Sunday, February 28, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Tori Balzano scored all 11 of her points in the last eight-plus minutes of the game to help lead Northern Highlands to a 50-39 win over Bergenfield and to a piece of the NBIL-Division 2 championship.

BERGENFIELD – With 0:00 showing on the third quarter clock, Northern Highlands sophomore Tori Balzano still had not scored a point in a game that the Highlanders needed to grab a piece of the NBIL-Division 2 title. But despite what the scoreboard said, Balzano still had time to turn that around. In the space between when the clock reaches all zeros and when the horn actually sounds to end a quarter, Balzano was able to break her own personal shutout.

Bergenfield, which has not won even a piece of a league title since 1985, had just scored six straight points to grab a two-point lead and was poised to carry it into the final quarter before Balzano was fouled, probably with somewhere around one-hundredth of a second remaining in the third quarter. She made both free throws in a one-and-one situation to retie the score.

“It was frustrating that I didn’t score until then,” said Balzano, a sophomore. “But it helped me getting those two free throws because when I make a shot it gives me the confidence to try to make more.”

Crystal Johnson scored four straight points late in the third quarter as Bergenfield seemed poised to make a run.

And she did. Balzano hit a three-pointer to open the fourth quarter, followed that with a steal and a layup and was the catalyst of a 14-0 run that turned what looked like it was going to be a fourth quarter battle for a league title into a 56-39 Highlands win that gave Northern Highlands a piece of the league title that it will share with Mahwah.

“Tori is tentative sometimes in the beginning, but that changes when she gets into the flow of the game. I guess those two free throws got her into the flow of the game,” said Northern Highlands head coach Al Albanese. “We had to win the fourth quarter to win a piece of the league title and, give the girls credit, they played great in the fourth quarter and they deserved it.”

Highlands led most of the way but found itself constantly trying to fend off mini runs by Bergenfield that kept the Bears from falling too far behind. Bergenfield got a three pointer from Krystal Carvajal to pull even at 19-19 at halftime and neither team had larger than a four-point advantage through the third quarter.

Bergenfield led at 25-24 and 26-25, but five straight points put Highlands back in front 30-26 with 1:00 left in the third quarter. That was when Crystal Johnson made back-to-back baskets for Bergenfield, an inside hoop and a jumper from the elbow, and Carvajal added two free throws with four seconds left to give the Bears a 32-30 lead that lasted just only until Balzano made those two pivotal free throws.

Freshman center Jackie Reyneke led NH with 15 points.

“We were down 30-26 when Johnson made back-to-back baskets and Carvajal got fouled and I thought right there we were just about ready to turn on the engines,” said Bergenfield head coach Erik Olsen. “Then we give up the dumb foul to let them tie it heading into the fourth quarter and that was it. We are really disappointed and as much as I hate to say it, we kind of folded under the pressure in the fourth quarter.”

Balzano’s personal 7-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters gave Highlands the lead for good and Jackie Reyneke, the Highlanders’ 6-foot-3 freshman center made it stick. She scored five straight points of her own as NH went from down by two points to in front by 10 at 42-32 in a span of just 2:53. Balzano’s clean up of her own miss with 2:53 left to play but Northern Highlands ahead by double digits for good and its defense was stingy down the stretch, holding Bergenfield to just seven points in the final quarter.

“I thought our defense, especially Sonya [West], really did a great job in the fourth quarter. Even though it is a zone that we play, Sonya did a great job matching up out of it. She has long arms and it doesn’t look like she is moving fast, but she does,” said Albanese. “She was a big part of that defensive effort in the fourth quarter and that is what we needed.”

Krystal Carvajal scored a team-high 14 points for Bergenfield, which fell to 11-12 on the season.

Reyneke led all scorers with 15 points, while Corbett added 14 and Balzano scored all of her 11 in the final eight minutes, plus that one-hundredth of a second. West added 7 off the bench; point guard Melanie Green scored all 5 of her points from the free throw line where the Highlanders were 19 of 29 as a team. Haley Rosa made a last second bucket in the fourth quarter to crack the scoring column and Cate Pearce added a free throw for the Highlanders (11-10), who got back over .500 for the season, grabbed a piece of the league title with an 8-8 record and will visit High Point in the opening round of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional playoffs on Monday.

Carvajal led Bergenfield with 14 points, but was the only Bear to finish in double figures. Jessi Corredor added 7 points, Johnson had 6, Ashely Marfo and Shana Rivera each finished with 5 and Stephanie Miearda had a field goal for Bergenfield, which fell to 11-12 (7-9 NBIL) and will visit Old Tappan in the opening round of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional playoffs on Monday.

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