Saturday, December 29, 2007

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

SADDLE BROOK – Both the Lodi and Mahwah girls basketball teams headed into Friday’s Saddle Brook Holiday tournament championship game with a chance to do something that neither program has achieved in some time. After dismal seasons in recent years, both teams are in position to make a run at a Bergen County tournament berth. The winner of this game would move one step closer to an unlikely goal set at the beginning of this season.

After a nightmarish first half, Mahwah’s Katie Cochran came alive. She scored 11 of her game-high 15 points in the third quarter, including a trio of three-pointers, to put Mahwah in front to stay. Amanda Daniele hit three free throws over the final 90 seconds to help put the game away as Mahwah repeated as the Saddle Brook Holiday Tournament champion with a 36-31 win over the upstart Lady Rams.

“This is a game we probably would not have won last year,” said Mahwah head coach Mike Branagh. “We were outplayed in the first half and we couldn’t hit a shot, but we didn’t quit. We stayed focused and we kept playing with confidence.”

Mahwah started off ice cold from the outside and the Rams did a good job in limiting them to one shot per possession. Jasmine Daniels controlled the glass and hit a runner from the elbow late in the second quarter as Lodi held a three-point lead at the half, 15-12.

Cochran did not hit any of her seven three-point attempts in the first half, but the junior guard was unfazed. Once she hit the first one, the confidence grew and she hit three of her four attempts from long range in the third quarter, the last of which gave the Lady Thunderbirds a four-point lead.

“I had a terrible first half, but coach (Branagh) just told me to keep shooting,” said Cochran. “I wasn’t helping me teammates out at all and I had to step it up. When I finally hit my first shot, I got into a groove.”

Lodi did not cave and got to within one point going into the fourth quarter on a conventional three-point play from Lindsay Newarski, 26-25.

The T-Birds got a break when Lodi center Cori Santana picked up her fourth foul with 6:45 to play. However, they were not able to stretch their lead in the 3-plus minutes she was on the bench.

Lodi crept to within a point with under two minutes left before Mahwah came up with its biggest play of the game. On the ensuing possession, Amanda Daniele got fouled and hit her first free-throw. She missed the second, but Cochran grabbed the offensive rebound and laid it back in to push the lead back up to four.

“That was the play that really hurt us,” said Lodi head coach John Way. “If we grab the rebound there, come down and score, it’s a tie game with us having the momentum. I proud of the way we fought hard, we just couldn’t get over the hump and get the lead back.”

Newarski hit a three-pointer from the corner with 1:02 to play, trimming the lead back down to one. After Daniele went 1 for 2 at the charity stripe, the Rams had a pair of three-pointers inside the final minute to take the lead. However, it was not to be for Lodi as both shots were off the mark. Daniele and Sara Sokolik hit free throws late to put the game away.

Daniels led Lodi (3-2) in rebounds and points with 17 and 12, respectively. Santana added eight points, eight rebounds, and four blocks. The loss is a stinging one for the Rams, but they are still in position to make the Bergen County Tournament, something they haven’t even come close to since 2002. After starting off 0-7 last year and winning just five games in the previous two seasons, the prospects are bright.

Cochran finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for Mahwah (3-2). The T-Birds also got a solid contribution from Karissa Silento, who had nine points and nine rebounds.

“We have set goals of making the counties and the states and every win helps towards that goal,” said Daniele. “We had a really bad first half, but we stayed positive and we fought through it. I think we proved today that we can find ways to win even when we’re not playing our best.”

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