Friday,
March 7, 2014
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Izzy McMahon, flanked by head coach Danny Brown and her father, scored the 1,000th point of her career during Saddle River Day's 71-41 win over Oak Knoll in the Non-Public B quarterfinals. |
SADDLE RIVER – Saddle River Day's Izzy McMahon generally does not get jitters before a big game. After four years worth of varsity experience and having played well in big games before, McMahon knows that, as the point guard, she has to be the calming presence on the court. But going into Thursday's Non-Public North B quarterfinal against Oak Knoll, McMahon knew she was only one basket away from a milestone she has thought about for quite some time. When the ball finally went through the hoop to reach that milestone midway through the first quarter, McMahon and her teammates could finally take a collective deep breath and focus on the task at hand.
McMahon notched her 1,000th career point before she helped them take over the game. She scored eight points and freshman Danielle Deoul had six in a 19-0 run to close the first half as third-seeded Saddle River Day cruised from there and advanced to the section semifinals for the first time in school history with a 71-41 win over No. 11 seed Oak Knoll at Saddle River Day School.
After a sluggish start, McMahon cut across the paint going to her left and hit a floater that bounced around the rim and dropped in to make it an even 1,000 points for her career.
“It's a big accomplishment to score 1,000 and I couldn't have done it without my teammates,” said McMahon. “I was a little nervous early on and I felt better once I got that basket out of the way. Once we got our legs under us, we started to match the intensity that (Oak Knoll) came out with in the first quarter. Once we started executing our press better and forcing some turnovers, everything else began to click.”
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Catherine Bonner led Oak Knoll to a fast start. |
After pulling an upset over Dwight-Englewood in the first round, Oak Knoll came in with the intention to pull a much bigger one yesterday as they outhustled the Rebels early and dominated the glass in the first quarter. Catherine Bonner scored seven first-quarter points, including a 3-pointer, that gave them a 10-8 lead.
Deoul helped keep the Rebels afloat early as they held a three-point lead with five minutes remaining in the first half before going on the game's only crucial run. McMahon hit a pair of high-arching 3-pointers and Deoul made all three of her short jumpers during the run. Caity House came off the bench with a 3-pointer from the corner that capped a 19-0 run and gave Saddle River Day a commanding 22-point halftime lead, 39-17.
“It's a confidence thing with me and I felt comfortable once I hit my first couple of shots,” said Deoul, a 6-foot-2 center. “I wanted to open up the game outside and make things happen. They were giving me some space and I hit a few jump shots right in the beginning of the game. Earlier in the season, I let a few mistakes affect me for the rest of the game. Now I just worry about playing my game and playing with confidence no matter what.”
It was more of the same in the third quarter as McMahon stayed hot from the perimeter and Deoul had her hot shooting touch going from he elbow to the block as the Rebels bumped the margin up to 30 points at the end of three quarters.
“We fought the best we could, but we weren't as talented as they were,” said Oak Knoll head coach Katie Cummings. “When you have a guard like (McMahon) who is really quick, shoot the three, and get to the basket along with a center inside who hurt us, that's a hard combination to stop. We missed a lot of layups in the second quarter when we could have stopped the bleeding on that big run they had. To beat a team like this, you have to make those shots and shoot a lot better than we did today. But I'm so proud of my kids for playing hard the entire game. We just came up against a great team today who played really well.”
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Danielle Deoul scored a career-high 23 points for Saddle River Day, which will play Morris Catholic in the semifinals. |
Deoul had a torrid day from the floor, hitting 11 of her 14 shots from the field for a career-high 23 points for Saddle River Day (23-5). McMahon added 20 points, three steals, and three assists.
Bonner led the way with 17 points for Oak Knoll, which finished the season with a 12-13 record. Cassie Ford chipped in with 10 points and Julia Wanfried had nine.
Now it becomes nitty-gritty time for the Lady Rebels as they travel to face second-seeded and defending section champion Morris Catholic. The Crusaders are a bit banged up as of late, but Saddle River Day head coach Danny Brown knows that going on the road and beating the two-time defending Morris County champion will be no easy task.
“To beat them, you have to put four good quarters together because they're not going to beat themselves,” said Brown. “Oak Knoll came in hungrier than we were in the first four or five minutes. We can't have that happen again and there can't be any meltdowns or it will cost us. We know what we have to do and what we're capable of. It's going to come down to which team owns the glass and executes better. Hopefully we can go in there and play to the way I know we're capable of playing.”
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