Wednesday, January 25, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Stephanie DeBari going in for the layup that opened the scoring and put Ridgefield Park ahead to stay in a 46-32 win over Bergenfield.

RIDGEFIELD PARK – Usually when a team scores off the opening tip it is little more than a nice little way to start the game. A quick basket gets puts the scoring team in a little bit of a groove, but rarely does it mean much as there are still well over 31 minutes to play in a game of basketball. That was not the case on Tuesday night, however. When Katherine Haines tipped the ball to Julie Rovato, who found Stephanie DeBari cutting to the basket for a wide open layup, Ridgefield Park had the lead for good just four seconds into its game against Bergenfield.

“We didn't know it at the time, but that basket really got us going. Right after that we got a steal on defense and we got the momentum right away,” said Rovito, the Scarlets' sophomore point guard. “We have been comfortable playing as a team all year and when we get off to a fast start like we did tonight, we had that confidence right away and just wanted to keep it going, especially on defense.”

Ridgefield Park's defensive roots go back to the over 400 wins piled up under former head coach Joe Branda and those fundamentals have are still evident now in the fourth season under current head coach Chris Blessing. With 6-foot-2 Katherine Haines at the top of the 1-3-1 trap, passing lanes get clogged, lob passes get stolen and getting into an offense at all can be a nightmare for an opponent. It was for Bergenfield, which made just two field goal and three fouls shot in the entire first half.

Steph Miranda scored 6 of Bergenfield's 9 first half points and finished with a team-high 13.

“There have been two occasions, because of matchups or whatever, where as a coaching staff we went away from that [1-3-1] and we learned our lesson twice, once against Ridgewood in our only loss and once against Tenafly when we barely got away with it,” said Blessing. “That is our bread and butter and that is what we will be sticking with.”

Ridgefield Park scored the first six points of the game, had a 10-3 lead after the first quarter and went up 12-3 when Kellie Lane drove the baseline for the first two points of the second quarter. Jessi Corredor's three-pointer with 5:03 into the game and Steph Miranda's three-pointer and three field goals in the second quarter was all the offense that Bergenfield could muster as it went into halftime trailing 17-9.

“We did not attack the zone the way we needed to. We needed to go at them. We played passive and that was not what we wanted to do coming in here tonight,” said Bergenfield head coach Erik Olsen. “It's so difficult with Haines up top because it takes away that first pass and even when you get the pass over to the guard, Haines closes the gap with her wing span and you are trapped with nowhere to go if you do not attack right away.”

And while Ridgefield Park employs a high-pressure half-court defense, it is the opposite on the offensive end where the Scarlets rarely settle for the first decent shot. When the starting five is on the floor, as it was just about the whole way against Bergenfield, they are not hiding anyone. Lane is the slasher who does most of her damage from the baseline, Star Kontagiannis (7 points) is the spot up shooter, Haines (9 points) can play with her back to the basket and pass out of double teams, DeBari (10 points) finds open spots with heady cuts in the motion offense and Rovito makes it all go from the point.

Katherine Haines scored 9 points and was a force at the top of Ridgefield Park's 1-3-1 zone.

Kontagiannis is the only senior in the group, Lane is the only junior and the others are sophomores. But with 12 wins against just one loss this season and back-to-back impressive wins over River Dell and Bergenfield in a three-day span, the Scarlets might be a year ahead of schedule as they cruise into the Bergen County Tournament seeding meeting with top 10 seed written all over them.

“We work hard in all practices and in all games, we are not selfish with the ball, we know when to pass and when to shoot and when to drive and we have good chemistry as a team,” said Lane. “We knew these were big games this week with the county tournament coming up. We have to play hard from start to finish if we want to beat good teams and we did that. It is definitely a confidence boost.”

Bergenfield's best offensive stretch came to start the third quarter. The Bears also play with just one senior starter and it was junior Kaitlyn McCue who scored inside twice in a 6-2 start to the second half that got Bergenfield to within 19-15, but Ridgefield Park responded with an 8-1 run over the next 1:39 to push the lead into double digits. Lane made a layup off a steal and assist by Haines, DeBari ran a perfect 2-on-1 break by pulling up for and making a short jumper, Lane scored from the baseline off a pretty bounce pass by Rovito and Rovito then finished off a drive to put the Scarlets up 27-16.

The lead was 33-22 after three quarters and never fell below 11 points in the fourth quarter as Ridgefield Park pretty much assured itself of a first round home game on Saturday in the county tournament.

Bergenfield's Kaitlyn McCue scored all 7 of her points in the third quarter.

“What I really like about this team is that they accept whatever needs to be done to win any one game. Haines will have 30 [points] one night and 10 the next, Kellie Lane might score 20 or more one night and 10 the next and this past weekend against River Dell we had four girls finish in double figures,” said Blessing. “I haven't updated the stats, but as of a few days ago we had four players averaging double figures and with that it makes it hard on a defense. We have been playing well, we have been putting it together offensively and defensively and we are excited to see what seed we get and who we will be playing on Saturday.”

Miranda (13 points) made three three-pointers and 4 of her 5 free throw attempts to finish as Bergenfield's high scorer and the only one to reach double figures. McCue scored all 7 of her points in the third quarter, Dani LaPorta had 6, and Nicole Henderson and Corredor each made three-pointers for the Bears, who fell to 9-4 on the season, but not out of contention for a first round home game in the county tournament.

“Our four losses have been to River Dell, [Pascack] Valley, Emerson and Ridgefield Park, all good teams, but if we want to be on that next level you have to find a way to win at least a couple of those games,” said Olsen. “We are going to be where we are supposed to be, somewhere in that 13, 14, 15 or 16 seed range and after tonight I am a little disappointed going into that seeding meeting.”

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