Big second half lifts Pascack Valley past River Dell by Chris Iseman of The Record
HILLSDALE – The play represented the type of team Pascack Valley is.
Brianna Wong stole the ball from River Dell near midcourt. She raced toward the basket and sent a bounce pass to Brianna Smith in the right corner. Smith then drained a three-pointer to give the Indians a 15-point lead early in the third quarter.
Tough defense. Good passes. Key shots at the right time.
Pascack Valley faced a tough test in the Golden Hawks, who were strong at both ends of the court, but pulled out a 55-37 victory in the second round of the Joe Poli Tournament on Wednesday.
The Indians will play Northern Highlands, who defeated IHA, 47-35, in Friday’s championship game.
“River Dell had a great game plan,” Indians coach Jeff Jasper said. “They were very patient. They handled the ball well. They shot it well. They forced us into some decision-making things that probably weren’t quite good enough for us.”
Wong scored a game-high 14 points with a pair of triples, while Kelly Petro and Smith each finished with 12. Smith hit three threes.
Bridget Cahill was stellar for River Dell, scoring 12 points all on three-pointers. Caton Henderson also scored 12, including a pair of threes.
River Dell kept the game close through the first half. The Hawks shot well – Cahill hit three of her triples in the opening half – but they also played well defensively.
Wong, who has played brilliantly through Pascack Valley’s first six games, said River Dell made it tough to get open.
“They came to play, and we had to play up to them,” Wong said.
Wong hit a three at the start of the second half, and the Indians continued to build their lead.
The Indians showed what makes them such a strong team. They’re balanced offensively and stifling defensively.
Against River Dell, they needed all of it.
“They put us in situations that may have made us a little uncomfortable, and that’s how we’re going to learn,” Jasper said.
Northern Highlands advances: Coming off a dramatic, buzzer-beating win over Secaucus, the Highlanders defeated Immaculate Heart Academy, 47-35, to advance to play Pascack Valley in the championship game.
Breanne Davis, who made the game-winning three-pointer in the first round, posted another strong performance as she finished with a game-high 15 points, including two threes. Sarah Minchin scored 12 points, while Madison Grossman and Tori Reich each added eight.
The game was close through the first half, but the Highlanders pulled away in the final two quarters.
“We went into halftime with a five-point lead, and I said we just have to try to extend it,” coach Al Albanese said. “We took the press off and we went to a man-press, which I think helped us out.”
Minchin converted a three-point play at the end of the third to put her team up, 41-26.
The Highlanders held on from there.
They’ll have a tough test against Pascack Valley, but they’re heading into the game playing well.
“They’re such a good team,” Minchin said. “We’re going to have a run for our money, but if we keep playing the way we are, play together, I think we’ll be OK.”
Brittany Graff, a freshman guard, was stellar for IHA, scoring 13 points with three three-pointers.
Sterling gets 500: Secaucus defeated NV/Old Tappan, 59-50, earning coach John Sterling his 500th career victory.
Sterling is in his 10th season at the helm of the Patriots, and previously coached at Bogota for 13 years and Wood-Ridge for two.
The number of victories itself isn’t what stood out to Sterling.
“The number doesn’t me much for me personally other than the fact that I can think of all these good people in my life, all these coaches and these great players that I’ve gotten to coach for 25 years,” Sterling said. “That makes me really happy to think about all of them.”
Email: iseman@northjersey.c