February
27, 2005
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| Vanessa Holden and IHA controlled the boards on both ends as the Blue Eagles won their second straight county title and third in the last four years. | |
PARAMUS -- Last Thursday, Immaculate Heart took a ride into New York City to have a practice scrimmage against Francis Lewis, considered to be one of the top girls basketball teams in the country. The Blue Eagles, seeing the tall forwards and fast guards, were a bit awed at first.
Once
they got on the court and started playing, they realized that not only could
they play with such a team, that they were the equal of such a team. A little
"city ball," as IHA head coach Jen Bednarek called it, seemed to be the perfect
remedy for a team heading into the Bergen County championship game three days
later.
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| The loss of Hilary Scacchetti to a sprained ankle early in the game hurt PV on the inside. |
It was a relaxed Blue Eagle team that hit the floor on Sunday against Pascack Valley, and even though they got off to a slow shooting start, it was their patience on offense and their defensive prowess that carried them to a defense of their county championship.
The 51-31 win gives IHA its third crown in four years and the second straight over the Indians, whom they defeated 44-39 last year. The Eagles also became the first team since Holy Angels in 1999-2000 to win back-to-back championships.
"Knowing we could hang in with them (Francis Lewis), that gave us confidence and helped us forget about last Sunday," senior Tahirah Williams said in referring to the lackluster win over Old Tappan in the semis. "It made us realize how good we can be."
Immaculate
Heart (24-0) got a tremendous game out of their guards, as Alyssa Michella
set a championship game record with four three-point field goals among her
14 points and Briann McDonough had 8 points. Michella also grabbed six rebounds.
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| In addition to helping pressure the Pascack Valley's guards, IHA's Brianne McDonough hit two 3s and finished with 8 points. |
Both Williams and Vanessa Holden had five assists, as they consistently kicked the ball out of the paint to the perimeter or found each other on baseline cuts.
"That's the way we play," IHA head coach Jen Bednarek said. "We have good outside shooting this year, better than we had last year, and that puts pressure on opponents because they don't know who to defend."
It didn't help Pascack Valley (22-2) that center Hilary Scacchetti went down just 1:04 into the game with a right ankle sprain. She did come back for the final 2:30 of the second quarter, but did not return in the second half.
"It took the air right out of us," PV head coach Jeff Jasper said of Scacchetti's injury. "I don't know if it would have changed the outcome (had she not been hurt), but you could see when she came back that the level of the game changed. She's a playmaker, and we couldn't afford to miss that."
While she was ready to go after halftime, Jasper saw no need to put her back in since his Indians were trailing 26-6 at the break. The six points was the fewest points in a half of a championship game, breaking the previous low of eight by Englewood against Pascack Valley back in 1980.
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| PV's Heather Zurich scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half. |
"If you're going to fall behind to this team," Jasper remarked, "it's way too difficult to get yourself back in. That's the auspicious beginning you don't want to have. Once the lead went beyond 10 points, the way we were shooting and without Hilary in the game, it became a major problem."
It was an 18-0 run that doomed Valley, with the first 15 coming in a 17-2 second quarter. Michella hit back-to-back threes that turned a 16-6 lead into 22-6 and in essence put the game out of PV's reach.
"We worked hard yesterday on getting the ball down low and relocating it," said IHA senior center Vanessa Holden explained. "If we didn't have the shot down low, we had the shooters outside."
The Blue Eagle defense kept the pressure on the Indians' young guards, forcing 12 first half turnovers and 20 overall.
"They
take away things that are your strengths and make you play to your weaknesses,"
Jasper assessed. "They make you do things that you're not comfortable doing."
Michella hit another three-pointer to open the third quarter before a Rebecca
Lynch basket broke the run and ended an 8:13 scoreless streak for Pascack
Valley.
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| Tahirah Williams leads an IHA senior class that has won three county titles in its four high school years. |
"She was on fire," Williams said of Michella during the Francis Lewis workout, "and it helped get her focused."
"It was all about setting my feet," Michella said after setting the record. Eight others had hit three treys in a finals game, the last being IHA's Daryl Cioffi in 2002. "If I get my feet set right, they just go in."
Thanks to the perimeter shooting, Williams and Holden were able to exploit the inside in the second half. Williams finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds and Holden added 11points and 6 boards.
Heather Zurich started out 1 of 7 from the floor for PV, though Jasper was quick to say, "they were good looks, and I'll take those shots from her any time. They just didn't go."
She scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half, and drew the praise of the Blue Eagles.
"Heather is such a great player," Bednarek said of the Rutgers-bound senior. "She's so smooth, very well disciplined and what I see is a finished basketball player. Tahirah is going to be a good basketball player, but she's had to play inside and out. Heather is just a flat out face the basket and shoot.
"What we talked about was if she just gets her average, and we shut everybody else down, we'll be fine," Bednarek continued. "T did a great job on her and when she got fouls, Kelsey Moss came in and did a great job as well."
"She's a great shooter," Williams said of Zurich. "I had some help when fighting over screens from Alyssa and Frankie (Melione), and Kelsey came in and was a big help to me."
Pascack Valley finished 12 of 28 from the floor after a 3 for 15 first half, but hit only 7 of 16 free throws. Jessica Lynch came off the bench and had six rebounds for the Indians, who hope that Scacchetti will be ready for Wednesday's state tournament opener.
IHA was 18 of 39 shooting and 11 of 15 from the line, and the Blue Eagles can now take solace in the idea that the regular season is over and the focus of the pressure to win changes.
"We don't think about the number," Holden said in reference to the undefeated record. "(Coach) doesn't let us think about it. That's all over now. From this point, it's one loss and you're done, so it really doesn't matter what our record is right now."
"Right now is what means everything," Michella added.
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