Saturday, February 18, 2012

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Arianna Nieves scored 13 points for St. Dominic Academy, which reached the Hudson County semifinals for the first time since 2006 with a 42-36 win at Kearny on Friday afternoon.

KEARNY – St. Dominic Academy’s senior co-captains Arianna Nieves and Tavia Watkins knew that Friday represented their last chance to get past the quarterfinal round of the Hudson County Tournament, something they had never done in their four-year varsity careers. Standing in their way was Kearny, which controlled the fourth quarter and pulled away for a nine-point win in the two teams only regular season matchup. With a long-awaited berth in the HCT semifinals on the line for both teams, it was the duo of Nieves and Watkins down the stretch who helped turn the tables on Kearny’s home court.

Watkins had a key three-point play midway through the fourth quarter and Nieves was clutch at the foul line as fifth-seeded St. Dominic Academy returns to the Hudson County semifinals for the first time since 2006 with a 42-36 victory at Kearny High School.

“We wanted this game so bad, and we weren’t going to let anyone take it away from us,” said Nieves. “Kearny is a good team and to beat them we had to play really well and play tough defense. This feels really good right now.”

The Blue Devils opened up an early lead and led by as many as seven when Danielle Wilbert hit a three-pointer from the corner to make it 17-10. With Nieves, who had been in the hospital earlier on Friday with a bout of dizziness, saddled with foul trouble, Kearny turned up the pressure and it paid dividends in the final two minutes of the first half. Vanessa DaSilva made two straight steals and fed both Mercedes Lois and Michelle Goncalves for their only baskets of the game, the latter of which pulled them into a 21-21 tie at the half.

Kearny's Vanessa DaSilva filled the stat sheet with 5 points, 5 assists and 4 steals.

Kearny got off to a quick start with a three-pointer from DaSilva and a layup from Stefanie Gomes to grab a three-point lead. The Kardinals had a chance to stretch that lead out, but missed five layups over their next six possessions. That allowed the Blue Devils to dodge a bullet and kickstart run of their own. A basket by Nieves closed out an 8-0 spurt that made it 31-26 SDA at the end of the third quarter.

“We ran our sets well and got good looks, they just didn’t go in,” said Kearny head coach Jody Hill. “We missed too many easy baskets and we gave up too many easy baskets. I felt like our defense was a step behind all game and we never really got over the hump where we could get into a rhythm.”

The Kardinals had one last run in them with Gomes’ 12-foot jumper tying the game at 32. With the game slipping away, St. Dominic Academy head coach Reggie Quinn chose to call his final two timeouts in close proximity with still more than three minutes remaining.

“I had to challenge my entire team, but especially my seniors. This was on them,” said Quinn. “We were in trouble and started giving away possessions. Possession is everything and even more so in the fourth quarter. We know it’s always going to be a chess match when we play Kearny. It came down to getting stops, not turning the ball over, and making free-throws. The first time we played them, that’s what Kearny did and that’s why they won. We felt it was our turn this time and our two seniors really stepped up.”

Tavia Watkins and SDA will face top-seeded Bayonne in the Hudson County Tournament semifinals.

Watkins drove the lane and hit a bank shot while being fouled. She converted the free-throw to cap the three-point play, and then added another to make it a two-possession game. Then, when a Kearny player was whistled for a reach-in foul on Nieves and was subsequently given a technical foul with 1:57 to play, Nieves got a chance to pad that lead. She did just that, hitting 3 of 4 free throws to make it 39-32.

Nieves scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half for St. Dominic Academy (14-9). Watkins finished one point shy of a double-double with 9 points and 10 rebounds. Toni Giacchi also played well throughout and more than doubled her season average in two categories, finishing with 7 points and 4 rebounds.

Gomes led all players with 18 points for Kearny (18-6). DaSilva added 5 points, 5 assists and 4 steals.

St. Dom’s will have a daunting task in the Hudson County semifinals on Wednesday where it will face off against three-time defending champion and top-seeded Bayonne, which beat the Blue Devils by 44 points just last week and pounded Union City by 53 in its quarterfinal game last night, with an 8:30 P.M start time at St. Peter’s College. While the Bees seem to be peaking again at the right time of the season, anything can happen when the ball is tossed and the Blue Devils know the pressure is entirely on Bayonne to defend its title.

“Just to get here is what we always wanted and we know we have nothing to lose now,” said Watkins. “We’re going to play as hard as we can. I think our younger players really stepped up today and they have really helped us out lately. For seniors like Arianna and I, we know how hard it is to get here. We finally made it and we’re just excited for the opportunity to play in the county semifinals for the first time.”

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