Monday, February 16, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

This is what Maggie Ely's game-winning jumper looked like from the opposite side of the gym in Pascack Valley's 55-52 upset of second-seeded Teaneck.

EAST RUTHERFORD – With just four seconds showing on the clock and Pascack Valley down by a point, senior Maggie Ely felt a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. After working so hard all game to handle the intense pressure that Teaneck constantly apply, the lead that the Indians had through most of the game had completely evaporated as Teaneck grabbed a one-point lead with just seconds to play. After Teaneck’s Tiffany Conner came up with a steal and was fouled with just four seconds to go in the game, it seemed Pascack Valley’s upset bid and its reign as Bergen County champion was all but over.

But the jubilation of the Highwaywomen felt for surviving this quartefinal game quickly turned against them as several players from the bench rushed out onto the floor to congratulate Conner and Teaneck was hit with a technical foul.

What happened next will go down in history as possibly the most fantastic and most shocking finishes in the illustrious history of the Bergen County Girls’ Basketball Tournament.

After Conner hit one of two free-throws to put Teaneck up by two points, Maggie Ely stepped to the line for Pascack Valley and calmly swished two foul shots to tie the game. And because they were technical free throws, Pascack Valley was also awarded possession of the ball at midcourt. Ely took the inbounds pass, took two dribbles and let fly a straight-away 35-footer that went off the glass and in to give seventh-seeded Pascack Valley a wild, zany 55-52 upset over second-seeded Teaneck in front of a packed house at Becton Regional High School.

Tiffany Conner finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and four steals for Teaneck .

“I was just worried making those the free-throws, I wasn’t even worried about anything that would happen afterwards,” said Maggie Ely. “On the last play, I just wanted to make sure I got the shot off in time. After making the two free-throws, I knew we would at least be going to overtime. I just didn’t want to shoot an airball so Coach Jasper wouldn’t yell at me for leaving it short. It’s a shot that I would probably miss if I took it 500 times in a row. It felt good when it left my hand and I just got lucky. This is the craziest ending to a game I’ve ever been around."

Pascack Valley got key contributions in the second quarter from Chelsea Lombardi and Jaclyn Martin to stay within striking distance. The Indians finally pulled ahead on a short jumper in the lane from Terry Ely late in the period as they grabbed a 31-27 halftime lead.

Monique Cheek came off the bench to provide a spark for Teaneck. Her jumper pulled Teaneck within a basket early in the fourth quarter, but the Indians answered with an unlikely spark of their own.

Traci Corra hit all three of her fourth-quarter shots and dropped in seven of her nine points during the final stanza to keep Pascack Valley in front. With PV’s legendary knack for closing out games, it appeared that it would hold on for a victory when leading by five with two minutes to play. But a pair of missed front ends of a one-and-one opportunities at the free throw line opened the door for a potential Teaneck comeback.

Conner hit a pair of free-throws with 56 seconds left to trim PV’s lead down to a single point. After the second missed front end of a one-and-one, Bianca Harris scored on a putback with 19 seconds to play, giving Teaneck its first lead of the second half, 51-50.

Terry Ely finished with 15 points as she and her sister, Maggie, scored 36 of PV's 55 point total.

The Indians came down the court looking to get a winning shot off, but Maggie Ely was stripped of the ball by Conner and she was fouled with four seconds left. As Conner jogged to the Teaneck end of the court, several players came off the bench to meet her with hugs and high-fives. Conner quickly realized what was going on and tried to get her teammates back on the bench. Teaneck head coach Shenee Clarke realized it as well and tried to call a timeout before anything could happen. But the technical foul was correctly called and it gave PV a last-ditch glimmer of hope that they desperately needed at that particular juncture.

Conner hit the second of her two foul shots and Maggie Ely then stepped to the foul line with the game on the line and all the pressure on her shoulders to single-handedly get the Indians to overtime at the very least. The NYU-bound senior stepped up and made both free-throws to knot the score at 52. More importantly, the Indians would receive the ball at mid-court with potentially one last shot to win it.

On the inbounds play, Maggie Ely went into the backcourt to receive the pass from Martin. Teaneck’s Cheek went for the steal, but just missed getting a piece of the ball. Ely grabbed the ball, made two quick dribbles up the center of the floor and put up a floater from just inside the Becton High School logo. The ball was right on line, hitting the box in the center of the backboard and dropping through to give head coach Jeff Jasper, New Jersey’s all-time leader in wins, possibly his most thrilling win ever.

“I never saw this ending coming,” said Jasper. “It was a miraculous victory and one that I felt we deserved. I thought we did a great job all game of playing within ourselves and taking what they were giving to us. Maggie hitting those two free-throws is about as clutch as it gets. I thought those were just as, if not more, impressive than the final shot she got off.”

Monique Cheek provided a spark off the bench for Teaneck, which fell to 18-2 on the season.

Maggie Ely had five points in the final four seconds of the game to finish with a game-high 21 for Pascack Valley (18-4). Her sister, Terry, was the only other Indian in double-figures with 15.

Conner, who will play at the University of South Florida next year, finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and four steals for Teaneck (18-2). Harris had a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Cheek added 10 points, four steals, and four rebounds.

Unfortunately for the Highwaywomen, this marked the fourth consecutive year that they were upset in or before the quarterfinals and the second straight as the tournament’s No. 2 seed. On the flip side, Pascack Valley moves into next Sunday’s Bergen County semifinals. There they will face another upset winner, sixth-seeded Ramapo, in an all-NBIL semifinal.

As Jasper mentally prepared for yesterday’s game against Teaneck, he did so by reading his favorite book and transferring a lesson from it onto the hardwood. It's a lesson he feels not only helped his team yesterday, but could do the same for the remainder of this season.

“I was preaching that we are the boss of ourselves and it is a lesson that can be learned from my favorite book,” said Jasper. “The book is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. The lead character is Howard Roark and he is all about free will and choice and being in control of making your own decisions. We played with heart, guts, and great integrity. I thought we played sensational basketball against a team we don’t match up with very well and Maggie came up as big as you can over the last couple of seconds.”

FOR MORE PHOTOS OF THIS EVENT OR TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS GAME STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com.