Wednesday, March 10, 2010

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Chelsea Lombardi scored a game-high 21 points and had a key coast-to-coast layup with 1:23 left in overtime as Pascack Valley knocked off top-seeded and two-time defending champion Teaneck, 51-47, in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional final.

OLD TAPPAN -- If there was a tangible answer to the question of what makes Pascack Valley so successful then everybody would be tied for first place in all time wins in the history of Bergen County girls basketball. But that distinction belongs only to the program that Jeff Jasper has built at PV and the answers as to why are more abstract than they are concrete.

“I just say that, you know what? We live right. I have a great wife, I have a great family, those kids [on my team] now and in the past come from great families, they work hard and when the time is right they just seem to be in the right place at the right time,” said Jasper, who is in his 37th season as the Indians' head coach. “There is no magic potion on this thing; there is nothing to explain it. The program’s success speaks for itself and it’s not me. It’s not about me; it’s about this long gold line that exists here going back to the first teams that I coached.”

It’s a great quote and great sentiment, but there has to be some other explanation, some meat-and-potatoes reason why Pascack Valley, a team that figured to, relatively speaking, struggle this season as it was thrown into the rock ‘em-sock ‘em Division 1 of the NBIL a year after moving up to Group 3 from Group 2, came away with the lone share of the league title and now a North 1, Group 3 state sectional championship after its 51-47 overtime win over Teaneck in Teaneck on Tuesday night.

Tiffany Mills scored 16 points, all but 2 of them in the second half and overtime, to lead Teaneck.

Chelsea Lombardi has her own theory.

“Jasper is an amazing coach. He works miracles,” said Lombardi, whose coast-to-coast layup with 1:23 left in overtime that put her team up three stood out as one of the game’s signature plays. “On paper we probably shouldn’t have made it this far. We probably shouldn’t even be standing in this gym right now. But he showed us how, we did it and it feels awesome.”

Easy to say at the end of the game, but six minutes into it, Pascack Valley was feeling anything but awesome. Teaneck’s Jakelle King-Gilchrist had just made a steal and a layup and Jasper had just burned through his second timeout with his team in arrears by a 13-4 score. It was on the same floor in the sectional semifinals that Pascack Valley saw its season come to an end last year and it was not interested in having that happen again.

“Tonight was something that we were looking forward to, especially after last year. We didn’t execute what we wanted to last year on this floor so to be here and to be given a second chance was really exciting,” said PV senior Terry Ely. “We told ourselves not to allow the atmosphere itself bother us and keep it out of our heads, but maybe we didn’t do that early and it took us a little longer to get used to it than we thought it would.”

Terry Ely finished with 20 points with all but 6 coming from the free throw line.

The Indians, the No. 2 seed, became noticeably more aggressive after the second timeout and Lombardi made a three-point play, driving the left side and making the shot and the free throw. That seemed to settle PV down and it was in the second quarter that it really made up ground.

Trailing 15-7 entering the quarter, the Indians got a three-point play from Alyssa Matos to kick off an 7-0 that brought them right back to within a point and neither team had larger than a three-point lead the rest of the way until Terry Ely made a free throw with two seconds left in the overtime to put PV up four and put the game away.

Lombardi scored on the baseline off an assist from Ely to give Pascack Valley a 20-19 lead at the half, Olivia Logan made a free throw to give Teaneck, the top seed and two-time defending champion, a 35-34 lead after three quarters.

Ely scored four straight points to start the fourth quarter to give Pascack Valley a three-point lead, but Teaneck battled back to take its final lead of regulation when Tiffany Mills turned the corner and hit a tough runner with 2:21 to go that gave the Highwaywomen a 39-38 advantage.

Jakelle King-Gilchrist's steal and layup gave Teaneck a 13-4 lead 6 minutes into the game.

Two Ely free throws bumped the PV lead back to three points, a Mills free throw cut it to two and the missed free throw at the front end of a one-and-one left Teaneck still behind by two as it called a timeout with 26 seconds left. The Highwaywomen took the first available good shot and Mills created it by driving hard to the right and finishing with her left hand. That tied the game at 42 with 14 seconds left and gave Pascack Valley the final shot of regulation, but a jumper from the elbow at the buzzer was off the mark and the sectional championship would have to be decided in overtime.

Lombardi scored the first two points of the extra session from the free throw line before Logan’s putback drew Teaneck even for the last time at 44. Ely made a free throw with 2:30 left and Pascack Valley never trailed again, although it could have made it easier on itself had it made a few more free throws.

The Indians put the ball in Ely’s hands and, because Teaneck was trailing for most of the overtime, it was forced to trade personal fouls for possessions. Lombardi made both of her overtime free throws but Ely took the rest of them, 12 in all but only 5 went in, which left Teaneck within a single possession for all of the final 2:30 minus the last two seconds.

It was after two of those missed free throws that Teaneck, trailing by just one at 45-44, had a chance to go ahead, but Lombardi grabbed the defensive rebound and charged up the right side of the floor. She didn’t stop until she all the way to the hoop and made the layup that gave PV a 47-44 lead with 1:23 to go.

Alyssa Matos chipped in with 5 points for Pascack Valley, which will play Cranford in Thursday's Group 3 state semifinal.

Mills cut that lead down to one point with her basket with 1:09 to play and PV missed two free throws on its ensuing possession, but Alyssa Matos tapped the offensive rebound to herself and gave the Indians another chance, which led to one made free throw by Ely and a 48-46 lead that was halved when Mills made a free throw on the other end with 36 seconds left.

Ely made two free throws with 13 seconds remaining to put PV up 50-47 and as Teaneck started the other way with possession, its ball handler fell down and the resulting turnover led to Ely’s last free throw that finally put the game away and put the Indians into Thursday’s Group 3 state semifinal against North 2 champion Cranford. That game will take place at Ramapo High School in a 7:00 p.m. start.

Lombardi (21 points) and Ely combined to score 41 of PV’s 51 points and all 17 that the Indians scored in the fourth quarter and in the overtime. Matos had 5 points, Dana Amato made a field goal and a free throw and Kristen Petro had the other two points for PV, which shot 19 of 34 from the free throw line in the game.

Mills led Teaneck by scoring 14 of her team-high 16 points in the second half and overtime, while King-Gilchrist had 12 and Logan added 11 to make it three Highwaywomen in double figures. Rebecca Sparks made a pair of first half free throws, and Ariana Ajdoula and Indian Davenport each made a field goal apiece for Teaneck, which was just 5 of 12 from the free throw line in the game.

Pascack Valley improved to 25-4 on the season and is off to the state semifinals, but Jasper, who just won his 13th sectional title, is happy for a different reason.

“The most important thing is that I get to go to practice with these kids again tomorrow. I so enjoy them and when we were behind early I was thinking that this can’t happen, I want to be in the gym with this group at least another day,” said Jasper. “We get to do it and it doesn’t get better than that.”

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