Harnisch basket lifts Old Tappan past Indian Hills by Chris Iseman of The Record
OLD TAPPAN — NV/Old Tappan’s season has been filled with games just like this one.
Tight back-and-forth battles that come down to the final few possessions, with five of them being decided in overtime.
They nearly had a sixth until Erin Harnisch kept that from happening.
With the final second about to fall off the clock, the NV/Old Tappan junior guard banked in a runner to lift the Golden Knights to a 54-52 victory over Indian Hills in a Big North crossover game on Tuesday.
With the state tournament beginning next week, this was an important victory for NV/Old Tappan to get against a strong opponent.
“This is 26 games, and we’ve literally had probably 18 just like that. We’ve lost our share. We won a bunch of them,” coach Brian Dunn said. “It’s a good boost for all of us. I think we just needed it.”
Harnisch finished with 12 points, with 10 of them coming in a huge third quarter. Sophie Downey finished with 21 points, including two clutch free throws late.
Jackie Kelly scored 13 points and drained three key first-half three-pointers for the Knights.
Indian Hills junior forward Angela Saric played an outstanding game to finish with 21 points.
NV/Old Tappan trailed, 27-17, to start the second half before going on a 15-4 run that included two triples from Harnisch, four points from Downey and a three-point play by Noelle Gonzalez.
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Amy Weisse had seven points for Indian Hills in the fourth quarter and made a layup to tie the game at 52 with 30 seconds remaining.
After an NV/Old Tappan timeout with 11.6 seconds left, Harnisch passed the ball inside to Downey from the arc.
Indian Hills defenders disrupted the pass, but Downey managed to push the ball back out to Harnisch. She picked it up, drove toward the baseline and got the runner off with about one second on the clock.
“The outside shot was not there,” Harnisch said. “So I faked it and then went around.”
Indian Hills commanded most of the first half and opened up a 10-point lead twice within the first five-plus minutes of the second quarter.
But each time it did, Kelly delivered a three-pointer to keep the Knights’ deficit from getting any larger.
“Kept us in striking range at a point where we could have gotten in a much deeper hole,” Dunn said. “Typically we’ve got to find somebody who’s making a couple shots on the day, and she was the one early on to keep us in striking distance.”
And those shots allowed Harnisch to come through for the Knights with a big basket at the end.
The Knights have played plenty of dramatic games, earning some hard-fought wins and suffering some tough losses.
On Tuesday, they battled for a win.
“It’s huge for us,” Harnisch said. “The first half of the season, it hasn’t been that good. Toward the end, we started getting some wins, but the last few games haven’t gone our way. The fact that we just got a win going into the state tournament helps us a lot.”