Tuesday, January 6, 2008

By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director

Rhonda Sharif scored a game-high 25 points as Cliffside Park handed Dumont its first loss of the season, 71-57, on Monday night.

DUMONT -- For nearly three quarters the Cliffside Park girls basketball team could not have played much better. Senior point guard Rhonda Sharif was slicing her way through the Dumont defense, creating and making shots herself and also setting up teammates for open looks that all seemed to go in as well. When Sharif hit a free throw with 1:44 to play in the third quarter, Cliffside opened up a 55-37 lead and looking like it would have little trouble ending the Huskies' perfect start to the season on their own home court.

All of that happened and it was Cliffside Park’s most impressive outing of the season, but it wasn’t quite over as early as it looked like it might be. While Dumont’s defense had trouble slowing Sharif all night, sudden foul trouble did the trick late in the third quarter. Playing with only one personal foul through the first half, Sharif was called for three quick fouls on successive Dumont possessions and she was forced to the bench for as long as head coach Larry Pinto could afford to keep her there.

It turned out to be 2 minutes and 37 seconds as Dumont crept back to within single digits and then kept the run going and drew as close as four points twice in the fourth quarter only to see Sharif right the ship in Cliffside’s entertaining 71-57 win in the BCSL-American Division.

Desiree Rosa scored a team-high 21 points for Dumont.

“This was our best performance by far. We have some talent and we have some kids that can play basketball. We are looking to put it all together and produce something with what we have,” said Pinto, whose team improved to 3-1 on the season and 2-0 in league play. “I felt like we did that for the first 20 minutes or so, but then we lost our composure a little bit.”

Before it lost its way, Dumont had trouble finding a way to stop the Red Raiders. Back to back baskets by Denise Hadzovic, one on the fast break on a pass by Sabrina McClane and the other off the offensive glass, took Cliffside from down two to up two and McLane’s fastbreak basket gave Cliffside a 15-11 lead after the first quarter.

The Raiders began to pull away late in the second quarter when Sharif hit a three-pointer off the dribble then hit a pull up jumper on the baseline to give her team a
30-21 lead and Cliffside opened the advantage to double digits for the first time when Sharif hit a floater for the final points of the first half after which Cliffside led 37-27.

A 7-0 run leading up to Sharif’s three quick fouls had Cliffside on the verge of if not in the midst of a blowout, as two Spadina buckets, a baseline jumper by Hadzovic put the Red Raiders in front 55-37 heading into the fourth quarter.

Denise Hadzovic had 14 points to give Cliffside Park a reliable second scorer.

“In the beginning we had a lot of intensity and we were hitting shots. It was good until we started to pick up too many fouls,” said Sharif, a third-team all Bergen County selection last season. “It was good that we had a big lead. I had four fouls, Denise [Hadzovic] had three fouls and Maria [Suarez] had three fouls, so it was important for us that we had all those points already.”

But the foul trouble provided an opening for Dumont and it quickly took advantage by putting together a 12-2 run in the first 1:50 of the fourth quarter. Desiree Rosa got the charge started with a three-point play. Brittany Lissemore added two free throws and Rosa’s steal and layup drew Dumont to within 55-44 and forced Pinto to get Sharif back on the floor with 6:44 left in the game.

But Dumont, which gets most of its offense from the behind the three-point line, finally got a couple of them to fall and continued closing in. Rosa’s three-pointer with 6:10 to go got her team to within 55-49, and Jaclyn McClinton’s try from the wing with 5:02 left had the Huskies right back in the game at 56-52. However, the one hot streak was not enough for Dumont to overcome a 6 of 32 shooting performance from behind the arc and Cliffside weathered the storm.

Jaclyn McClinton's 3-pointer with 5:02 left in the game brought Dumont to within 56-52.

Sharif’s two free throws with 4:52 kicked off an 11-1 run the other way and finally put an end to Dumont’s comeback try and handed the Huskies their first loss of the season.

“If we are going to shoot that many three-pointers we have to make a couple of them not just here and there in the fourth quarter,” said Dumont head coach Dave Cieplicki, whose team fell to 5-1 and 1-1 inside the BCSL-American. “We have to take a step back now with this loss and see what we can do better. You get off 5-0 and maybe you start thinking you are a little better than you are, so this brings us back to earth a little bit and now we can reevaluate things.”

Desiree Rosa led Dumont with 21 points and McClinton added 17. Leigha Moat (7 points) and Colleen O’Neill (7 points) did a solid job inside for the Huskies

Sharif led all scorers with 25 points and there is doubt that she is one of the best point guards in Bergen County, but it was her supporting cast that was the key to the win. Hadzovic finished with 14 points, Spadina finished with 9, Amada Cruz and Maria Suarez each added 7 points and McClane had 5 to give Cliffside the kind of balance that could some of the pressure off of Sharif.

Senior Ivana Spedina had 9 points for Cliffside Park, which improved to 3-1 on the season.

“You can’t teach the skills that Rhonda has. She has put in a lot of time and a lot of hard work to get where she is and it is paying off for her. The problem for us has been that we have not had a lot of talent around her,” said Pinto. “Now we have some good players around her and that is why we put up 71 points tonight. I thought [Amada] Cruz hit did some nice things, she hit open shots, Denise played really well and everyone contributed.”

Rutherford, the two-time defending league champion that made it to the final of the grueling Joe Poli Holiday Tournament final last week, is the obvious favorite in the BCSL-American Division, but after that it is wide open. Tenafly, Cliffside Park and Dumont all figure to be in the chase pack, which is why Monday night’s win was a big one for the Red Raiders. If they can shoot like they did against Dumont, there is no reason to think that they will be anything less than challenger the rest of the way.

“Before we go on the court we all get in the huddle and say ‘Together’ and we really mean it. We play like a family. Me and Maria Suarez have to do the dirty work getting the rebound and playing defense and we all try to help Rhonda,” said Spadina, a senior. “I think that today we showed the Cliffside Park basketball is not like it was three or four years ago. We are going to play hard and we are going to do everything we can to win games against good teams.”

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