Thursday, December 29, 2011

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Nicole Fleck had 29 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals in Wood-Ridge's 54-24 win over Saddle Brook in the Masopust Tournament final on Wednesday afternoon in Lodi.

LODI – Wood-Ridge standout Nicole Fleck remembers a time earlier in her career when the teams she was playing on would hope to get off to a good start in order to have a chance to pull an upset over a talented opponent. Now, as one of the Blue Devils' senior captains, she is aware of how important it is to start off every game strong but for a different reason. Wood-Ridge now has high expectations and championship aspirations as it returns three starters from last year’s squad that advanced to the section semifinals. On Wednesday, Fleck set the tone and her teammates followed her lead.

Fleck hit five of her first six shots as Wood-Ridge scored the game’s first 15 points and never looked back in cruising to the title at the Bill Masopust Holiday Tournament with a 54-24 triumph over Saddle Brook at Lodi High School.

“We set a bunch of goals throughout the season and winning this tournament was the first goal,” said Wood-Ridge head coach Jesse Romano, who is in his first year at the helm. “I thought we started off real strong on both ends of the floor. Everyone really stepped up and played well today.”

Wood-Ridge came out right away with a full-court 1-2-2 zone press and it forced the Falcons to turn the ball over on six of their first eight possessions. Five of those turnovers turned into baskets on the other end with Fleck scoring four of those. By the game was five minutes old, the Blue Devils already were in control of the contest with a 15-0 lead.

Melissa Lortz (13) led the way for Saddle Brook with 11 points and six rebounds.

Marissa Saslowsky’s three-pointer for Saddle Brook cut the lead to 10 on the first possession of the second quarter. Ally Fugnitti was the sparkplug defensively and Fleck once again was the recipient on the offensive end. Wood-Ridge held the Falcons without a field goal for the remainder of the half and Fleck had 23 points by halftime on 11-16 (68.8%) shooting as Wood-Ridge had a commanding 36-6 advantage.

Fleck finished with game-highs of 29 points and 10 rebounds, to go with five steals for Wood-Ridge (4-0). Fugnitti had 10 points and led all players with six steals.

Melissa Lortz led the way for Saddle Brook (1-3) with 11 points and six rebounds, while Saslowsky added nine points.

Wood-Ridge is off to a fine start this season and will likely be undefeated heading into next Thursday’s showdown with Immaculate Conception. The winner will have a leg up in the race for a league title, which happens to be another goal on the Blue Devils’ list this season. Regardless of the opponent, Fleck and her teammates know what they are capable of this season and do not want to let an opportunity slip away.

“Every single game, you have to raise the bar no matter what team you are playing against,” added Fleck, who is just 16 points from becoming Wood-Ridge’s all-time leading scorer. “Our team really has great chemistry and we know the potential that we have. There are still things we need to work on like boxing out better and playing with intensity every minute of every game. But we showed that intensity today and it was a good feeling coming out as strong as we did today.”

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