Tuesday, March 10, 2009

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Freshman Monique Cheek was a catalyst defensively and also scored 15 points for Teaneck, which won its second straight state sectional title with a 50-36 victory over Ramapo in the North 1, Group 3 final.

BAYONNE – The Teaneck girls basketball team might give up and open jumpshot because it over played a passing lane and jumped in too soon. So be it. The Highwaywomen might give up a give up an easy layup because a heady ball-handler might have stepped through a trap and found an open teammate. Hey, it happens. And Teaneck might get into some early foul trouble with a few untimely reach-ins or a late slide of the feet. That is part of the game, too.

But no matter what happens and no matter what the game situation may be, when the other team has the ball Teaneck is going to attack it and put the onus on the offense to make quick decisions repeatedly for the full 32 minutes or face defeat.

Ramapo was able to whether the pressure for the first 16 minutes, but after that Teaneck had its way in a 50-36 win that gave the Highwaywomen their second straight North 1, Group 3 state sectional title on Monday night in Bayonne High School.

“We have our defensive game plan and we execute it. We want to turn up the pressure,” said Monique Cheek, Teaneck’s freshman guard who is often first to the ball when Teaneck springs its traps. “Every person on our team is a weapon on offense and defense and if someone goes down with foul trouble or whatever, we just pick each other up and keep going.”

Ramapo's Sarah Halejian wrapped up her brilliant sophomore season with a team-high 18 points.

Teaneck gave up the first six points of the game, but even as it fell behind it was still winning the battle to push the game’s tempo. The Highwaywomen caught up by the end of the first quarter and had a one-point lead at 9-8 and made their first real bid to pull away with an 8-2 run to start the second quarter that gave it a 17-10 advantage when sophomore Sydni Lester made a steal and a layup with 4:27 left in the first half that forced a Ramapo timeout.

The Raiders responded with layup by Ana Drehwing right out of the huddle and got all the way back in it when they scored the final six points of the first half. Erin O’Hagan hit a jumper from the wing, Sarah Halejian dropped in a floater and Drehwing nailed two free throws as Ramapo went into the locker room with a 22-21 advantage.

For the better part of the second quarter, Ramapo was able to get into its offensive sets which not only led to better shots, but it also forced Teaneck out of transition and into halfcourt sets against the Raiders’ zone defense.

“There defense made us be at a standstill at some points and we knew we had to get the lead back so that we could pull them out and make them play man-to-man,” said Teaneck head coach Shenee Clarke. “In the locker room we knew we had to make the adjustment against their zone. We knew we had to stay aggressive and that is what Monique [Cheek] did. She is a freshman, but she is a go-to player.”

Despite battling foul trouble, Tiffany Connor still tied for team-high honors with 15 points.

Cheek’s basket 19 seconds after the break put Teaneck back in front and it never trailed thereafter. The Highwaywomen opened the second half with an 8-0 run and were on the verge of breaking the game open once again when Tiffany Connor, the senior who saddled with foul trouble for most of the first half, made a steal and a free throw to put her team ahead 29-22.

That forced another Ramapo time out and Halejian made a three to close the gap to four, and Amanda Schellaci made a second chance layup to slice the gap to 29-27 with 5:10 to go in the third quarter. But that was as close a Ramapo would get as Teaneck closed the quarter on an 8-2 run with Cheek scored the last six of those points.

Cheek then opened the fourth quarter scoring with a pull up jumper to push Teaneck’s lead into double digits for the first time and the Highwaywomen were well on their way to the Group 3 state semifinals where they will get a rematch with North 2, Group 3 champion Malcolm X Shabazz, the same team that ended Teaneck’s season in the same round last year. That game is scheduled 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday night at Ramapo High School.

Ana Drehwing hit the two free throws that gave Ramapo a 22-21 lead at halftime.

“It feels great. I am loving it. Two years in a row winning this title is a great accomplishment for us and now we want to take it all the way to the T[ournament] of C[hampions],” said Connor, the Teaneck senior who battled foul trouble but still finished tied for team-high honors with 15 points, the same as Cheek. “It’s great to see how this team has grown up this year. Monique and Sydni really picked it up when I was on the bench. They have grown up playing with me, they have gotten so much better playing with each other and we may be young, but everybody is growing and everybody is playing like a senior now.”

Teaneck was balanced in its offense as Connor and Cheek combined for 30 points and Bianca Harris (11 points) was able to keep the defense honest with her presence in the post. Lester added 8 points for Teaneck, which improved to 25-2 on the season and is obviously over the disappointment of losing to Pascack Valley on a last second shot in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament.

“Even though we couldn’t get to where we wanted to in the counties, the states are bigger and better and we are moving on,” said Clarke. “Now can just go out and play loose. We have nothing to lose and we’ll leave everything out on the floor and go hard at Shabazz. We are trying to get to the T of C and we know we have hard competition if we want to get there.”

Sydni Lester and Teaneck will take on Shabazz in the Group 3 state semifinals.

The loss brought to an end what was probably the best season in the history of Ramapo girls basketball. It included the program’s first ever Bergen County Tournament championship, a 27-3 record and the emergence of Halejian, the sophomore who might have been Bergen County’s best player from start to finish. She led the Raiders with 18 points against Teaneck and has two more high school season’s left, although that was little consolation as this year came to an end.

“I just told the kids that I love them, it was a great year. We have nothing to be ashamed of and we certainly had our chances tonight,” said Ramapo head coach Sandy Gordon. “But this team will go down in history with what they did this year and nothing can take that away from them.”

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