By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

BAYONNE – With three starters back from a team that has won back-to-back Hudson County girls basketball titles, Bayonne came into the season as the favorite to repeat as champs.

It seems each year a new contender pops up and makes an unexpected push into the upper echelon of teams in Hudson County. In the early portion of the schedule this year, it is Kearny that has surprised many by winning five of out its first six games. Thursday marked the measuring stick as Kearny traveled to play the defending county champs.

After a hard-fought 32 minutes, two things were learned. Bayonne is still the team to beat in Hudson County, but the gap is not nearly as wide as its been in years past.

Tara Flynn hit a big three-pointer to start the fourth quarter and Kerri Kosakowski shrugged off a sprained ankle to score consecutive baskets late as Bayonne held off a stern challenge for a 52-42 victory that was closer than the score indicated.

“This was the kind of test we needed and we know we’re going to get from good teams,” said Bayonne head coach Jaime Turner. “Kearny is a well-coached, hard-nosed team. They came here to kick our butts today and gave us everything we could handle. I thought our girls saw what we were up against and played much harder on both ends of the floor in the second half, and that’s how we got this win.”

Both teams came out firing offensively, as Flynn scored five straight points in the first half to give Bayonne a 15-10 lead. The Kardinals showed they had some offensive firepower from the perimeter as well as Stefanie Gomes banked in a three-pointer with three seconds left in the first quarter as Kearny trimmed the lead to 17-16.

After an intentional foul call, Janitza Aquino hit a pair of free-throws with just over a minute to play to give Kearny its biggest lead, 28-25. Only a hustle play from Bayonne standout Lisa Rovatsos gave the Bees the lead. After following up her own missed free-throw, she hit Kosakowski underneath for a layup that gave the Bees a halftime lead by the slimmest of margins, 29-28.

“We had to pick it up for the second half because we knew Kearny was going to come at us even harder,” said Rovatsos. “We couldn’t afford to lose our focus. I thought we did a much better job in the second half and the fourth quarter had to be ours, we couldn’t let this game slip away.”

The two teams continued to battle toe-to-toe with neither flinching heading into the fourth quarter and Bayonne still leading, 38-35. Despite each team having multiple offensive weapons, it was going to come down who could make the defensive stops that was going to get the win. Rovatsos came up with a steal on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, which led to a three-pointer from the corner by Flynn to double the Bees’ lead to six, 41-35. Overall, the Bees forced turnovers on five of the Kardinals’ first six possessions of the fourth quarter.

“We needed to get good shots and get into our offense and we didn’t do it,” said Kearny head coach Jody Hill, who was a 2,000-point scorer at Harrison and is a member of the Hudson County Sports Hall of Fame. “Bayonne made some big stops and hit some big shots at crucial points in the game. Even though we lost by ten, I really feel like this was a game where a possession here or a possession there and we could have gotten out of here with a win. But you have to capitalize on your opportunities when you face a great team and we didn’t capitalize on enough of them to get the ‘W’.”

Kearny was still within six late until Kosakowski curled off an interior screen from Rovatsos and hit a short jumper, then followed with a layup to bump the lead up to ten with under two minutes to play to close out the game.

“We know teams around here are going to give us their ‘A’ game and we always have to be ready for that,” said Kosakowski. “Our team gets along really well and we trust each other. We always feel like we’ll make plays when it counts and we’ll find a way to win.”

Luisa Montalvo came up with 10 of her season-high 13 points in the first half for Bayonne (7-1). Rovatsos also had 13 points, but did most of her damage defensively in the fourth quarter where she picked up four of her game-high six blocks. Kosakowski added 12 and Flynn eight points to go with five assists and four steals.

Aquino led the way for Kearny (5-2) with 13 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Michelle Goncalves had eight points and six rebounds. Gomes and Vanessa DaSilva each added seven points, while Mercedes Lois chipped in with six off the bench.

Several years ago, this was a game Kearny would have lost before it got off the bus. Now the Kardinals know that being a factor in the Hudson County Tournament is no longer a pipe dream, but a reality.

“We didn’t win tonight, but there are a ton of positives to walk from this game with,” added Hill. “The effort was there and we hung around with the best team in the county with a chance to win on their court. We proved to them and proved to ourselves that we are on that level now. We’ve come such a long way last year and we’ll continue to get better every day. This will only fuel our fire to work harder and become a better team.”

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