Monday, February 22, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Sarah Halejain hit a half court heave to beat the first quarter buzzer, the defining blow in Ramapo's 44-34 win over Pascack Valley in the Bergen County Tournament semifinals.

MAHWAH – Sometimes the turning point of a game can be a subtle play buried somewhere in a stat sheet. Other times it sticks out like a sore thumb and there was no mistaking what play set Ramapo off on its way to a 44-34 win over Pascack Valley in the semifinals of the Bergen County Tournament on Sunday at Ramapo College.

With time running down in the first quarter, junior Sarah Halejian took an inbounds pass on the defensive side of halfcourt, took one dribble to collect her balance and then launched a two-handed shot that crashed through the rim as the buzzer sounded.

“That shot definitely got us going. We actually practice them all the time in our shooting games, so I was prepared to take it,” said Halejian. “I didn’t think it was going in, but…whatever.”

Halejian’s halfcourt heave came at the end of a critical sequence late in the first quarter that turned out to decide the outcome. Chelsea Lombardi made a free throw to get Pascack Valley within 12-8 with 26 seconds to play and the Indians played quality defense for the next 23 seconds before fouling Ramapo’s Deanna Devonshuk with :03 showing on the first quarter clock.

Terry Ely drew Pascack Valley to within 10 in the fourth quarter, but the Indians had too far to go.

Devonshuk made one of two free throws before a mistake cost PV, which attempted a long inbounds pass that it instead knocked out of bounds. That opened the door for Halejian’s shot, the obvious backbreaker even though there was still 24 minutes left to play.

Pascack Valley head coach Jeff Jasper knew it.

“All of it was ill-advised on our part. There were three seconds left to play, we went for the home run pass and there was no need for it. Even if we caught it we wouldn’t have been able to do anything with it from that spot. We should have just got the ball inbounds and moved on to the second quarter,” said Jasper. “Instead it turned into a four-point play because they got the foul shot and the three-pointer and it went from 12-8 to 16-8 in three seconds. Did that deflate us? I can’t answer that.”

If that didn’t deflate the Indians, then the second quarter did as they failed to score in the period and had more turnovers than shot attempts. Ramapo didn’t exactly light it up in the second quarter either, but the six points it did score – four by Halejian on a jumper and a drive and the other two on a short jumper by Emily Sasson – gave it a commanding 22-8 lead at the break.

Emma Giegerich. one of Ramapo's four seniors, finished with 6 points.

After losing to Pascack Valley earlier in the week in an NBIL Division 1 regular season game, Ramapo head coach Sandy Gordon had fresh scouting report to go on and some of the tactical moves made from the bench paid off.

“We played them Thursday and Jeff [Jasper] made some adjustments today for our defense and we made a couple for theirs. It was a little bit of a chess match today and offensively we had some kids step up,” said Gordon, who coach Ramapo to its first ever county championship last season. “I knew that if we could play solid ‘D’ and play with the lead that we would be all right. They do a great job offensively of moving the ball and passing, they are such a fundamentally sound team, that we needed the lead to be able to take some of that away.”

That lead swelled to 20 points at 30-10 3:21 into the second half when Erinn Hogan scored on the fastbreak off a long bounce pass from Halejian and the Raiders’ opened their biggest spread of the game at 35-13 when Halejian pulled up and knocked down a three-pointer with 1:51 to play in the third quarter.

Alyssa Matos finished with 7 points for Pascack Valley.

Ramapo led 37-18 heading into the fourth, but PV kept a little intrigue going by scoring the first seven points of the final period and then drawing to within 10 at 39-29 when Terry Ely hit a three-pointer from the wing with 2:05 to play, but the Indians had too far to go to make a serious run.

“The only way to beat Ramapo is to score the ball. When we beat them on Thursday we were able to score the ball early. Then you can dictate the tempo. If you don’t score the ball early against them then they dictate the tempo and Halejian dictates the tempo and she is just too good,” said Jasper. “She was 9 for 12 from the floor today. They were all quality shots and she made them. When we played them the other day she took those shots and missed them and that was because we had the lead. That was not the case here today.”

Halejian finished with a game-high 23 points and made Ramapo’s two three-pointers, but enough of the other Green Raiders made shots to keep the defense honest. Even if none of them piled up points, each basket was important as the Raiders pulled away. Senior Emma Giegerich (6 points) made three field goals, and Hogan and Sam Klie each made two to finish with 4 points apiece.

Erinn Hogan and Ramapo will play for a second straight county title against Holy Angels on Saturday.

Second-seeded Ramapo (20-5) is heading back to the county final where it will try to defend its title against fifth-seeded Holy Angels, which upset No. 1 Teaneck on the other semifinal. The two teams split the regular season series with Holy Angels winning the last matchup, 59-56 on February 9, while Ramapo knocked off the Angels in the first meeting, 52-48, back in December.

“Every year is a different experience. We won last year and we are so excited to get a chance to do it again,” said Giegerich, one of four seniors on the Ramapo roster. “Getting a chance to defend the county title is what we have been working for and it is just as exciting as it was last year.”

Ely lead Pascack Valley (20-4) with 15 points, Chelsea Lombardi followed with 9 and Alyssa Matos finished with 7 points for the Indians. Although PV’s county tournament run ended on Sunday, it has clinched at least a tie for the NBIL-Division 1 title and is the No. 2 seed in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament bracket.

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