March
3, 2005
 |
 |
| Danielle Rohe made 6 of her 9 three-point attempts to lead Dumont past West Essex and into the North 1, Group 2 state sectional quarterfinals. | |
DUMONT - There are two surefire ways to beat a zone defense. One would be to throw lobs to a 6-10 center who can throw down alley oops all day long. The other is to find a shooter that can knock down some jump shots against a defense designed to take away the inside scoring threat and the driving lanes to the basket.
Since
option No. 1 was not available to the Dumont girls basketball team in Wednesday's
North 1, Group 1 state sectional matchup against West Essex, the Huskies had
to make do with what they had. And their most effective weapon was junior
point guard Danielle Rohe, who buried four first half three-pointers to keep
her team in the game, then hit two more in the second half to help No. 7 Dumont
overcome a double digit deficit to earn a 49-44 win and a spot in Thursday's
quarterfinal.
 |
| Val Tonuzzi (left) stepped into the starting lineup and grabbed 9 reounds to go along with 4 points and 4 steals. |
"I felt confident all day and I couldn't wait for the state tournament to start," said Rohe, who holds the Dumont record for most 3-pointers made in a season. "This was a character building game for us and it showed us that if we stick together when it gets tight, we can win these kind of games."
The kind of game it was in the first half was a turnover fest that allowed West Essex, the No. 10 seed, to get out to a big lead. The Red Devils turned a three-point lead after the first quarter into a 12-point advantage late in the second .
Amanda
Miceli scored eight points in a 13-4 run that gave West Essex some separation.
Rebecca Sachs' long jumper from the wing with 46 seconds left in the half
gave the 10th-seeded Devils a 29-17 lead. With 1,000-point scorer Ashley Cieplicki
on the bench in street clothes because of an ankle injury and with Emily Aponte
saddled by foul trouble and the WE zone that took away her favored slashing
lanes to the hoop, Dumont was in desperate need of some offense.
 |
| Amanda Miceli scored a game high 26 points, more than half of West Essex's total. |
Rohe stepped up again, hitting a three and scoring on the fastbreak for five quick points just before the half that gave the home team some momentum.
"Those two baskets were huge. Rohe played great all game, but those five points really kept us afloat because at that point we were kind of sinking," said Dumont head coach Dave Cieplicki, moments after removing the mini-microphone he was wearing for a story aired on UPN-9 news. "We did not play well in the first half, but Danielle got those quick five points and we go into the half down seven (29-22) instead of double digits and we were right in the game."
Dumont
kept up the chase and a 7-0 run that answered six straight points by Miceli
closed the third quarter finally got the Huskies even. Aponte's only field
goal of the game, a jumper from the right baseline, got Dumont to within 35-30,
the fifth of Rohe's six threes got the Huskies to within 2 and Jen Pleus'
steal and layup got Dumont (13-11) even at 35 heading into the fourth quarter.
 |
| Freshman Jasmine Rosa gave Dumont some quality minutes in the backcourt. |
Pleus had one of her best game's of the season with 10 points, 8 rebounds and three steals and her baseline jumper to open the fourth quarter scoring gave Dumont its first lead since midway through the first quarter at 37-35. Alessandra Boniface got West Essex (10-15) even for the last time with two free throws, but Rohe's final three-pointer the next time down the floor put the Huskies in front to stay.
Dumont made 3 of 4 free throws in the final minute to hold on for the win to which everyone contributed. Senior Val Tonuzzi, who took Cieplicki's spot in the starting lineup, netted 4 points to go along with 9 rebounds and four steals.
Pleus
was a factor on both ends of the floor, Kaity Gynegrowski added 6 points,
including a clutch jumper late in the fourth quarter, and freshman Jasmine
Rosa took over some of the ball handling chores that freed Rohe to be more
active off the ball.
 |
| Dumont's Kaity Gynegrwoski shooting what turned into a clutch basket in the fourth quarter. |
"Without Ashley, we knew we all had to step up as a team. Everybody had to do something to help us win and in the second half I think just about everybody made an important play," said Tonuzzi. "We worked together really well and we kept our composure, which has probably been our biggest problem this season."
Rohe made six of her nine three-point attempts and finished with 24 points, nearly half of her team's total. Miceli had more than half of West Essex's total points, finishing with a game-high 26. And while she got help in the first half, Miceli scored 11 of the Devils' 15 points in the second half with only Erin Bradley and Boniface making a field goal apiece after the break.
Next up for Dumont is No. 2 River Dell, the Huskies' BCSL-American Division rival that swept the regular season series.
"The complimentary players really came through for us and that was great to see. Everyone is chipping in now and what you saw tonight was next year's team doing a great job," said Dave Cieplicki. "It'll be our third crack at River Dell and we'll see how it goes, but they are a very talented team. Hopefully we learned something from the first two games, but really I am just happy to still be playing. This is a good group of kids and we get at least one more game to have some fun."
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.
