February
14, 2005
 |
 |
 |
| Northern Highlands' BrieAnn Forhecz played lock down defense and hit the two free throws late in the fourth quarter that stood up as the winning points. | |
RIDGEWOOD - How close was it? Northern Highlands made 13 field goals, River Dell made 9. Northern Highlands made 9 free throws, River Dell made 7. River Dell made three 3-pointers, Northern Highlands made none. Total it all up and there is a difference of one point, the one point that would make the difference between which team advanced to the Bergen County Tournament semifinals and the one that would become the definition of a tough-luck loser.
And to top it all off, the one-point win was not decided until the clock was just about to hit 0:00 in the fourth quarter of a game that was tied seven times and in which neither team had more than a four-point lead in any of the 32 minutes.
 |
| Alyssa May's runner with 42 seconds left to play gave River Dell its final lead. |
There was a game's worth of key plays inside the final minute, which Northern Highlands entered leading by (what else?) one point before missing the front end of a one-and-one with 49 seconds to go. After a missed putback, River Dell's Alyssa May went coast to coast with the rebound to give the Hawks their first lead since midway through the second quarter.
Two free throws by BrieAnn Forhecz gave Highlands the lead back with 29 seconds to play and those two points would stand up as the game-winners in a 35-34 victory that still had some twists and turns left in it.
With
the clock down to :06, May forced one up from just inside the lane that bounced
off the rim and right into the hands of Ivana Bolff, whose last-gasp putback
caromed off the left side of the basket and into the hands of Highlands' KR
Ling as the buzzer sounded to end a classic quarterfinal.
 |
| KR Ling (13) scored a game-high 17 points for Highlands, will face Pascack Valley in the county semis next week. |
"I think one of the things that our team is good at is keeping a level head even when things get hectic like they were at the end," said Ling, one of four juniors in Northern Highlands' starting lineup that does not feature any seniors. "Even though we are a young team, we went through a lot last year and we are all back. Not that many girls get as much playing time as we did when we were younger and I think that helped us today. When we went down 1, we knew we could come back and score."
And that
Forhecz was the one to come up with the game deciding points was fitting,
because it was her defense on the 5-11 May -- an extremely tough matchup because
of her height, her ability to handle the ball and her shooting ability --
that was the a key factor in the game. But Forhecz, who was giving up about
8 inches, never moved from in front of River Dell's star sophomore.
 |
| Ivana Bolf scored 10 points for River Dell and had the last shot to win the game in the waning seconds. |
"Defense is my favorite thing and I was thinking today that even I wouldn't want to have played against myself," said Forhecz, who held Pascack Valley senior Heather Zurich to 6 points in heads up battle earlier this week. "I was just out to get it and do what I had to do."
The game was nip and tuck the whole way with River Dell never having a lead of more than two points (9-7, 11-9 and 13-11) and Highlands opening four point leads three times (20-16, 24-20, and 31-27). Highlands led 24-23 at the half and used its advantage inside to great effect, especially in the first two quarters with Ling, who scored a game-high 17 points, and sophomore Taylor Shea (9 points) controlling the paint.
River
Dell hung tough by getting points wherever and from whomever it could find.
With May being held to 12 and Maureen Kehoe putting up just 5 while fighting
foul trouble, the Hawks had to have some other options step up. Bolff did
by reaching double digits with 10 points and Kristen Barry netted 7, including
a fourth quarter 3-pointer that answered Ling's conventional 3-point play.
Barry's bomb had RD to within 31-30 with 3:58 to play.
 |
| Northern Highlands' Taylor Shea scored 7 of her 9 points in the first half. |
"The last five games Barry has been playing great. She got in a little foul trouble today, but she hit two big baskets when we needed it," said River Dell head coach Lou Wejnert. "It came down to some turnovers and some crazy shots that maybe we didn't want to make or a missed rebound. That's the type of stuff that loses a game like this."
But more than River Dell (17-3) losing the game, it was more a case of Northern Highlands, which dropped its first game of the season to PV its last time out, stepping up and winning it. And with that, the Highlanders earned another shot at its league rival in next weekend's semifinal for what amounts to the Bergen County public school championship played between the two public schools that have been the best in the county since Day 1 of the season.
"It's a neutral site and we are playing PV again," said Jon Smith, the head coach who will lead the Highlanders into the semifinals for the first time since 1987. "Whether it was us or River Dell that advanced, I think that those are the three best public schools in the county this year and we'll see what happens next week."
FOR MORE PICTURES OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT THE NJS.com SCHOOL STORE!
|
|
|
| About Us | Contact Us | Home | Advertise |
Questions?
E-mail the editor editor@northjerseysports.com
All contents © copyright 2002-2005 HSSportsWeb.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
