Gabriella Mittelman finished with a career-high 39 points and Demarest needed all of them to edge West Essex, 67-62, in double overtime in the semifinals of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional tournament.
DEMAREST - It took a referee’s huddle right after the fourth quarter horn, a couple of deep breaths and an extra eight minutes to secure the 67-62 victory over West Essex Tuesday night that sends them to the North 1, Group 3 sectional title game Friday night against Morris Knolls, 61-44 winners over Teaneck.
“If we need an extra few minutes of basketball we gotta do whatever it takes to win,” said Norsewoman junior point guard Gabriella Mittelman, who finished with a career-high 39 points. “We rallied. They (West Essex) didn’t stop fighting. We got the win - now we’re going to the finals.”
Demarest was ahead, 48-47, when West Essex got possession of the ball and called timeout with 10.6 left in the fourth quarter. The Knights inbounded the ball, zipped a couple of passes around the perimeter and attempted a shot. Senior captain Sasha Resnick grabbed the rebound away from a Demarest defender and scoop-shot the ball toward the basket around the time the final buzzer sounded.
The ball went into the basket to give West Essex an apparent 48-47 victory, but the officials huddled for about two minutes before deciding that Resnick was fouled before time ran out but the shot was taken after the clock reached 0.00.
As a result Resnick was awarded two free throws. She made the first but missed the second to send the game to overtime.
“They’re very scrappy and athletic and she (coach Amber Tobia) does a very good job of keeping it simple for her girls,” said Demarest coach Jenny Jurjevic. “They probably execute simple better than anyone in the county. We’re not used to that. They stick to their script and they execute. We haven’t seen that. She doesn’t run any plays - she just has a few actions and those young ladies buckle down and do a great job.”
Mittelman connected on a floater 12 seconds into the overtime but the Knights took back the lead with a pair of free throws by junior Madelyn Schlosser and a short jumper by Resnick. Mittelman drained four free throws to tie it 56-all with 1:09 to go and the teams exchanged free throws to send the game to a second overtime tied 58-58.
Ava Francica stepped up to score 9 points for Demarest, which will host Morris Knolls in the section final on Friday.
Mittelman and Resnick traded free throws in the opening minute of the second overtime and 25 seconds later Mittelman cut down the lane for a layup and 62-60 lead. Less than a minute later Mittelman drove and scored again to boost the lead to 64-60.
Resnick was fouled with 1:06 to go and she canned both free throws. Mittelman brought the ball up the floor and played keep away - dribbling from sideline to sideline, around and through Knights defenders until she was fouled with 12.3 seconds to go.
“I was getting flashbacks of my freshman year against Elmwood Park when I did the same thing,” said Mittelman, who scored all 9 of Demarest’s points in the second overtime. “I knew my team trusts me and I trust them so much. It was an amazing moment to share with my teammates.”
She drained the first free throw and missed the second but Demarest freshman Ava Francica grabbed the rebound and got the ball back to Mittelman, who was fouled with less than 10 seconds to go. Mittelman hit both shots and Demarest was on its way to the sectional finals.
The first four quarters of the game were a battle. Demarest led most of the way, but only had a double digit lead on two separate occasions. There were 3 ties and 2 lead changes.
But West Essex outscored Demarest 16-8 in the fourth quarter to force the overtime periods.
Demarest was up 45-36 when the Knights went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to one, 45-44. Schlosser and junior Ava Brignola drained treys 41 seconds apart. Then Schlosser stole the ball and dribbled coast-to-coast for a layup.
Sophomore Ella Peck stopped the bleeding for Demarest with a 3-pointer to get the lead back up to 48-44 but West Essex scored the last four points of the quarter to send the game to overtime.
“They did a good job,” Jurjevic said of the Knights. “We couldn’t get into a rhythm. Our biggest lead was 10 points. I don’t know if it was their scouting but we could not get into a solid rhythm. She (Tobia) did a good job of pushing us out of our comfort zone for sure.”
“They are relentless rebounders, crashing the boards, and they can shoot the three-ball,” said Mittelman. “We definitely had to adjust our defense especially with fouls but I think we did a great job.”
One of the players who was in foul trouble for Demarest was sophomore Deana Finkelstein, who picked up her second foul with 5:20 to go in the first quarter. She was replaced by fellow sophomore Sheridan Wertz for the remainder of the quarter.
“Sheridan Wertz practices like she’s a starter every single day,” said Jurjevic. “She has never taken off a rep. There was another kid who quit because Sheridan was kicking that kid’s butt in practice. She was relentless in her approach and never gave up.”
Norsewomen senior captain Chloe Poirot was stellar on defense throughout the game even though she is playing through an injury.
“Chloe is playing with a torn meniscus.” Jurjevic said. “The kid is in pain. She’s an unsung hero. She’s playing through pain, rehabbing it, doing some light lifting, stretching and doing a lot of stuff with our trainer. She bleeds for this school and she is the epitome of a team player.”
Poirot was the only senior to play for Demarest in the game. A collection of underclassmen have been contributing to the team’s success all season.
“I think we did a really good job of developing our kids even though it’s a small bench,” Jurjevic said. “They’ve had so many big moments with a big crowd and an environment like this. [Each game] we just wait for someone else to step up and they want to be the one stepping up.”
Francica scored 9 points, including 6 in the first quarter when West Essex was double-teaming Mittelman. Sophomore Ella Peck added 8 points, including a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and Finkelstein chipped in with 9 points.
Resnick led the Knights with 24 points, Schlosser finished with 16, including 8 in the fourth quarter comeback and junior Ava Brignola added 11.
“These girls have all bought in,” said Jurjevic. “Mittelman was the show today but nobody is bigger than the team and she will be the first one to tell you that. We’re happy we broke the school record for wins (23-5). We didn’t accomplish everything we wanted to this year, but we hit that and we have a shot at winning a sectional. I’m so proud of these young ladies.”
“You dream for moments like these,” added Mittelman. “Being in a state tournament has something so special about it. Being able to do it with the team I have here today is amazing. I love it.”
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