Junior Layla Giodano overcame foul trouble to lead all scorers with 15 points as NV/Old Tappan advanced to the Bergen County Tournament semifinals with a 40-31 win over Northern Highlands.
DEMAREST - Old Tappan overcame extended absences by the Giordano twins, Layla and Maya, who were both in foul trouble from the first quarter on, to get past Northern Highlands, 40-31, in the Bergen County Tournament quarterfinals on Saturday at Northern Valley/Demarest.
“We have a really gritty couple of kids that come off the bench for us,” said Golden Knights senior Mackenzie Ward. “They’re willing to come out and perform no matter who they are guarding. We can have a 5-foot guard guarding their biggest player. She’s going to dig in and do whatever she can when [someone on] our starting five can’t be out there.”
The Knights grabbed a 13-3 lead a minute into the second quarter, but a Northern Highlands 13-7 run that carried into the first minutes of the third quarter drew the Highlanders within four, 20-16. Senior Ashley Crystal tallied 7 of her team-high 13 points during the run.
“These kids never give up,” said Highlanders coach Mike Kilgallen. “We see it every day in practice. They just fight regardless of score, regardless of situation, regardless of opponent and that’s why we’re most proud of them. The only thing we ask is that they play hard.
“We were 3-3 and we changed our whole theme of the season into ‘Trust.’ And we also asked them to play hard because if you play hard, play for each other, we’ll let the chips fall where they may. And they’ve done that. Today was another example of that.”
Layla Giordano stopped the run with a 3-point play and the defense also picked up. So by the end of the third quarter Old Tappan led by 11, 29-18.
Senior point guard Emma Starr led Northern Highlands with 8 points.
“What sets us apart is we always dig in and play defense,” said Ward. “We strive to outwork and outhustle every team we play. That starts with senior leadership obviously but I’ve taken that personally for these four years. I’ve made it my mission to shut down their best player, no matter who it is or what goal they are striving to get just to shut them down and take them out of their game completely. Defense is the key to winning games.”
“That was a very good basketball team we were up against,” said Kilgallen. “There is a reason why we didn’t shoot particularly well tonight - because they play really good defense. And he [NVOT coach Brian Dunn] bar none is the best coach in Bergen County in any sport. We hung tough with a very good basketball team. I’m incredibly proud of the fight of these girls.”
Layla Giordano led all scorers with 15 points. She and her sister Maya combined for 17 rebounds and 4 blocked shots. Senior Melissa Brennan chipped in with 8 points. Highlanders senior Emma Starr had 8 points.
Old Tappan moves on to the semifinals next Saturday in Fair Lawn against Saddle River Day, 77-61 winners over Tenafly.
“We did a good job,” said Dunn. “The [Giordano] twins were in foul trouble and other kids came in and did a good job. A couple of the younger kids were nervous but they came in and did the job. I thought [senior] Marin [DeGennaro] did a great job and when Mac (Ward) was in foul trouble, [senior] Natalie [Carril] did a fantastic job on Starr. She played a great game.”
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