Sunday, February 12, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Jade Walker dominated the paint and DePaul dominated Wayne Valley, 70-27, in the Passaic County Tournament. quarterfinals.

WAYNE – To be a championship team, it is important to realize when to have fun and bond as a team as well as when to buckle down and get the job done. Up until last week, this season was a fun-loving dream for DePaul. Jade Walker was dominating inside, Brianah Ramos was becoming one of the better all around players in North Jersey and the supporting cast was coming into its own in turning DePaul into one of the state’s best girls basketball teams. That was until last week when Wayne Valley pulled off the most shocking upset in the state this season by beating the Spartans, who followed it up with a close loss to IHA.

The first month-and-a-half of DePaul’s season was a joy ride, the last week was a pure nightmare, and from here on out, it’s all business. The Spartans got a chance at revenge on Saturday when facing off against Wayne Valley again, this time in defense of their county title, and made the most of it.

Top-seeded DePaul was extremely active defensively and created 10 first-quarter turnovers to set the tone. The Spartans scored the first 17 points of the game and only allowed one field goal in the first half as they cruised to a 70-27 victory over eighth-seeded Wayne Valley in the Passaic County Tournament quarterfinals at Passaic County Tech.

Nikki Carillo and Wayne Valley fell to 12-9 on the season.

“They were all over the place defensively and we were never able to get anything going,” said Wayne Valley head coach Kathy Sinram. “I thought (Jade) Walker was phenomenal inside and they played with so much more intensity than they did last Tuesday.”

Without Wayne Valley point guard Kelly Wieczerzak in the lineup, the Spartans’ press became even difficult for the Indians to handle. It showed right from the tap as DePaul forced four turnovers in the Indians’ first six possessions, turning all of them into baskets at the other end, including back-to-back putbacks from Walker and another from Breanna Ramirez in the midst of the 17-0 run to start the game.

“We used a lot of players to have fresh bodies in the game all the time in an effort to dictate the tempo,” said DePaul head coach Maria Harper. “When we got turnovers, we got out on the break. When we got into an offense, we made an extra effort to pound the ball inside to Jade. When we get things going inside, it opens up things on the perimeter and gives us multiple options on how to put the ball in the basket. I thought defensively though, we really turned it on from the tap and set the tone for the rest of the game.”

After a tough week, the Spartans kept their foot on the gas with Ramos getting a steal and a layup as DePaul turned out the lights on any thoughts of a comeback in the second quarter, leading by 28 at the half, 37-9.

Brianah Ramos scored 17 points for DePaul, which will face Wayne Hills in the semifinals.

“I think we feed off of our killer mentality when we played them the first time and we learned a lesson from that,” said Walker. “Everyone is going to give us their best and Wayne Valley played as hard as we should have been and they definitely earned the win against us. Now we know what it feels like to be on the end of some tough losses and we’re even more hungry now then we’ve been all year. We have to turn it up a notch because we want to defend our county title and go after a state title.”

Walker finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds for DePaul (16-3) and Brianah Ramos added 17. Alicia Hester was the only Wayne Valley (12-9) player to reach double-figures with 12 points.

DePaul moves onto the next weekend’s PCT semis, where it will face a tough opponent in fifth-seeded Wayne Hills. The Spartans have won both of their meetings this season, but both games have been a battle deep into the fourth quarter, including one two weeks ago that went right down to the wire before DePaul escaped with a 54-51 win. It should be yet another battle, but one the Spartans are confident they are ready for.

“Whenever you get two Wayne schools playing each other like today or like in the semifinals next week, there will always be a different level of intensity,” added Harper. “What happened last week happened, and it happened for a reason. We can’t dwell on those losses because we can’t do anything about them. This is a championship team and our number one goal is to defend our county title. Today brought us one step closer to where we want to be.”

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