February
14, 2005
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| Hilary Scacchetti scored 7 of her 9 points in the second quarter as Pascack Valley began to assert control over Ridgefield Park's slow down style. | |
RIDGEWOOD -- The Ridgefield Park girls basketball team had a plan and it was sticking to it. The sixth-seeded Scarlets decided that the best way to hang with No. 3 Pascack Valley in Sunday's Bergen County quarterfinal was to hold the ball on offense and move it around the perimeter. On a good trip, a quality shot would come from the ball movement, but in the least time would run off the clock and PV would have fewer opportunities to score.
"We didn't
want to run up and down with them. We figured our best chance was to slow
the game down," said RP head coach Joe Branda. "We thought that if we could
limit their possessions and keep the score down, we would have a chance to
make some plays later on."
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| Jillian Kane scored more than half of Ridgefield Park's 35 points, finishing with a game-high 19. |
And it worked, for the first half at least. Ridgefield Park held PV to just three first quarter points, scored four of its own and even had a one-point lead after Jillian Kane hit a jumper from the foul line extended with just 20 seconds to go in a first half that had a combined total of just 27 points.
But while the slowdown kept the score down, it did not succeed in frustrating the Indians, who kept their cool and never tried to run their way out of it. Erin Thames' baseline jumper just before the halftime buzzer gave PV the lead and the Indians steadily built upon it in the second half.
A 12-4
run, highlighted by two Thames 3-pointers and two Heather Zurich baskets,
gave Pascack Valley (18-1) some breathing room on the way to its 11th straight
win, 50-35, and a spot in the Bergen County semifinals for the 22nd time in
the program's history.
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| Erin Thames had two third quarter three pointers that helped PV pull away. |
And to build that kind of resume, PV has proven that it can win against a variety of styles. Rather than having his team impose its will, head coach Jeff Jasper would rather see his players recognize what the opponent is trying to do, then beat it at its own game.
On Thursday, in a game it had to have to keep its streak of 26 straight titles alive, Pascack Valley topped Northern Highlands by outsmarting the diamond-and-1 defense designed to stop Heather Zurich. Against Ridgefield Park, PV got most of its baskets by passing diagonally against the 1-3-1 zone, finding cutters and the spots on the floor that would yield open looks.
"You
can't be a one-dimensional team that says the only way we can score is to
press and run and trap all over," said Jasper. "At every level that you go
beyond, you are going to run into different styles that you have to adjust
to. For us, this was wonderful because it showed that we had great patience
on both ends of the floor. And when we didn't we played right into what they
wanted."
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| Alysha Garra hit two of RP's four 3-pointers and finished with 7 points. |
After getting just five shots total in the first quarter, PV took advantage of its increased opportunities in the second. Hilary Schacchetti scored off assists from Zurich and Jessica Lynch for four straight points that gave the Indians their first lead at 7-6. Scacchetti scored 7 of her 9 points and of her team's 11 in the second quarter to keep PV afloat until other options opened up later on.
"We were able to spread the floor, work around the zone and look for the open places. Everyone worked well together," said Scacchetti, who also grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds. "There was definitely an amount of respect that they showed us (by slowing the game down), and that feels good, but we just have to keep working hard as a team."
Kane,
who scored more than half of her team's points, led Ridgefield Park. She finished
with a game-high 19 for the Scarlets, who had only three other players hit
the scorebook. Alysha Garra (7 points) had two of RP's four 3-pointers, Danielle
Morrow scored 4 of her 6 points in the fourth quarter and Amber Doran added
a fourth quarter 3.
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| Heather Zurich got all 10 of her points within the flow of PV's offense. |
Thames' two third quarter 3-pointers put the game out of reach and she finished with a team high 12 points. Without forcing anything and without feeling like she had to take the game over, Zurich settled for 10 points, 8 in the second half. Rebecca Lynch, a freshman, chipped in with 8 points for PV, which is headed toward a rubber match with second seeded Highlands, with whom they split the season series with each team winning on its own home court.
Jasper is certainly looking forward to the next round, but not because of who the opponent will be.
"I am just happy to move on," said Jasper, whose teams have won six county championships. "Getting to the Elite 4 in this county 22 times, I think…that ain't bad. Whatever happens from here on in, what the heck do we know, but I like to be able to say that we are playing another Sunday."
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