Thursday, March 11, 2010

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Despite a game-high 28 points from Brianne Traub, Eastern Christian fell to Gill St. Bernards, 78-42, in the Non-Public North B state sectional final on Wednesday night.

PATERSON – By beating Paterson Catholic for the first time in over a decade, Eastern Christian was simply happy to be competing for its first ever Non-Public North B state sectional championship, and rightfully so. However, the Eagles opponent, Gill St. Bernard’s was anything but happy just to be there. Having lost in each of the past two years in the section final and with the best senior backcourt in New Jersey in Rutgers-bound Daisha Simmons and Niiya Ruth, anything short of accomplishing a mission to be section champs would represent a failed season for the Knights.

While both Simmons and Ruth were held in check, the other three starters picked up the slack and that was simply too much for standout Brianne Traub and Eastern Christian to overcome.

Traub led all scorers with 28 points, but the Knights took the lead two minutes into the game and never looked back. They needed just 47 seconds to rip off an 8-0 run to break open the game midway through the first quarter and cruised from there to a 78-42 triumph in Wednesday’s Non-Public North B final at Paterson Kennedy High School.

“Our goal was to jump out quickly and make Eastern Christian play at our pace,” said Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mergin Sina. “We have been where Eastern Christian has been two years ago. We didn’t really know what to expect then and were a little shellshocked early in the game. We figured it might the same way for them and it was important to jump on them quickly. They showed against Paterson Catholic that with a player like (Brianne) Traub that you can’t let them hang around, or they can come back and beat you.”

Twins Linnett and Sam Graber were on fire from three-point range throughout the game and gave the Knights another dimension offensively. Sam Graber converted a conventional three-point play and Linnet nailed a long-range shot during the 8-0 spurt that put the Knights ahead, 15-6.

Eastern Christian finished one of its best ever season with a 23-5 record and has four starters set to return next year.

Despite the efforts of Traub, who had 15 first-half points, the Gill St. Bernards quickly bumped its lead up to double-digits and was up 41-17 at the half.

Brianne and Kristen Traub each hit three-pointers to trim the lead to 20 in the third quarter, but the Eagles never got any closer. They had no answer for sophomore center Dominique Vitalis inside, who led the Knights with 21 points.

“They have so many weapons, we just couldn’t match up with them,” said Eastern Christian head coach Steve King. “On top of being talented, they are so quick and so physical, not to mention that they shot the ball well. We haven’t seen a team like that or close to that this year. We basically had to play a perfect game and they turned our mistakes into easy baskets.”

The Graber twins combined to go 8 of 12 from three-point range, with Sam scoring 20 points and Linnett 12 for Gill St. Bernard’s (26-2). Simmons finished an assist shy of a triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists. Ruth had 15 points, seven rebounds, and four assists.

Despite facing a box-and-one defense for most of the game, Brianne Traub finished with a game-high 28 points along with six rebounds. Eastern Christian (23-5) returns four starters next year and hopes to use this experience to take their season a step further next year.

“This whole year has been great and losing today takes nothing away from it,” said Brianne Traub. “We gave it everything we had out there, we just were up against a really, really good team. This year has been everything we wanted and more. Our goal is to at least repeat what we did this year, give it our best, and go as far as we can in the counties and states.”

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