Monday, February 8, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Dana Amato finished with a double-double for Pascack Valley, which used its defense to advance to the Bergen County quarterfinals with a 52-34 win over Hackensack.

HILLSDALE – Pascack Valley is accustomed to breezing through the first few rounds of the Bergen County Tournament. Along the way, Lindsey Hickey and Kristen Petro know they are expected to do whatever is asked of them from head coach Jeff Jasper. But when Hackensack raced out to a 10-point lead first quarter lead against the Indians, the roles of both Hickey and Petro not only became more defined, but also more difficult. That is because they were in charge of slowing one of the county’s most dangerous scoring tandems in Jackie Marshall (who scored 38 in the Comets’ opening-round win) and Erin Moore.

How successful Hickey and Petro were in defending Marshall and Moore was paramount to whether the Indians would advance or be the victim of a colossal upset. With the game still hanging in the balance heading into the fourth quarter, the Indians, led by Hickey and Petro, clamped down defensively and Terry Ely took care of the rest.

Ely hit 8 of 8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and third-seeded Pascack Valley did not allow a single point over the final eight minutes in a 52-34 victory over Hackensack, the No. 14 seed.

“This was a really tough game and it was closer than it seemed,” said Petro. “You have to really focus on getting through screens and playing tougher on-the-ball defense. Our focus was to fight through them and not be afraid to make a mistake.”

Jackie Marshall helped Hackensack race out to an early 10-point lead.

Hackensack came out on fire over the first six minutes hitting tough shot after tough shot. Jasmine Lee nailed a three-pointer and Moore followed with a drive to the basket to put the Lady Comets in front, 17-7, and put the Indians on their heels in the process.

“I think we’re always well prepared for whoever we play, but this took us by surprise a little bit,” said Hickey. “We’re always so familiar with the teams we play in our league, and we really haven’t seen a team that plays the style Hackensack plays. It took us a little while to get adjusted. Once we did, we just couldn’t give them easy looks at the basket because they showed they could make open shots.”

Alyssa Matos and Terry Ely each had baskets in the final minute of the first quarter to get the Indians back on track. The second quarter belonged to Dana Amato inside. She scored three big baskets, including one just before the halftime buzzer that put PV ahead 28-22. Hackensack had a chance to get it back down to a single-possession game when Marshall tracked down a long PV pass underneath her own basket. But that changed in a heartbeat when Terry Ely stole the ball right back from her and was fouled while making a reverse layup. She completed the three-point play to push PV’s lead up to 34-27.

“I think that was the turning point in the game for us,” said Hackensack head coach Charles McKnight. “That and-one really killed us mentally. We had our chances to have an even bigger lead in the first quarter and we had chances to stay in it in the second half. They just made more plays than we did.”

Lindsey Hickey played a key role as Pascack Valley held Hackensack scoreless in the fourth quarter.

Marshall gave the Comets a glimmer of hope with an off-balance three-pointer to beat the buzzer and slice PV’s lead to six, 40-34, entering the fourth quarter. But those were the last points the Comets scored as Ely took command of the game.

She did not miss a free-throw in the period and scored 10 of her team’s 12 points to put the game away.
Ely finished with a game-high 25 points, including 11 of 13 from the charity stripe for Pascack Valley (17-2). Amato tallied a double-double with 12 rebounds and 10 points, while Petro added eight points and valuable defense, as did Hickey. Marshall had 13 points and Moore 12 for Hackensack (11-6).

Pascack Valley moves into its customary spot in next weekend’s Bergen County quarterfinals where it will face the team with North Jersey’s longest winning streak. Sixth-seeded River Dell’s 40-23 victory yesterday over New Milford marked their 14th win a row. But for PV head coach Jeff Jasper, he is just happy his team passed another test against a team that can score points in bunches.

“Hackensack is a dangerous team to play and we had to play great defense to slow them down,” said Jasper. “Kristen Petro and Lindsey Hickey did not have enviable tasks by any means. But they took the challenge and they did an excellent job against two very talented offensive players over the final three quarters. If it wasn’t for the defense we played as a team and those two kids played especially, we would have been in trouble today.”

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