Wednesday, February 24, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Lisa Rovatsos scored 7 of her 11 fourth-quarter points from the free throw line as top-seeded Bayonne topped St. Anthony, 45-36, in the Hudson County semifinals.

JERSEY CITY – Lisa Rovatsos made quite an impact last year on the hardwood by bursting onto the scene in the Bayonne frontcourt. She ended up leading the team in scoring and was a first-team All-Hudson County for the Bees, who won the HCIAA-Coviello Division title last year. Even though the Bees were the favorite going into the season to repeat as Hudson County champs, Rovatsos knew she needed to improve on one particular part of her game to help the team repeat. That was her shooting percentage from the free-throw line.

Never did Rovatsos’ hard work to improve that aspect of her game pay off more than it did on Tuesday night against a St. Anthony team that was primed to pull another Hudson County Tournament upset in the tournament semifinals. It would come down to fourth-quarter free-throws and Bayonne picked a good night to have their best game of the season from the charity stripe.

Bayonne hit 16 of 19 from the foul line in the second half, including 11 of 13 in the fourth quarter. Rovatsos scored seven (7-8 FT) of her 11 fourth-quarter points from the line as top-seeded Bayonne pulled away for a 45-36 win over fifth-seeded St. Anthony at the Yanitelli Center on the campus of St. Peter’s College.

Adriana Allen led St. Anthony’s (18-4) in scoring with 11 points.

“We didn’t have our best game, but we came together at the right time in the fourth quarter,” said Rovatsos, who was also named HCIAA-Coviello Division’s girls’ soccer Player of the Year as a freshman. “I thought we outplayed them for most of the first half, but we made a few stupid decisions with the ball and St. Anthony’s got on a run right before halftime. I was definitely a little concerned, but we found a way to pull out a win.”

The game was nearly out of hand early as Bayonne’s Connie Hayes had the hot hand in the opening stanza. She hit three of her first four shots, including a pair of three-pointers, in a game-opening 10-0 run.

Bayonne’s Tara Flynn did an outstanding job of defending Hudson County’s leading scorer, St. Anthony’s Shonice Hawkins, and she also hit a jumper just inside the elbow that gave Bayonne its largest lead midway through the second quarter, 19-6.

However, Bayonne did not score again for the rest of the half. Adrianna Allen scored five straight points, and then teammate Naquell Simmons followed suit with five straight of her own. The Friars closed out the half with a 10-0 run that trimmed the lead to three by halftime, 19-16. Which made the situation even more nerve-wracking for Bayonne was that Hawkins, who averages over 20 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half; and yet the Friars were within three at the break.

Bayonne’s Connie Hayes hit three of her first four shots, including a pair of three-pointers, in a game-opening 10-0 run.

“We had an opportunity to score a first-round knockout, but we let them off the hook,” said Bayonne head coach Jamie Turner. “A couple of mental mistakes and now St. Anthony’s is in the perfect situation. They did not have a great first half. But they closed it out on a run and were down only three without playing their best basketball and without their leading scorer having a single point.

“I had to really lay into my girls at halftime because I knew we were in trouble. I challenged them to play much better than we did in the first half. We knew we would have to grind it out in that fourth quarter and the girls really responded to the challenge.”

Hawkins missed a wide-open layup and Bayonne’s Sam Maggio got the rebound. But Hawkins made up for it by getting a steal and turning it into a three-point play. It represented her first points of the game and the Friars’ only lead of the game, 23-22, with 3:48 to play in the third quarter.

The score was tied heading into the fourth quarter when Rovatsos set the tone. On the first possession of the quarter, she scored on a three-point play to put Bayonne ahead to stay. She then lengthened the Bees’ lead with a strong showing at the foul line. The sophomore connected on four consecutive free-throws to cap a 9-2 run for a 37-30 lead.

Shonice Hawkins made a steal and turned it into a three-point play to give St. Anthony is only lead of the game at 23-22.

St. Anthony’s never got closer than five points the rest of the way as Bayonne had just two turnovers in the period and continued to hit free-throws down the stretch. While the loss was disappointing for St. Anthony’s head coach Tony Jackson, how they lost the game was even more disheartening.

“I think we lost confidence and we started to fall apart in the fourth quarter,” said Jackson. “We are a team that likes to get to the basket and we settled for too many jump shots. Defensively, we didn’t have the same intensity as we did in the quarterfinals (a one-point win over Marist). We struggled with rotating to the ball and it cost us because they got the foul line so often and kept hitting their free-throws. Bayonne deserved to win this game. But it’s a tough one to take because I felt we could have won if we had the same effort and execution we had in the win over Marist.”

Rovatsos led all players with 22 points and 13 rebounds for Bayonne (19-5). Hayes was the only other Bee in double-figures with 10 points. Flynn also was a huge factor on the defensive end in holding Hawkins to a season-low 10 points. Adriana Allen led St. Anthony’s (18-4) in scoring with 11 points.

Bayonne now will look ahead to Saturday’s Hudson County Final, where they will face the winner of third-seeded Lincoln and seventh-seeded North Bergen. Regardless of who they play, the Bees will be prepared to defend their title as the best team in Hudson County.

“I think our team learned a valuable lesson from today that every possession is important,” said Bayonne’s Tara Flynn. “As a point guard, I know we need to take care of the ball better and I take the blame on that one. But we kept our poise in the second half and we did a real good job of hitting our free-throws in pressure situations. We’re going to come ready for Saturday no matter who we play. Hopefully, we can play well as we did in the first and fourth quarters tonight for an entire game.”

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