Saturday, March 2, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Chanel Van Dyke is part of the Old Tappan senior class that moved to within one win of a second straight sectional championship with Saturday's 59-45 win over Ramapo in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional semifinal.

OLD TAPPAN -- For one team, it is the last run. For the other, it may just be the first. When Old Tappan and Ramapo met up on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament, they were two teams on opposite ends of the player turnover cycle.

Old Tappan was a win away from making it back to the final with nearly the same crew that won the girls basketball program’s first ever-state sectional championship last season. This year’s Golden Knights have three seniors in the starting lineup -- Lisa Jaris, Chanel Van Dyke and Sam Sinatra -- that have been through the wars.

Ramapo, on the other hand, replaced 80 percent of its starting lineup from two county final teams and also had a new coach when this season began. The Green Raiders went from green Raiders back in December to a team that pulled two straight road upsets, including a win over top-seeded High Point on the road, to make it to Old Tappan’s gym on Saturday.

Playing with an urgency that was obvious and experience that can only be earned and not taught, Old Tappan jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 59-45 win. Next up for the Knights is Teaneck, a 58-34 winner over Wayne Valley, in a rematch of last season’s North 1, Group 3 final, on Monday at Bayonne High School.

Ramapo's Sarah Halejian finished her outstanding freshman season by scoring a game-high 22 points.

Old Tappan led 13-8 after the first quarter, 22-10 midway through the second quarter and opened a 29-13 lead by halftime against a Ramapo team that was playing its third game in the last five days.

“We definitely can’t come out flat because then we get lost. We get stuck and we can’t move forward,” said Jaris. “By coming out with a lot of intensity that definitely gave us the momentum to keep moving.”

Old Tappan also got help from more than just its seniors and when the Knights can spread the points around they are all the more difficult to defend. Shannon Funsch made two second quarter three-pointers, the first of which came with 5:00 to go and kicked off a 12-2 run that Old Tappan ran off heading into the locker room at halftime. Alana Soumas hit a first half trey and Karli McMenamin made herself a player that Ramapo had to guard as she got into open positions and converted 4 of 6 first half free throws.

In fact, Old Tappan’s ability to draw fouls was a major factor as it not only made 21 of its 31 free throws, but it also got the Knights into the bonus just over five minutes into the third quarter.

So while Ramapo found its best defensive success when extending to the fullcourt, the Raiders could not sustain the pressure for long because every reach-in or late step resulted in mounting foul trouble and Old Tappan free throws.

Lisa Jaris (14 points) got fouled on this play and got to the free throw line 8 times for Old Tappan.

“I just didn’t know if we had the legs for it [to press earlier],” said Ramapo head coach Sandy Gordon. “We knew they were a good foul shooting team and we just didn’t play smart at times and it limited our options a little bit.”

Old Tappan carried a 41-24 lead into the fourth quarter before Ramapo made it final bid. Sarah Halejian, who went from one of Bergen County’s best freshmen to one of its best players during the course of the season, made a three-pointer and scored on the fastbreak off a steal and assist from Caitlin Taranto to get Ramapo to within 53-40 with 2:55 to go, but Old Tappan closed the door by hitting 4 of 6 free throws and adding a basket from Alex Radetzky.

Halejian led all scorers with 22 points, 11 of them in the fourth quarter as Ramapo finished its season at 14-11 with and lots of experience for next year. The Green Raiders will lose Taranto (6 points), a three-year starter, Katie Gebhard and Gina Lonati to graduation, but the pipeline is full as Ana Drehwing (8 points), Sam Klie, Erin Hogan and Emma Giegerich and a host of other will return to for a solid cast around Halejian, who should be fun to watch over the next three years.

Ana Drehwing scored 8 points in Ramapo's season finale and will be back next season.

“It was a young group to go along with three seniors that gave me a breath of fresh air about getting back into coaching at the high school level,” said Gordon, who the former head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University. “The future is bright. Obviously I am losing Taranto, Lonati and Gebhard, but I have the nucleus coming back. We got a taste of it today but to be able to beat the Pascack Valleys and the Old Tappans we have to make the commitment all year round to get better. We had nothing to lose today. This was just icing on the cake if we could have advanced.”

Old Tappan was led by Jaris’ 14 points and 11 each from Van Dyke and Radetzky. Funsch (8 points) and McMenamin combined for 14 points and Sinatra, Soumas and Catherine Harrington each added three points for the Knights, who will try to make it two straight sectional titles on Monday night against Teaneck in Bayonne, the same gym in which OT won last year’s title.

Teaneck is going to pressure the ball, try to force turnovers and score easy baskets. Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn knows that, but he also knows that his team’s fortunes rests with how well it plays, not necessarily with what the opponent is trying to do.

“Getting back there is a big deal for us just in terms of putting it together at this point in the year because teams either they get better or they get worse. Nobody is really staying the same,” said OT head coach Brian Dunn, whose team improved to 21-7 on the season. “Our kids have all been there before, they were there last year against Teaneck and we’ll try to do the same thing. I am not concerned with who the team is per se, as opposed to how we have to handle ourselves and compose ourselves and do the right thing.”

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