March
4, 2007
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| Chanel Van Dyke scored a game-high 20 points for Old Tappan, which opened a commanding 14-2 lead after the first quarter on the way to a 58-39 rout of defending champion Sparta in Saturday's North 1, Group 3 State sectional semifinal. | |
OLD TAPPAN – For Saturday afternoon’s North 1, Group 3 State sectional semifinal, Old Tappan brought in Tony Abruzzo, the PA announcer who works Ramapo College games and also adds some spice to the Bergen County Tournament. It was a nice touch, a way to give the game a little bit more of playoff feel.
But it also may have added to Old Tappan’s angst as Abruzzo read off the starting lineup for Sparta, the defending section champion that always seems to bring with it an imposing front line.
“When we heard the introductions of the starting lineup, we were a little nervous. It was like 5-11, 5-11, 5-11 all the way through,” said Old Tappan senior guard Megan Tobia. “Three of us are maybe 5-4 and then we have a couple of girls who are like 5-9 if they cheat a little bit.”
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| Jamie Cresbaugh, one of four senior starters for Sparta, had a team-high 8 points. |
But as it turned out, the opening introductions provided the only scary moments for Old Tappan. From the moment the ball was put in play, it was all Golden Knights. They used ball pressure to keep Sparta from getting into a halfcourt game where it could exploit its height advantage, overcame foul trouble by getting contributions from every player that stepped on the floor and, most importantly, kept Abruzzo busy calling out made basket after made basket.
Second-seeded Old Tappan, led by junior Chanel Van Dyke, shot the lights out from start to finish in a surprisingly easy 58-39 win. The Knights raced out to a 14-2 lead after the first quarter and never let Sparta, the No. 3 seed, get inside double digits the rest of the way.
“We put a lot of pressure on them early in the game. Forcing them to be a little bit uncomfortable at the start was the key,” said Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn. “They couldn’t really establish their halfcourt offense. Just being able to keep them from being able to walk it up and pound it in was a big part.”
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| In her last home game, Old Tappan senior Jamie Zavardino had a game-high 5 steals. |
Sparta never had a chance to play with the lead as Van Dyke made a jumper from the corner 1:28 in to open the scoring and put Old Tappan (22-5) in front to stay. Sam Sinatra got a steal that led to Tobia’s jumper for a 4-0 lead and the Knights opened the game with a 7-0 spurt. Senior Jamie Zavardino made a steal and a layup to give OT 14 of the 16 points scored in the first quarter.
Zavardino, a senior who played “probably her best game of the season,” according to Dunn, was all over the floor on both ends in the final home game of her career.
“You never think it is really going to end. You kind of feel like high school is going to go on forever,” said Zavardino, who ripped off a game-high five steals by shooting the back-side passing lanes and keeping Sparta from finding angles to feed the post. “But it is not and I did not want to leave this floor for the last time, I didn’t want to go home thinking I could have done better or things could have been different if I hadn’t missed a box out. I just played my heart out, we all did.”
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| Megan Tobia took over at the point because of foul trouble and Old Tappan's offense never skipped a beat. |
Even went things went wrong, as they inevitably will in a state tournament game against a quality opponent, Old Tappan plowed right through. When starting center Lisa Jaris picked up her second foul four minutes into the game, freshman Alex Radetsky came in and converted a three-point play on her first trip to the offensive end to give Old Tappan a 7-0 lead.
When Sinatra picked up her second foul with 31 seconds to go in the first quarter, Tobia shifted over to point guard and the offense never skipped a beat. The Knights were up 12 when Sinatra went to the bench for the remainder of the first half, OT was up by 12. When she returned to start the third quarter, Old Tappan had a 16-point lead at 29-13.
When Van Dyke missed a block out midway through the third quarter that led to made free throws by Margaret Carbery, it looked like it might be start of something for Sparta as it drew to within 30-19. But then Van Dyke went down to the other end and promptly banged a three-pointer and added a free throw on the next possession to stretch the lead back to 15.
“The couple of times that they made a run or a least a semi-run when they put up four points real quick, I thought Chanel had some big answer shots,” said Dunn. “She missed a box out, then she came down and drilled a three right after that. We had a couple of good answer possessions to keep the lead at about 14 or 15 points and not let them back in it.”
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| Freshman Alex Radetsky came off the bench to score 8 points for Old Tappan. |
Van Dyke also popped out from behind a screen set by Adrianna Durso to nail another third quarter three-pointer as Old Tappan built a 42-24 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Van Dyke was the lone player on either side to finish in double digits as she had 20. But on the Old Tappan side it was more a matter or sharing the ball, while for Sparta (20-5) it was a lack of open opportunities on the offensive end.
Jaris scored 9 points for OT, Radetsky had 8, Tobia had 7, Zavardino and Sinatra each had 5 and seniors Nicole Russini and Danielle Lauerman each had field goals. Jamie Cresbaugh’s 8 points topped Sparta, while Carbery and Kerri Cresbaugh each totaled 7 for the Spartans.
Old Tappan earned a trip to its first section final since 2004 and will play top-seeded Teaneck, which knocked off Wayne Valley, 35-32, in the other semifinal, on Monday in an 8:00 p.m. start at Bayonne High School. Old Tappan is looking for its first-ever state sectional championship in girls basketball.
“With the group of kids we have and where we are at and how well we played today, I am real happy with where we are at and getting back to a section final,” said Dunn. “It is a good tribute to our seniors mostly, but to all the kids because our younger kids have really stepped up and played well.”
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