Wednesday,
January 21, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Tatenda Samakande had 9 points, 4 steals and 3 assists as Pal Park picked up its ninth victory of the season with a 40-9 win over Hawthorne Christian. |
PALISADES PARK – When Will Hutchinson took over as the head coach of the Palisades Park girls’ basketball team, he knew he had the ultimate rebuilding project on his hands. When Hutchinson swung the whistle around his neck for the first time at his alma mater, the Tigers had not won a game for nearly five seasons. Forget about state and county tournament berths, Hutchinson's first order of business was to get the Lady Tigers a win; any win against any team would suffice.
Pal park eventually broke the schneid and when it won eight games last year, it really was a fantastic season. With a bunch of seniors back, this is the year that Hutchinson could hope to plan for the postseason.
“I remember back to my first year during a timeout in a Holiday Tournament at Lyndhurst and one of my seniors was crying. I asked what was wrong and she was so emotional because it was the closest we had been in a game in her four years,” said Hutchinson. “I remember that moment as if it happened yesterday and that’s fueled me to work even harder to get this program back on track.”
After struggling offensively for the game’s first 11-plus minutes on Tuesday night the Lady Tigers finally got on track and did so in a big way. They hit six of their final seven 3-point attempts to end the first half. Ally Lacorazza had three of them and Tatenda Samakande hit one at the buzzer as Palisades Park reached nine wins in a season for the first time since 2002 with a 40-9 win over Hawthorne Christian Academy at Palisades Park High School.
“It was not the ideal start we were looking for but we kept battling and our shots started dropping in bunches,” said Hutchinson. “Once a few shots started falling, our body language changed and we start to turn it up defensively.”
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Theo Mandaro had a game-high five steals to go with two assists, and a basket for Hawthorne Christian. |
Hawthorne Christian’s Emily Van Buren hit a foul-line jumper to cut Pal Park’s lead to one late in the first quarter, but the Defenders did not score for the remainder of the half while it seemed like the Tigers could not miss over the final 4:38 of the second quarter.
Lacorazza and Celine Oh nailed 3s on back-to-back possessions to get the run going. After two more long-range shots on consecutive trips by Lacorazza and Samakande, the two were at it again in the final moments of the first half. Lacorazza hit a deep 3 with 32 seconds left, then, after a turnover, Samakande followed with one at the buzzer with Pal Park in control going into the locker room, 25-4.
“We got on a roll and we had to keep shooting those open shots,” said Lacorazza. “We tend to struggle offensively, so when there’s an open shot, we’re all encouraged to take it. Most of the girls on the team are seniors, so we know each other really well and we pick each other up. We worked really hard to get to this point. It’s been great to watch us grow from that hard work. I think we expected to be better but I’m not sure anyone expected us to be where we are right now. This is a really exciting time for us and we can’t wait to get out there and play another game.”
Lacorazza was 4 of 6 from 3-point range on her way to a career-high 22 points for Palisades Park (9-3). Samakande chipped in with nine points, four steals, and three assists. Theo Mandaro hustled non-stop, notching a game-high five steals to go with two assists, and a basket for Hawthorne Christian (3-6).
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Ally Lacorazza scored a career-high 22 points for Palisades Park. |
For Hutchinson and the senior-heavy Tigers, experiencing the feeling of winning on a consistent basis has been a long time coming. They have qualified for and are entering the Bergen County Tournament for the first time since that 2002 season and are in line for a state tournament berth later next month. While they know the prospects of winning a Bergen County Tournament game may be slim, Hutchinson understands what an honor it is for this particular team to see how they stack up against the best Bergen County has to offer.
“We know what we are up against in the county tournament but we’re excited for the opportunity,” added Hutchinson. “My seniors really wanted this and we understand the situation when we sent our application in. All we can control is playing hard for 32 minutes and we’re going to do that no matter what team we get. I owe everything that I’ve done and what we’ve done here as a program to my high school coach (Rob Carcich, the boys’ head coach at Passaic Valley). Without him, I never would have worked as hard I did to get to this point.
“It’s nice to catch fire and play well at the right time like we did today. It shows that everything we’ve worked on in the off-season and during practices was worth it.”
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