Lexie Carnegie scored a team-high 24 points for Teaneck, which overtook River Dell, 65-59, in the Bergen County Tournament quarterfinals..
DEMAREST – Watching the second half of Saturday’s Bergen County Tournament quarterfinal between second-seeded Teaneck and No. 7 River Dell was like driving down the highway watching the gas gauge, which gives the countdown of “miles until empty.”
How long could River Dell, which did not sub even once through the 30 minutes of the 32 minute game keep up with Teaneck, which takes the opposite approach, keep the pedal to the metal before needing to pull over to the side?
With its tank full, River Dell took a double digit lead into halftime. The Golden Hawks started to leak a little oil in the third quarter, but shook off Teaneck’s repeated attempt to pass at full speed in the left lane and held a six-point edge heading into the final period.
Eventually, however, the pace proved too much. The Highwaywomen exploded for 43 points in the second half and sped into the Final 4 with a 65-59 victory at Northern Valley/Demarest High School.
The Golden Hawks had the better of play in the first half as senior captain Morgan Sconza buried four 3-pointers and tallied 16 of her game high 26 points to give River Dell a 32-22 lead. The teams were tied twice, 9-9 and 16-16, but the Hawks outscored the Highwaymen 16-4 in the second quarter to grab the lead.
“We had a halftime pep talk about how we had to come out with energy and how we have to play defense first,” said Highwaywomen coach Brad Allen. “[It was] very animated, but very positive and upbeat. We told them about all the things we did correctly and all the things we needed to improve on. Once we did everything we needed to improve on the game came to us.”
Morgan Sconza scored a game-high 26 points for River Dell, which gave it a good run against a deeper opponent.
Teaneck was trailing by 10 as the second half began but an 11-3 run got them within two, 35-33.
The teams battled back and forth with the Golden Hawks scoring from the outside (3’s by Sconza (2) and junior Alexa DePol) and Teaneck inside with senior Shaely Espinal, sophomores Aniya Celestin, Lexi Carnegie and Jill Carter and freshman Sydney Ayala getting buckets.
Teaneck’s obvious edge is its depth. The Highwaywomen go eight deep with only two seniors getting playing time. Four sophomores and two freshmen take up the balance of the minutes.
“We have the advantage of having a great feeder program with two middle schools and our assistant coaches going out to help down there,” said Allen. “So we groom the kids really well. So by the time they get to me they’re ready to play right away. We keep everybody home and that’s the reason why Teaneck girls basketball is back on the map. We kept Lexi (Carnegie) home, we kept Sydney (Ayala) home, we kept [sophomore] Leayana [Dorville] home, we kept [senior] Imani [McKenzie] home. We kept all the girls home.”
The game was tied 43-43 and 45-45 before River Dell closed out the third quarter with a 6-2 run to grab a 51-47 lead heading into the final frame.
So Teaneck stepped up its defense and held River Dell to 8 points in the fourth quarter
Shaely Espinal scored the go-ahead basket for Teaneck, which will play Demarest in the semifinals.
“Defense has to be the first thing that we think about,” said Allen. “In the first half we were thinking offensively - we didn’t think from a defensive perspective. So we came out and started putting pressure on River Dell and their legs got a little bit tired and we took advantage of that to start scoring.”
The pressure defense helped the Highwaywomen offense to start cooking. Carnegie got it going with a trey in the first minute of the fourth quarter. After Kasey Ziegler scored for River Dell, Teaneck went on a 13-2 run to put the game away.
In addition to Sconza’s 26 points, Ziegler contributed 15 and DePol added 11 for River Dell. Carnegie led the way for Teaneck with 24 points and Celestin chipped in with 18.
“Credit to River Dell - they are a very well-coached team,” said Allen. “Lindsay [Steffner] does a great job with her girls and they were shooting lights out today. We had to dig deep. One of the words we use is resilience. The girls were really resilient today, they kept fighting and at the end of the day we got the ‘W.’”
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