Monday, March 2, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Sarah Halejian scored 12 of her game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter as Ramapo won its first-ever Bergen County girls basketball championship with a 44-43 win that wasn't decided until St. Mary's final shot clanged off the rim in the final second.

MAHWAH -- St. Mary's defensive strategy was no secret heading into the championship game of the Bergen County Girls Basketball Tournament. The Gaels were going to make every effort to pressure the ball out of the hands of Sarah Halejian, Ramapo's sophomore point guard who has eaten up opposing defenses all season. Ramapo, on the other hand, knew it was going to need contributions from other players to lessen the load on Halejian, who was facing one of her toughest tests of the season against the athletic Gaels, who can force turnovers in bunches and disrupt offenses like no other team in Bergen County.

Both team were successful in their respective plans through the first three quarters as St. Mary held Halejian to five first half points in a scoreless third period and the Green Raiders found alternate sources of offense, enough so that they trailed by just four points heading into the final eight minutes.

And then the gloves came off as Halejian created some room to operate and St. Mary tried to hang on with a first county title for either program hanging in the balance, which it did until the final second when the Gaels’ last shot bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

Halejian’s two free throws with 24 seconds remaining in the game were the last of the 12 points she scored in the fourth quarter and one more than the Green Raiders needed to pull out a 44-43 win in front of a packed house at Ramapo College.

Shanice Hawkins made a steal of Ramapo's final inbounds pass and got off a final shot for St. Mary.

It was Ramapo’s third trip to the county final in the last four years and the first time the Raiders were able to leave victorious. They are now 25-2 on the season.

“I’ve never wanted to win any one game so badly in my whole life and this feels so good; better than I thought it would,” said Ana Drehwing, the only player on the Ramapo roster who saw playing time in the 2007 loss in the county final. “At the beginning of the season I had no idea that at this point we would be standing here in my senior year with a county championship. I can’t believe that we did it and I am so proud of everyone.”

And everyone that head coach Sandy Gordon ran out there, especially through the first three quarters, contributed in some way to keep Ramapo in the game until Halejian could find some breathing room. After opening the game with four straight points and forcing an early time out by St. Mary head coach Kerry Dressel, Ramapo looked out of sorts as the Gaels put together a 9-1 run to bridge the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. When Shanice Hawkins hit a runner 41 seconds into the second quarter, St. Mary had opened a 14-7 lead.

A three-pointer by Drehwing and a layup by Amanda Schellaci finished a 9-2 run the other way and brought Ramapo all the way back into a 16-16 tie with 2:24 to play in the first half. Although the Green Raiders did not take the lead until there were just over two minutes played in the fourth quarter, they never let St. Mary’s go ahead by more than three points over the next 12:40.

Ana Drehwing scored 12 points, including a key 3-point play with that put Ramapo up by four points with less than 2 minutes to play.

The game was tied twice in the third quarter, the first time at 27 when Samantha Klie made a three-pointer from the top of the key and the second time at 29 when Emma Giegerich pulled up on the fastbreak and banked home a short jumper.

It was those types of contributions that were so key for Ramapo. Whether it was a pick set or rebound grabbed by Erinn Hogan, three field goals, one in each of the first three quarters, by Kelly Mitchell, a stick back of a missed shot by Erin O’Hagan, Klie’s ability to bring the ball over halfcourt or Drehwing making an open jumper, the Green Raiders all played a part in keeping them in the game.

“We can’t win any game without Sarah, she is an amazing player, but our team works really well together and we can’t win without any of us doing what we are supposed to do,” said Hogan. “We boxed out, we got rebounds and we did whatever we had to do to get the win. It really is a team effort.”

A basket inside by Martina Ellerbe off a lob pass from Kiyana Dunston and a runner across the lane by Afreya Tolbert gave St. Mary the lead back at 33-29 heading into the fourth quarter, but with crunch time setting in, Halejian took over for Ramapo.

Afreya Tolbert scored a team-high 16 points for St. Mary.

She broke a personal scoring drought of nearly 10 minutes with a hard drive to the baseline on which she made a tough shot and the accompanying free throw to get her team within one point and then gave the Raiders a lead at 35-34 when she nailed the three-pointer from the corner off an inbounds play with 5:44 to play. After a St. Mary miss, Halejian stayed tight on a Hogan screen to get free for a basket that forced a timeout and made St. Mary pay for a travelling violation with a pull up jumper.

After scoring just five points over the first 24 minutes of the game, Halejian scored nine straight for her team in just 3:24 and put the Raiders in front, 39-34, with 4:09 to go.

“I was mostly just bringing the ball up and I wasn’t involved in the offense, so coming into the fourth quarter I knew that I knew I had to get more involved. I knew I had to start taking over a bit and helping my teammates,” said Halejian. “I don’t know where I got the extra energy from, but I knew we just had to try to pull away.”

Ramapo got away for a possession before Kiyana Dunston made two free throws for St. Mary’s and the Raiders missed the front end of a one-and-one. Tolbert then put back her own missed shot and the Gaels drew to within 39-38 with just less than two minutes to play and even withstood and old fashioned three-point play by Drehwing, who made a fastbreak layup despite being buried on the attempt to extend Ramapo’s advantage to 42-38.

“I didn’t even see that girl coming and I am glad I didn’t because I probably wouldn’t have made that shot if I knew I was going to get fouled like that,” said Drehwing, who finished with 12 points. “I made the free throw too, which isn’t always my strong point, but like we always do we kept it interesting right until the very end.”

Sam Klie helped Ramapo break St. Mary's relentless defensive pressure.

It got interesting when St. Mary scored four straight points, the second two on Hawkins’ coast-to-coast layup that tied game was even at 42 with 1:07 remaining. Ramapo took a timeout, ran nearly 30 seconds off the clock and then go the ball to Halejian, who was fouled hard on a baseline drive. She made both of her free throws and St. Mary made just one of two when it had it chance to tie the game with four seconds left.

That left Ramapo needing to get the ball in bounds with no timeouts remaining and what was supposed to be a baseball pass into the front court turned into a floater near the three-point line that Hawkins intercepted. She made a hard drive to the left of the basket and let go a floater that bounced off the rim as time expired in, probably, the best Bergen County final to be played since Holy Angels beat Ridgefield Park in overtime in 1999.

“There were some keys: handle the pressure, which we didn’t really do a great job of early, but we made some adjustments and then we did. Play good, solid ‘D’, limit their dribble penetration, which we really didn’t do. I was trying to get us to play a little bit tighter, but again we found a way,” said Gordon. “I’m almost at a loss for words, I’m so proud of them. We had a game plan and they stayed with it. Everyone did their part and that is why we are where we are right now because everyone has their little part and they all do it.”

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