Friday, December 28, 2007

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Sophomore Jaclyn McClinton scored 12 points in the win over Waldwick and has emerged as a solid third scoring option during Dumont's 5-0 start to the season.

DUMONT -- Coming off an eight win season, it didn't figure that the fact that the Dumont girls basketball team had most of its roster returning in tact would be much of an advantage. The Lady Huskies were overmatched at times last season as they finished with just four wins inside the BCSL-American Division and had only eight victories overall.

And while defending champion Rutherford is the odds on favorite to repeat, Dumont has thrown itself into the mix with its undefeated start, which was extended to five games after a 53-29 win over Waldwick on Thursday in the opening round of the Frank Baldachino Holiday Tournament.

It just goes to show what an advantage experience and one year’s worth of maturity can be for a high school girls basketball team.

“We have just been taking what we learned last year and applying it to this year. It’s obvious that it is working because we are winning now,” said Jasmine Rosa, Dumont’s senior point guard. “We are just playing. We got rid of all the big things we were having problems with. Now we are just worrying about the little things and hopefully we’ll just keep better stronger and better.”

Senior Tina Aita led Waldwick with 11 points.

Dumont was pretty good right from the get go against Waldwick, jumping out to a commanding lead in the first four minutes. Rosa’s floater just six seconds into the game put the Huskies in front for good. Leigha Moat put back an offensive rebound, was fouled and made the free throw, Rosa hit a step-in jumper and Jaclyn McClinton made a long jumper from the corner as Dumont got out to a 9-0 lead and extended it to 17-2 by the end of the first quarter.

McClinton, a sophomore, has become a reliable scorer in her second year on the varsity level. She scored 12 points against Waldwick, matching her points per game average through the early part of the season and her emergence has added needed balance to the Dumont offense, which relies heavily on the production of Rosa and Jen Murphy.

“It’s really important to have three scorers. Jasmine has been our leading scorer averaging about 17 [points], Jen Murphy has been averaging about 15 and Jaclyn, our sophomore, is averaging about 12, which has helped us right now,” said Dumont head coach Dave Cieplicki. “We are still trying to develop our inside game and once that gets established we will be a lot better as the season progresses.”

Dumont's Jasmine Rosa led all scorers with 16 points.

For McClinton, the difference between last year and this has been like night and day.

“I got to know the girls over the summer more. We are basically the same roster and from last year to this year our chemistry is so much better,” said McClinton. “We play so well together now and we know each other more. We can read each other better.”

Dumont was ahead by a 33-10 score at halftime and called off the dogs after the break, giving its younger players some extended run and Waldwick a chance to work on its game in live situations.

The Warriors are in the rebuilding process and had three sophomores in the starting lineup. The sophomore trio of Kara Deppe, Katie Rehm and Christine Carty all also started as freshman. They are learning on the job and they are doing it without the help of 5-10 junior Sarah Garay, the Warriors lone post presence, who is out with an ankle injury.

Katie Rehm (9 points) is one of Waldwick's three sophomore starters.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel as Waldwick had a big enough turn out to field a freshmen team for the first time in the 13 years that Tracy Green has been running the program, and the Warriors are piling up experience on the varsity level against tough competition that can only help down the road.

“I do think that games like this help them in dealing with pressure. The more that sophomores see that kind of [defensive] pressure, they can only get better at it,” said Green. “We even try in summer leagues and all to play tougher teams and hope that we just get better. The kids play hard, they always play hard, and hopefully going through this will pay off for us in the long run.”

Tina Aita, who along with Katie Bergin, is one of Waldwick’s two senior starters, led the Warriors with 11 points, while Rehm added 9. Deppe made a pair of field goals, Toni Aita made three free throws and Alyssa Dunnigan rounded out the scoring for Waldwick (0-5).

Rosa led Dumont with 16 points and her sister, Desiree, chipped in with seven points off the bench to match the final total also turned in by Moat. Brittany Lissemore finished with five points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Huskies, who will play Ramsey in the tournament final at 4:00 p.m. on Friday before heading back into league play.

“The 5-0 start is something I anticipated because of the schedule and because we had everyone back from last year, but it is going to get tougher from here and we’ll see how we handle that,” said Cieplicki. “Our first game when we get back to league play is River Dell then we have Queen of Peace and Tenafly, so we have our work cut out for us.”

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