Saturday, January 16, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Jess Skowronski (2) and the Rutherford defense put the clamps on Westwood on the ay to a 41-25 win and a 10-1 start to the season.

RUTHERFORD – For the past six seasons under head coach Nick DeBari, the Rutherford girls’ basketball team was focused on trying to get the ball inside because they had a pair of talented six-footers over that span who both ended up playing Division 1 basketball -- Jacki Mann (Quinnipiac) and Taylor Wootton (Drexel). But the reality coming into this season for the Bulldogs was that those girls were gone and the urgency to pound the ball into the paint went with them.

So DeBari had to rework his team’s approach to every game and it started on the defensive end where Rutherford’s goal every game is to harass its opponents into turnovers and turn those into transition layups. During a 10-minute span in the first half of Friday’s BCSL-American Division tilt against Westwood, the Lady Bulldogs put on a clinic of how to press an opponent into submission.

Rutherford had a span where it forced turnovers on 11 out of 12 Westwood possessions and turned nine of those into layups at the other end during a 24-0 spurt that lifted the Bulldogs to a 41-25 win, their 10th in 11 games this season, at Rutherford High School.

“Our team likes to play fast and quite frankly, we have to,” said DeBari. “Our goal is not allow the first pass. After that, it is to make every pass up the court difficult. If you can force the opponent into pressure situations, you can turn the ball over. The more possessions we have, the better our chances are of scoring.”

Kaitlyn Galati scored 10 points, all on transition baskets set up by Rutherford's defensive pressure.

A short jumper by Westwood’s Nicole Marsiglia tied the game at 6 with just over two minutes to play in the quarter. From that point on, it was all Rutherford. Jessica Skowronski led the defensive effort with her quickness and athleticism at the top of the Bulldogs’ vaunted 1-2-2 full-court press. She had four steals in the second quarter alone and Kaitlyn Galati was main offensive beneficiary of those turnovers. Galati scored 10 points, all on transition baskets, during the 24-0 run as Rutherford grabbed a 30-8 halftime lead.

To show the Bulldogs’ dominance during that game-breaking run, they forced 17 turnovers and allowed just two shots during the 10-minute stretch.

“We like to faceguard, and we take more pride in our defense this year,” said Galati. “We have some really quick guards and they play great defense. When we get a turnover and a basket, it makes want to force another turnover and then another. That’s pretty much what happened in the second quarter and we were on a roll.”

Skowronski had a solid overall game for Rutherford (10-1) with eight points, seven steals, five assists, and four rebounds. Galati led all scorers with 10 points. Marsiglia led Westwood (1-8) with six points.

The BCSL-American Division is top-heavy this year with Dumont, Englewood, and the Bulldogs all trailing River Dell by a game. A big measuring stick will come next week when Rutherford squares off with both Dumont and Englewood. For the past three years, Rutherford has been head-and-shoulders above the rest of the league. Now the league has caught up, but this Bulldog team likes the idea of chasing down their opponents, both on the court and in the standings.

“This is an exciting time of the season and we know we have it in us to win the league title,” said Rutherford’s Kaitlyn Galati. “Without Taylor (Wootton) on the court, we don’t have that safety net both offensively and defensively. I think we had a very good team last year, but we’re even better this year. Taylor is a great player, but we relied on her a little too much to do everything when games got close. Now we all rely on each other to get the job done together and we’re getting better every game.”

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