Monday, February 13, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Paramus Catholic head coach Al Roth celebrates his team's last second, 55-54 win over Immaculate Conception in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament.

PARAMUS – It was a shot that Paramus Catholic’s Alisha Cornett had visualized in her mind thousands of times before, the one where her team is down by one in the county tournament with just seconds left in front of a packed house. In her dreams, Cornett has hit that shot 1,000 times. Against Immaculate Conception on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the Bergen County Tournament, she got to try it for real and it almost became a nightmare. In real life, Cornett's last shot ball fell harmlessly to the floor and looked to be headed out-of-bounds.

The senior could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes and they would in fact pour out just seconds later. However, they ended up being tears of pure joy as Cornett was miraculously given a second chance and made the most of it.

An Immaculate Conception player attempted to save Cornett's original attempt from going out-of-bounds and flung the ball back into play. It went through traffic underneath the basket and right to Cornett, who reacted quickly. She collected the loose ball and let go a a hurried shot that swished through as the buzzer sounded as fourth-seeded Paramus Catholic and its fans stormed the court and also stormed their way into the Bergen County semifinals with an exhilarating 55-54 triumph over No. 12 seed Immaculate Conception at Paramus Catholic High School.

Kelsey Castro made a host of big shots down the stretch for Immaculate Conception.

“I’ve been a part of some great games and been on both sides of them. This might be the best one of them all,” said longtime Paramus Catholic head coach Al Roth. “We really had to battle every possession against a very good team. But we have quality kids that really showed their poise in pressure situations. I couldn’t think of a better kid than Alisha to hit that shot to win it for us.”

Immaculate Conception scored the only upset of this year’s entire Bergen County Tournament last week when it knocked off No. 5 Ramapo in convincing fashion and made it apparent early that it was no fluke as senior guard Kelcey Castro nailed consecutive three-pointers and Alyssa Sinski followed with a layup to cap a 10-2 run to start the game.

The Blue Wolves were in control throughout the first half and held a seven-point lead until PC’s Tianna Smith drew a charge that happened to be Sam Fuehring’s third foul with 4:02 left in the second quarter and was forced to the bench. Immaculate Conception did not score another field goal the rest of the half and a late basket from Dejah Taylor allowed PC to pull into a tie by halftime, 25-25.

The two teams traded leads throughout the second half, including five times in the final two minutes. Taylor scored inside to put the Paladins ahead, only to have Castro answer back by knocking down a three-pointer from the top of the key to give IC a 51-49 lead with 1:49 to play.

PC senior Alisha Cornett got two cracks at the game-winner and made the second one count.

Despite only having one senior on the floor, the Paladins were patient on the ensuing possession and worked to get the perfect shot. That happened to come from Cornett, who buried a three to give PC a 52-51 lead with 1:06 left.

Immaculate Conception came up empty on its next two possessions and Smith hit a free-throw to make it 53-51. But after IC’s second empty possession, the Paladins almost made a huge error by putting up a shot that missed instead of running out the clock, which allowed the Blue Wolves one last chance.

Castro took the ball at the top of the key and was double-teamed as she drove to her left. But she spotted the only other senior on their roster, Shakir Negron, cutting on the weak side towards the basket. The pass was perfectly placed between the two defenders and Negron was fouled while making the layup. She then hit the free-throw to complete the three-point play that gave Immaculate Conception a 54-53 lead with 8.5 seconds left before Paramus Catholic quickly got the ball over halfcourt and called timeout with six seconds left.

After the timeout, PC’s Destinee Hall was wide open underneath the basket, but Smith never saw her and called another timeout. Instead of switching things up, Roth ran essentially the same play, but threw in a little wrinkle to allow one of his two top offensive options, Cornett or Taylor, get the last shot.

“After missing Destinee the first time, I figured Immaculate Conception was not going to let her get that close again,” added Roth. “So we ran it again, but more as a decoy. Dejah was really the first option on that play and if we couldn’t get the ball to her, Cornett was the second option and she would cut to the ball to try and get off a last shot. We’re fortunate that she got two cracks at it.”

Shakir Negron's 3-point play gave IC a one-point lead with 8.5 seconds left to play.

Cornett received the inbounds pass and drove the baseline with IC’s Paige Frankel tightly covering her. She took two dribbles and let a shot go from 12 feet that nothing but well, air. Glancing off the hands of both Taylor and Fuehring. IC went to save the ball from going out-of-bounds, but the ball was tossed right back to Cornett, who released the ball just before the buzzer and watched as it hit nothing but net. Cornett was mobbed by her teammates as the ball went through and Paramus Catholic celebrated one of its biggest wins in recent memory.

“The first shot from the baseline I knew was off as soon as it left my hand, and the one at the end, I knew was going in as soon as it left my hand,” said Cornett. “It all happened really, really fast. I just reacted more than anything. When the ball came right back to me, I knew there couldn’t have been much more than a second left, so I took a quick shot just to get the ball out of my hands before the buzzer sounded. It was kind of like a Hail Mary type of shot because of how it happened. But it went in and that’s all that matters.”

Cornett (16 points) hit all the big shots down the stretch, but it was Taylor that led Paramus Catholic (13-9) in both points and rebounds with 18 and 12, respectively. Smith had a solid game on both ends of the floor with 12 points, five rebounds, five steals, and three assists.

Castro led all players with 24 points and five assists for Immaculate Conception (16-5).

Paramus Catholic barely survived the upset bid and now will look to pull a huge upset of its own in next week’s semifinals when it faces top-seeded Teaneck. Although the Paladins will surely be excited for that matchup they were more focused on what just transpired in those frantic final minutes. No individual was soaking it in more than Cornett, who watched a dream become a reality right in front of her eyes.

“This is crazy. I’m still in total shock and I don’t know when it’s going to sink in that this actually happened,” added Cornett. “We have worked so hard this year and this win makes me feel like all of that hard work is worth it. This is the best feeling I’ve ever had. The only way I could see it getting better would be to beat a team like Teaneck next week. We have a second chance now and nothing to lose, so we’re going to leave it all out on the court and see what happens.”

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