Monday, February 15, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Ariana Ijaduola scored with winning basket with one second left in Teaneck's 52-50 triumph over St. Mary in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Girls Basketball Tournament.

EAST RUTHERFORD – When Jakelle King-Gilchrist went down with a knee injury in the final minute of regulation, it left a huge void in top-seeded Teaneck’s half-court offense at a crucial time against ninth-seeded St. Mary (Rutherford). It appeared to be another bad break in a recent string of them in the Bergen County Tournament for the Highwaywomen.

Someone needed to rise to the occasion and take the big shot for Teaneck to avoid another heartbreaking loss and it was Ariana Ijaduola who gladly did the honors. Her shot went just over the outstretched hand of St. Mary center Martina Ellerbe, off the glass and in the basket with one second left as Teaneck held off a major scare for the second consecutive week with a thrilling 52-50 BCT quarterfinal triumph over the Lady Gaels at Becton Regional High School.

“We really wanted this win and we had to work really hard to get it,” said Ijaduola. “We’ve played either with or against a lot of the St. Mary’s girls, so we were familiar with them and how they played. They played really well. We just had to keep fighting in the second half.”

Teaneck has intimidated many teams with its full-court pressure, but the Gaels came out attacking the vaunted press right from the opening tip. Meghan Bohan clicked on two straight layups and Ellerbe scored consecutive baskets, including a three-pointer, as the Gaels grabbed the lead early. They took a double-digit lead on a Brittany Sims layup and led by as many as 13 before settling for a 30-19 halftime advantage. It was the first of several moments of crisis for Teaneck and head coach Shenee Clarke challenged her players in her halftime speech.

Martina Ellerbe finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds for St. Mary.

“I definitely got after them because they were just outplaying us in the first half,” said Clarke. “We were going to continue pressing in the second half, but we switched up the style of press we were using because what we were using in the first half wasn’t working. In the first half, we also missed a lot of open shots and we had to start knocking them down. Jakelle (King-Gilchrist) got us going at the right time and the rest of the team fed off of that.”

The tide was slowly turning throughout the third quarter before King-Gilchrist single-handedly made it a game. She hit consecutive three-pointers to trim a seven-point deficit down to one later in the third quarter. The junior then scored on a short bank shot and a breakaway layup to give Teaneck its first lead since early in the first quarter, 41-39, with 5:28 to play.

Teaneck bumped the lead up to six points, but allowed the Gaels to hang around by missing one free-throw after another and finished just 11 of 27 from the foul line overall.

Ellerbe grabbed her own miss and put it back in with 1:01 left to cut the lead to one. Then, coming out of a timeout, King-Gilchrist went down with the knee injury and did not return. St. Mary got the ball back after a missed front end of a one-and-one and took advantage of it. Kiyana Dunston scored on a running bank shot to put St. Mary’s back in front, 50-49, with 37 seconds to play.

It was then where some thoughts about previous county tournament disappointments began to creep into the heads of the Teaneck players.

“When St. Mary’s had the lead in the last minute, it was hard not to think ‘here we go again’,” said Teaneck’s Tiffany Mills. “But we had to pull it together and we worked too hard not to pull out a win. I thought we gambled too much on defense in the first half and got burned for it. In the second half, we just played good defense and we didn’t let them get second shots.”

Sydni Lester celebrating Teaneck's win that puts them in the semfinals next week against Holy Angels.

On the ensuing possession, Teaneck’s Sydni Lester hit one of two free-throws to tie the game at 50.
It looked like St. Mary might hold for the final shot, but decided to take a quick one instead. The Highwaywomen secured the rebound and raced down court with the final seconds ticking down.

With King-Gilchrist on the bench, someone had to take the final shot and, surprisingly, it was Ijaduola with the 6-2 Ellerbe draped all over her. Ellerbe got a piece of her initial attempt, but the ball bounced right back to Ijaduola in the middle of the paint. She quickly put the ball back up off the glass and through the hoop with a second to play to make it 52-50.

“I knew there wasn’t much time left and I had to get the shot off,” added Ijaduola. “I figured if I went up strong, I would either get a good shot, I’d get fouled, or I’d get my shot blocked. When I saw it wasn’t blocked, I knew it had a good chance of going in. This is pretty amazing, it’s the first time I’ve hit a game-winning shot in a game like this.”

St. Mary’s never got off a final shot as Lester intercepted a long pass from Brittany Sims as Teaneck moved on to next weekend’s Bergen County semifinals.

“I’m at a loss for words right now, this one is going to hurt for awhile,” said the Ohio State-bound Ellerbe, who is a Teaneck native. “Both teams made some big plays and hit some big shots, they just made one then we did.”

King-Gilchrist led the second-half charge for Teaneck (19-2) and had a game-high 16 points. Tiffany Mills also came on in the second half and finished with 10 points. Ellerbe had a solid overall game with 15 points, 15 rebounds, and six blocked shots for St. Mary’s (16-4). Bohan scored eight of her career-high 10 points in the first half. Sims added nine points, five rebounds, four assists, and four steals.

The Highwaywomen will face an old NNJIL foe in next weekend’s Bergen County semifinals when they take on fifth-seeded Holy Angels, which won a thrilling 74-72 overtime triumph over fourth-seeded Northern Valley/Old Tappan yesterday. Teaneck head coach Shenee Clarke knows there is some work to be done in order to be crowned Bergen County champs, but she knows the potential is there.

“We have had a great season and we have the potential to do some great things,” added Clarke. “I mean we have to hit our free throws much better than we did today, but after the win against Cresskill last week and the way we won today, we’re showing that we can win the close games down the stretch. We know the games are only going to get tougher and we are showing that we’re well prepared for that.”

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