Friday,
January 17, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Jasmin Wilson scored 8 of her 12 points in the third quarter as Paramus Catholic pulled away for a 60-40 win on the road at Demarest. |
DEMAREST – Labels can be hard to shed, but Paramus Catholic girls basketball coach Al Roth is trying. The Lady Paladins have long been considered a program that is tough to matchup up with athlete for athlete, but one that could be outsmarted in big games by well-coached opponents that can stick to a disciplined game plan.
“We want to stop hearing the word 'athleticism' always associated with Paramus Catholic. We want to hear words like 'smart,' like 'quality wins,' ” said Roth. “We have been hearing it for as long as I have been here that we have the athletes, but we have to play a smarter game coming into play teams like the one we did today.”
The team that Paramus Catholic had to prove itself against on Thursday, a team that had won seven of its first eight games of the season and one that was playing on its own home floor. Playing smart meant that Paramus Catholic would have to identify its advantages and then repeatedly exploit them until it could force the Norsewomen out of their comfort zone.
Paramus Catholic's major edge was on the interior where it two starting forwards – Jasmin Wilson and Corinne Poitevien – and then those it brought off the bench like Nyree Grant and Dannie Griffin, each had a height advantage over the defender tasked with guarding them. Playing a smart game of pounding the ball inside with well-angled entry passes, re-feeding the post when the ball was spit back out and then crashing the offensive boards every time a shot took to the air, Paramus Catholic imposed it will on the way to a double digit halftime lead and then a 20-point victory, an impressive 60-40 win that was the fourth in the Paladins' last five games.
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Demarest sophomore Veronica Corcoran finished with a game-high 20 points. |
“They killed us on the boards. They absolutely killed us on the boards and they did a lot of damage from inside 10 feet, especially in the first half. We tried to front them and they threw over the top or they ran high-low on us. We went to a 2-3 zone and they started driving through it,” said Lindsey Steffner (nee Davis), the Demarest head coach. “Whatever we tried today, and I threw the whole kitchen sink at them, they dealt with and, credit to them, they executed.”
Sounds a lot like Paramus Catholic played a smart game and a lot of that was due to the sound decision making of point guard Sabrina Fincher, who made sure that the ball got into the hands of her bigs in the first half and in places where they could do something constructive with it.
“We have so many weapons on this team. We have three girls over 6-feet and we have shooters, but it is coming together collectively that is the difference on nights like tonight from games when we don't play well,” said Fincher. “It is about trust and we are getting there. We have been working together since the summer on getting our guard-forward relationship stronger than any other team in Bergen County has.”
Demarest, whose only other loss this season came against a talented Teaneck team, was hanging in there early. Despite the fact that PC was piling up second and third shot opportunities, the Paladins were not converted those extra chances with any regularity in the first quarter and the first of Veronica Corcoran's four 3-pointers in the game gave the Norsewomen a 7-5 advantage 4:26 into the game. Fincher's baseline jumper wiped out Demarest's final lead 1:11 later and Destinee Hall's jumper from the wing set up by two Poitevien offensive rebounds put the Paladins ahead for good at 9-7.
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PC point guard Sabrina Fincher finished with 12 points. |
Paramus Catholic led 11-10 after the first quarter and then pulled away behind its defense, which gave up only three second quarter points. After Victoria Corcoran's runner got Demarest to within a single point for the last time at 13-12, PC closed the half on a 10-1 run that turned the game in its favor for good. Fincher's steal and lay-up closed the first half scoring and the Paladins headed for the locker room with a 23-13 lead.
“I got a little bit concerned early in the game because we were missing some shots, but I did not go into panic mode because I knew we would keep getting those offensive rebounds. We weren't in foul trouble and we kept getting after it,” said Roth. “I was glad that some of those that we missed did not come back to hurt us because this was a very good team that we were playing. Lindsay [Steffner] has done a great job and they have good players, but our defense was good and we got some shots to go down in the second half.”
Veronica Corcoran hit a 3-pointer just eight seconds into the third quarter to get Demarest back to with 23-16, but it would get no closer. It took Jina Crawford just six seconds to get down the floor the other way to answer that basket and the Paladins diversified the offense from there. Roth might not like the term 'athletic' as a blanket description of his team, but there is no other way to explain the four third quarter field goals made by Wilson, the 6-foot junior.
Wilson made a steal and a layup to put her team up 33-20, and then made three baskets inside on three different post moves. Her short bank shot with 36 seconds left in the third quarter kicked off a 12-0 PC run that spanned the third and fourth quarters and her final bucket of the night capped the spurt and gave the Paladins a 50-31 lead with 7:06 to play in the game.
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Victoria Corcoran scored 10 points for Demarest, which fell to 7-2. |
Wilson (12 points) and Fincher tied for team-high honors while Crawford (11 points) made it three Paladin starters to finish in double figures. Poitevien (8 points, 13 rebounds) finished just two points shy of a double-double, Grant and Hall each finished with 6, Keyla Martinez chipped in with a field goal and a free throw and Ebony Gilchrist's two fourth quarter free throws rounded out the scoring for Paramus Catholic. The Paladins now stand at 5-4 on the season with just one game, Friday evening's game against Hackensack, left before the Bergen County Tournament cutoff.
Only four players scored for Demarest led by the game high 18 by Veronica Corcoran and her twin sister Victoria added 10. Olivia Cullen and Jesse Geller spit the other 12 points scored by the Norsewomen, who fell to 7-2 on the season.
“The other night it was like we could not miss against Indian Hills. I think we shot close to 70 percent in that game and tonight, unfortunately, it was the opposite. I wish I could explain it, and it is hard because we were at home where we are comfortable, but the ball was just not going in,” said Steffner. “But we are still 7-2 and in good shape. Tonight we couldn't make shots and we couldn't defend so, in a weird way, it is amazing that we only lost by 20. We have one game left before the county cutoff so we will try to go in there at 8-2 and see what we can accomplish there.”
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