Friday,
February 21, 2014
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Emily Sullivan made some key plays down the stretch for Old Tappan, which beat Ramapo,
34-30, in a battle between two teams that will face off in the first round of the state tourney. |
OLD TAPPAN – It is usually at this time of year that coaches are scrambling for game tape or scheduling scouting trips to far-flung places to get some eyes on potential state tournament opponents. Not so for the Ramapo and Northern Valley/Old Tappan girls basketball teams, which will play each other in the first round of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional playoffs on March 3, but got a live look at each other in a regular season game on Thursday afternoon in Old Tappan.
Not that either one even needed the extra look at each other as both are well-established in what they do and that is to play solid defense for the full 32 minutes and hope to be able to put enough shots in to nudge in front late. Neither team led by more than six points in the second half and neither had larger than a three-point edge in the fourth quarter until Old Tappan's Emily Sullivan made a free throw with 11 seconds left to seal the Golden Knights' 34-30 win.
“We are going to see them again in the [state tournament] and it is probably going to be another game just like this. It is going to come down to whoever plays better in the last few minutes just like it did today,” said Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn. “Most importantly is that we were at 5-9 at one point in the season and now we are 13-11. We are 8-2 in the last two games with some wins against some good teams in that, this one included. It's important to keep the momentum going of playing at a high level.”
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Kasey Finn gave Ramapo its last lead with two free throws with 3:01 left in the fourth quarter. |
Old Tappan struggled early against the Ramapo zone and managed just two first quarter field goals as the Green Raiders got off to a 7-2 start and had a 9-5 lead after the first quarter. Ramapo opened its largest lead of the game at 14-7 midway through the second quarter on a putback by Emily Campbell, but Old Tappan closed the half on an 8-2 run. Arianna Chipolone made a jumper from the corner and Emily Sullivan added two free throws as Old Tappan scored the final four points of the half to draw within 16-15.
Karlie Brogan hit a 3-pointer right out of the locker room to bump the Ramapo lead back up to four and the Green Raiders had a six point lead when Kasey Finn completed a conventional 3-point play and Reilly White put back a missed shot as Ramapo ran off five straight points to grab a 26-20 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Old Tappan was hanging in there with its defense, but needed to find some points. Enter Emily Sullivan, who nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to kick off a kick off a 6-0 run that took 1:41 to complete and gave the Golden Knights a 27-26 lead when it was over.
“We knew that Ramapo was good and that we were facing tough competition, but we came out shaky. We did not play a good first half and we had to find a way to make some plays when it got down to crunch time,” said Sullivan, who made several key fourth quarter plays, including keeping a rebound alive off a missed free throw and making the final free throw that made it a two-possession game with 11 seconds to go. “I knew that I had to step up. I didn't want to force anything, but if the opportunity came up to make a play, I wanted to do what my teammates were depending on me to do.”
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Old Tappan's Arianna Chipolone scored a game-high 13 points. |
Chipolone made a steal and a layup and then made a free throw to give Old Tappan its first lead since the score was 2-0, but Ramapo (13-7) grabbed it right back at 28-27 on two Finn free throws with 3:01 to play. But the Green Raiders were able to manage just two more points over the final 3:01 and it was Old Tappan that made all the plays down the stretch. Chipolone made a free throw to tie the game for the last time and Sullivan then made a steal and got the ball ahead to Emily Crevani, who put the Knights in front for good, 30-28, with a fastbreak layup with 2:11 to play.
An illegal screen called against Ramapo with 1:16 left hurt the Green Raiders, who were then forced to foul. That sent sophomore Kelsey McLaughlin to the line for a one-and-one and it was an adventure. Her first shot hit the back rim took a high bounce before falling through and she banked in the second one without calling it.
McLaughlin is the younger sister of senior Troy McLaughlin, a 1,500-point scorer and the school's all-time leading scorer in boys basketball, and Shane McLaughlin, No. 2 on that list and currently playing at Division 1 Bryant University. So, which one of them taught Kelsey to bank in a free throw?
“I would have to say that I have figured that one out all on my own. I was pretty nervous because those free throws were actually the first shots I had taken in the whole game, but we really needed that. I just had to remain calm,” said Kelsey McLaughlin, whose main job on Thursday was guarding Brogan, Ramapo's leading scorer. “That is always kind of my job because I am not a big scorer. My first responsibility it to try to lock down my girl on defense.”
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Emily Calabrese scored 9 points for Ramapo, which fell to 13-7. |
Sophia Cande scored inside with 51 seconds left to get Ramapo back to within 32-30, but Kaitlyn Sytsma and Sullivan each made free throws to push the lead back to four and the Golden Knights held on for their win No. 8 in their last 10 games. Old Tappan shot a combined 15 of 23 from the free throw line, while Ramapo went to the line just 9 times and made 5 of them. Calabrese and Finn each scored 9 points to lead the Green Raiders while Brogan added 5.
Chipolone (13 points) was the only player for either team to finish in double figures. Crevani finished with 7, Sullivan added 6 and Sytsma, McLaughlin and Catherine Fleming, the lone senior on the Knights' roster, all added two points. It was a typical performance for the Knights as they are playing solid man-to-man defense from start to finish and are playing their best basketball of the season right now as they head into the state playoffs in a bracket full of heavyweights starting with Ramapo and including the likes of Northern Highlands and Teaneck, the two teams that will play for the Bergen County title this Saturday.
“We want to compete for a championship. Teaneck and Northern Highlands; those are teams in our group and we have played them already four times, two each. We were neck and neck with Highlands right to the final buzzer and Teaneck, we played well against them at times and that was early in the season,” said Dunn. “We are better team now and I think we can compete with any team in the bracket. We are not afraid to play anybody and certainly look forward to it. I think we are going to be a dangerous team to play because we have been playing real well.”
Ramapo has no easy road either as it still has IHA left in its regular season schedule before hosting Old Tappan in the first round of the states.
“We are very similar to Old Tappan. We are both young and the team that makes the better decisions down the stretch, the team that makes its foul shots down the stretch is the team that was going to win the game and my team was not the smarter team tonight,” said Ramapo head coach Sandy Gordon. “I told them to remember that final score because unless they want our season to be over on March 3 we are going to have to play a lot better than we did tonight.”
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