashley Crenshaw. But that was the first and only lead that the Spartans held in the entire game, as the Ghosts held them without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes.
Carson hit five of her first seven shots, sparking a whopping 27-2 run. Linney nailed a three-pointer from the corner at the buzzer to end the first quarter with the Lady Ghosts breezing to a 25-3 lead.
The lead grew slightly as Sadasia Green hit a short jumper with seconds remaining in the half to make the score 35-10 at the break.
"I think we relaxed a little bit and we knew we had a cushion," said Carson. "We knew they were going to m make a run, but we just couldn't get on track and it keep going. It's tough to think that any team can come back from being down 25 points at halftime, but they never quit and we made some stupid mistakes. They capitalized and once it got close, it came down to us having to make free throws."
The lead was still sizable with the Lady Ghosts holding a 20-point advantage, 46-26, when Carson hit a free throw with 2:26 to go in the third quarter. But the two key players for Bloomfield Tech that were not heard from, made their presence felt over the final 10 minutes of play.
Lightning-quick point guard Khaliqa Davis and three-point sniper Victoria Sykes both heated up at the right time to get the Lady Spartans back in the game. Sykes hit a three-pointer in a 9-0 run spanning the last two quarters. Davis capped the run by stripping the ball from Carson and hitting a lefty lay-up over her outstretched hands to make it 46-35.
"It took them two quarters for them to really put a beating on us," said Bloomfield Tech head coach Mike Davidson. " All I told them at halftime was it would only take us two quarters to get it back if we played the way we were capable of. We knew it was going to be a tough task ahead of us, but we all believed that it was not impossible. You always have to look at the bright side of things and our kids started to believe that in the second half."
It looked like Eastside put the game on ice when freshman Asia Rollins nailed both ends of a one-and-one to put her team up 11, 59-48, with just 1:48 to play. But the Spartans made one last run.
Davis stripped Carson once again and made another lay-up, followed 36 seconds later when Crenshaw stole an inbounds pass and fed Sykes for a lay-up that cut the lead to three 64-61 with 30 seconds remaining.
"We stopped running our sets and we made mistakes we haven't been making all year," said Paterson Eastside head coach Ed Black. "We were in a zone and honestly, Essence was getting lit up from the outside, because with such a big lead I think she caught inside too much. With such a big lead, we weren't really worried. But they never quit and the next thing we know, we had to hit some free throws to win the game. This was definitely a lesson learned. In the Tournament of Champions, you know you are going to get a battle if you don't come to play all 32 minutes."
Two seconds after the bucket by Sykes, Carson was fouled and sent to the line to shoot a pair of free throws. With her scholastic career and one of the state's biggest comebacks hanging in the balance, she calmly stepped to the line and nailed both shots from the charity stripe for a 66-61 lead.
Davis, who was brilliant in the second half, dropped a runner in the lane with nine seconds left to cut the lead back down to three, 66-63, but it took nearly another seven seconds before Linney was fouled by Crenshaw with 2.3 seconds on the clock.
She hit both free throws to put the game away, before Davis hit a 30-footer at the buzzer for the final margin.
"We came up a bit short today against one of the state's best teams, but I hope we made a statement," said Davidson. "This is a special team and we plan on being around for a long time. Even though we lost this game, I think this can set a bar for the players here in the future. Bloomfield Tech is going to be a team to be reckoned with and this is just the beginning for our program."
Carson, as usual, did a little bit of everything for Eastside (26-4). She scored a game-high 23 points, and added five assists, five blocks, five rebounds, and four steals. Sophomore center Sasha Lowery added a double-double with 15 points, 11 of those coming in the first half, and 12 rebounds. Nasheema Johnson finished with 12 points and eight rebounds.
Bloomfield Tech's best season ever came to a close with a 20-7 mark. Davis scored 19 of her team-high 20 points in the second half. She also added eight assists and four steals. Sykes finished with 14 points and four steals. Sophomore forward Thazina Cook added a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 11 rebounds. Senior guard Danielle Hubbard added nine points, hitting all of three of her three-point attempts in the second half. Crenshaw chipped in with eight points, seven rebounds, and four steals.
"It was nice to see us win this game from the line," added Black. "Not to take anything away from Bloomfield Tech, because they are clearly a great team, but we can't play the way we did in the second half against Morris Catholic. We know they are going to be well rested and our work is cut out for us. Hopefully, this will be a big wake-up call to our kids."
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