Sunday, January 27, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Lindsay Finnerty matched her uniform number with a game-high 21 points as Tenafly knocked Glen Rock out of the Bergen County tourney.

TENAFLY – Playing as the No. 22 seed on the road, Glen Rock had little to lose when it visited No. 11 Tenafly on Saturday morning. And midway through the third quarter, when Jaclyn Carosotto hit a basket, the Lady Panthers had plenty to gain and were gaining on the home team.

Carosotto’s putback basket brought Glen Rock to within five points, just half of what it had been trailing by two minutes earlier, and to within a whisker of making it interesting down the stretch. But Tenafly would have none of it. The Lady Tigers proceeded to score the next eight points of the game to give themselves a comfortable working margin on the way to a 44-34 win and next weekend’s Round of 16.

“Games in the county tournament are all about runs and that was a big one for us at an important time,” said Tenafly head coach Jeff Koehler, whose program made a victorious return to the tournament after a one-year hiatus. “We weren’t surprised that Glen Rock was right there with us, that is a good team that has won titles in its league. They shuttle a whole bunch of people in [head coach] Dave Mosconi does a great of getting them to play all together and they had us confused at some points.”

Christie Jones, who hit three three-pointers, led Glen Rock with 13 points.

But Tenafly was able to solve the riddle and it was through the opportunity fastbreak that the Tigers rebuilt their lead. After Brigette Cohan made two free throws to put Tenafly up seven points, Jessie Shevins took down a defensive rebound and went end to end for a layup.

Jules Barrett forced a turnover on Glen Rock’s next possession and turned her steal into an assist in Michelle Koles’ fastbreak layup. Lindsey Finnerty went coast-to-coast after her own defensive rebound to cap Tenafly’s 8-0 spurt that gave Tenafly a 40-27 lead with 2:04 left in the third quarter.

Tenafly had reel Glen Rock in early as the Panthers jumped out to a 6-0 lead. In fact it took the Tigers 5:34 to scored their first points of the game. Tenafly took its first lead on Finnerty’s three-pointer that made the score 11-8. The Rockers took the lead back in the when Christie Jones, who hit three three-pointers in the game and led Glen Rock with 13 points, picked up a loose ball and threw in a three-pointer to give her team a 13-11 lead after one quarter.

“Sometimes we come out slow and today was one of those games,” said Finnerty. “But once we started to settle down and make some shots, we picked it up. Everyone was willing to attack and every contributed and that was the key.”

Brigette Cohen (left) made 5 of 6 free throws and finished with 7 points for Tenafly.

The game was tied at 13, 15 and 19 before Shevins made one of two free throws with 3:38 left in the third quarter. That point gave Tenafly a 20-19 lead and it never trailed again. The Tigers led 28-20 at the break and built their first 10-point lead when Alyssa Sherry got all the way to the basket on a drive just four seconds into the second half.

Glen Rock got to within five points twice at 30-25 and a 32-27, but Tenafly’s next run was the back breaker that pushed the Tigers into the Round of 16 next weekend against No. 5 seeded St. Mary’s, which easily handled Paramus in the opening round.

“It’s really exciting. Tenafly has been this far in the past, but this is a new experience for all of us in the program now and we are enjoying it,” said Brigette Cohan, one of the Tigers’ eight seniors and one of four captains. “[Coach] Koehler says that the whole school is looking at us when we win and it is great to have that kind of attention in a positive way.”

Jackie Sexton finished with 10 points for GR, which dell to 9-8 with the loss.

Jones led Glen Rock with 13 points and Jackie Sexton added 10 points. Klil Babin finished with 6 points and the same number of assists and Carosotto finished with five points for the Panthers, who fell to 9-8 on the season.

Finnerty scored a game-high 21 points for Tenafly, with improved to 10-3 on the season. Barrett finished with 10 points, Michelle Koles finished with 8 and Cohan had 7 points for the Tigers, who shot 17 of 30 from the free throw line as a team.

“I am proud of my girls. We obviously have some things that we have to work on and we have a long way to go in terms of team defense, but we’ve worked hard to get this far and we needed this win,” said Koehler, who was the coach of the 2002-03 team that upset Pascack Valley, then the undefeated top seed, in the quarterfinal round. “It feels great now, but the sky is the limit here. We know with what happened against PV a couple of years ago, you get that first win in the county tournament and things can start to happen and confidence starts to build. It may not happen this time around, but it could.”

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