Monday, January 18, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Dana Amato is making the most of her one year as a starter as she showed in Pascack Valley's 64-37 win over Dumont on Sunday.

HILLSDALE – Pascack Valley has been the gold standard for consistency on the hardwood in girls’ basketball for nearly four decades. One could easily point to the state’s all-time leader in wins in head coach Jeff Jasper as the reason for their success. While others might point to some of the great players such as Laura Daugherty, Kim Beezer, Heather Zurich, Rebecca Lynch, Sarah Ely, etc. who have worn a Pascack Valley uniform before succeeding on the collegiate level.

But the true essence of a successful program does not necessarily lie within the star players or the coach, but with the role players who are willing to work hard and wait their turn to be part of a winner. Over the course of his 37-year career, Jasper has relished developing those role players into focal points of his successful teams. No player emulates that as much as senior center Dana Amato.

For three years, she sat on the bench and studied every aspect of both the team’s offensive and defensive philosophies. All the while she worked her hardest every day in practice and in the occasional minutes she got on the varsity level to prepare her both physically and mentally for the time when she got to show what she was made of on the court.

Amato finally earned a spot on in the starting lineup in this, her senior year. Every time she steps on the court, she wants to make her coach proud of his decision to give her an opportunity to contribute. Amato has done that all season with Sunday’s win over Dumont being a prime example.

Senior Desiree Rosa led Dumont (5-4) with 14 points.

Amato scored seven points in a game-opening 10-0 run as Pascack Valley opened up an early lead and breezed to a 64-37 triumph at The Games at Pascack Valley, the six-game showcase to benefit Autism Speaks and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation at Pascack Valley High School.

“After waiting for so long to be a starter on this team, I appreciate every second I get to be on the court,” said Amato. “I knew eventually that my time would come; and when it did, I would be ready. I don’t care about how many points I score or how many rebounds I get. As long as we have more points than the other team does at the end of the game, that’s all I care about. Being part of a winning team is what is most important to me.”

Amato is Pascack Valley’s lone post presence and she asserted herself in the paint early. She scored three baskets, including a conventional three-point play, as the Indians grabbed a 10-0 lead before Dumont even attempted a shot.

“We knew they liked to shoot a lot of threes, and we had to make a run early to set the tone,” said Amato. “Dumont was overplaying our guards as a lot of teams do. That gives me more room to work inside and I just want to keep our offense flowing.”

Dumont’s Desiree Rosa hit two free throws to break the early scoreless streak, but any sigh of relief by the Lady Huskies was short-lived. Chelsea Lombardi scored seven points in a 9-0 spurt to give PV a 19-2 lead and the route was on.

“We had to stay in this game early and they were more ready to play than we were,” said Dumont head coach Dave Cieplicki. “The positive is that we are here for a good cause and we’re honored to be a part of this benefit today. You need games like this throughout the season to get better. We have a lot of lessons we can take from this game. But with tough games like Rutherford and Tenafly next week, we’ll find out just how much we learned from this loss and whether it helped us or not.”

Terry Ely finished with 19 points, six assists, and five steals for Pascack Valley.

PV held a 30-14 lead at the half and a late third quarter run sparked by Terry Ely put the game away.

Ely finished with 19 points, six assists, and five steals for Pascack Valley (9-2). Amato added 14 points and nine rebounds and Lombardi chipped in with 13 points. Desiree Rosa led Dumont (5-4) with 14 points, and Jaclyn McClinton added nine.

After an upset loss to Ramapo without standout Sarah Halejian last week, the Indians have bounced back nicely with two impressive wins. Jasper knows the potential of this team and how much players like Lindsey Hickey, Ruby Katz and Chelsea Lombardi mean to not only the team, but the program as a whole.

But it is Amato who Jasper feels has come the farthest from her freshman year until now.

“Let me tell you something about Dana Amato, she is the poster child of what it means to wear a Pascack Valley uniform,” said Jasper, who is the only girls’ basketball coach in New Jersey with over 800 career wins. “She defines what we want to do every day and is the embodiment of what it means to work hard to achieve a team goal.”

“The beauty of getting to coach these kids every day is to coach kids like Dana (Amato). To watch kids work hard and develop from kids who are just finding their way to players who understand what it takes to be successful. She has been fantastic for us all season and got us off on the right foot again today. Without players like Dana (Amato), our program would have never achieved the success it has over the years.”

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