Friday, January 9, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Michelle Friedman scored a game-high 17 points for Pascack Hills, which scored a 41-36 win over Pascack Valley on Thursday, its first over its sister school since 1991.

MONTVALE – There were other spoils that would come with a win for the Pascack Hills girls basketball team. There was first place in Division 2 of the NBIL, there was the 200th win as a New Jersey head coach for the newly arrived Chris Loverme and some spots in the rankings to be gained by knocking off its highly regarded league rival.

But more than any of the other stuff, Pascack Hills seemed to be most satisfied with simply being able to say that it earned a win over Pascack Valley, its sister school and probably the most successful public school program in the history of New Jersey girls basketball. After all, it’s been 18 years.

“It still hasn’t really sunk in. It’s crazy,” said Theresa Kirkpatrick, one of Pascack Hills’ two senior captains, after her team’s 41-35 win on Thursday in Montvale. “The last few minutes took forever. We had the confidence that we could win it and we had the lead, but at the same time it is Valley and you can never say that the game is over.”

Pascack Hills came out pumped up and built a quick 7-1 lead when Michelle Feldman hit a three-pointer that forced a Pascack Valley timeout just 3:12 into the game, but the Indians got right back in it when Jaclyn Martin hit a three right out of the break.

Maggie Ely scored a team high 12 points for Pascack Valley.

Pascack Hills lead at the end of every quarter (11-9 after the first, 21-19 at halftime and 27-26 after the third), but the turning point may have been the middle part of the third period when PV seemed to find its stride and threatened, even if it was briefly, to pull away.

Martin’s basket off an assist from Maggie Ely opened the third quarter scoring, tying the game at 22 and kicking off a 7-0 run that ended with Terry Ely’s three-pointer from the wing that gave the Indians a 26-21 advantage with 3:20 to left in the quarter. But lost in the spurt was the fact that it could have been a much bigger run had the Indian not missed six of eight free throws in four trips to the line during that 4:20 span.

“When you have an opportunity to put some distance between you, you have to take advantage of those opportunities,” said Pascack Valley head coach Jeff Jasper. When you leave a good team hanging around and it is just a matter of time.”

Having been left in the game, Pascack Hills set about retaking it when Feldman hit a free throw, Krista LaRezza hit two more and Jordan Friedman then followed with what might have been the biggest basket of the game, a pull-up three-pointer with five seconds left in the third quarter that gave the Cowgirls the lead back for good at 27-26.

Senior captain Teresa Kirkpatrick had six points and was a key on the defensive end for Pascack Hills.

Friedman’s jumper came in the midst of a 13-1 run that spanned the third and fourth quarters and gave Pascack Hills a margin of error to play with down the stretch.

“We hit a three right at the end of the third quarter that got us the lead and I think that somehow, some way that gave us the confidence in the fourth quarter that we needed,” said Loverme, who is in his first season as Pascack Hills’ head coach after spending last year at Bergen Tech and Emerson before that. “This is a nice win. This is my 200th win coaching girls basketball in New Jersey. It not really a big deal to me, this is about our team and about our girls here at Hills.”

It was also about getting contributions from everybody he sent to the scorer’s table. Feldman scored a game-high 17 points, but just as important where Friedman’s two three-pointers that came just when the Cowgirls needed them, Kirkpatrick’s ability to stay on the floor when it looked like foul trouble might pull her off and the toughness of Julianne Funtsch, who scored 6 points, four of them on key fourth quarter possessions, despite playing with a badly sprained ankle.

Jacyln Martin scored the first points of the third quarter to get Pascack Valley all even at 21.

“Our two seniors, Feldman and Kirkpatrick, they will us. When we needed a basket in a big spot or a big stop, they were there heading that effort,” said Loverme. “But today was a total team effort. Jordan Friedman’s two big threes…six points off the bench, bang. Julianne Funtsch playing on a bad ankle really did a nice job. She was hurting on the bench, we had our trainer over there working on her, and she toughed it out. We had to tough this one out. That is really what this one was all about.”

Valley got as close as six points, 35-29, on Terry Ely’s basket off an offensive rebound with 2:27 to play in the game, but Funtsch answered that with a post move and, after Valley got to within five points again, 38-33, on Maggie Ely’s two free throws with 31 seconds left, Pascack Hills made three of four free throws to close out the win.

Maggie Ely led Valley with 12 points, but no other Indian made it into double figures as Terry Ely finished with 7 points, Martin and Chelsea Lombardi each added six points and Alyssa Matos and Kelly Bassett each had field goals for Valley, which fell to 7-2 on the season as it shot just 7 of 18 from the free throw line.

Krista LaRezza scored all five of her points from the foul line for Pascack Hills, which is now 7-1.

“It was a very meaningful game for them because it has been so long since they have beaten us and they are very, very good. I think Chris [Loverme] does a great job with them and I have to give some kudos to [former head coach] Debbie Brand because she set the foundation for this,” said Jasper. “Pascack Hills played an excellent game, they played very, very well, Chris did a great job coaching them and they were well prepared.”

Coming from Coach Jasper, that says it all and Loverme was quick to return the compliments.

“I know that the rivalry has picked up in intensity over the last four or five years and I am sure it is going to continue. We’ve got them at least one more time,” said Loverme, whose team improved to 7-1. “Going against Coach Jasper and his squad it really does give us an indication of where we are and what we need to do as a team.

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