Northern Highlands pulls out 54-45 win over Indian Hills by Chris Iseman of The Record
ALLENDALE — Northern Highlands and Indian Hills came into Tuesday night plenty familiar with each other.
The Highlanders won their first meeting back in December with a four-point victory, but the Braves pulled out a five-point win in the second round of the Bergen County tournament just more than a week ago.
Two close games. Two battles.
Tuesday night was more of the same.
“Our girls hung with it,” coach Al Albanese said. “They didn’t fold. It was a good win for us.”
Breanne Davis scored a game-high 23 points, including two huge third-quarter three-pointers, as the Highlanders defeated Indian Hills, 54-45, in a Big North Freedom Division matchup.
“We really wanted this game because of the league title,” Albanese said. “We’re still undefeated in the league. We still have Ridgewood and Ramapo, so we still have a tough part of the schedule. Give credit to the kids, they stayed in it.”
Angela Saric led the Braves with 14 points, including six in the fourth quarter. Alex Martins scored 13 points, including three triples, while Analee Boggio finished with nine points, also with three three-pointers.
Indian Hills crashed the boards hard throughout the game, particularly on the offensive glass.
Eliminating the Braves’ second and third chances was a big point of emphasis for Northern Highlands going into the fourth quarter, and senior guard Sarah Minchin responded, grabbing some rebounds at both ends of the floor.
The Highlanders started the second half with a 28-22 lead, but both teams were hot from the perimeter through the third quarter.
A three by Morgan Micallef put Northern Highlands up by six points, but Boggio responded at the other end with a triple just less than a minute later.
Davis then knocked down back-to-back triples to give the Highlanders a nine-point lead, but this time Martins answered with a three from the left wing to keep Indian Hills’ deficit from getting any larger.
Saric had six points through the early part of the fourth quarter. She made a short jumper that brought Indian Hills to within one point.
But then Northern Highlands made all the shots it needed to make to stay on top.
Tori Reich, who finished with 11 points, converted a three-point play, and Davis got a second-chance basket and later hit a pair of free throws to put the Highlanders up, 48-42.
Siena Pennington then got a steal and fed Davis for a layup to make it an eight-point game.
Braves senior guard Aileen Carey later got a steal and made a fast-break layup to bring the Indian Hills to within five, but that was as close as the Braves could get.
It wasn’t the cleanest performance for Northern Highlands against a tough division rival. But in the end, the Highlanders pulled out a tough, important victory.
“It was a battle,” Albanese said.