Monday,
January 26, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Sam Fuehring 11 points, 10 rebounds, and six blocks for Immaculate Conception, the No. 3 seed which held off an upset bid by No. 30 Bergenfield, 33-28, in the first round of the Bergen County Tournament. |
BERGENFIELD – When the seeds were released for the Bergen County Tournament last week, Bergenfield head coach Mike Kilgallen and his team were disappointed but understanding when they were not selected for entry into the tournament. Sitting a game below .500 on the day of the cutoff, the Lady Bears were left to wonder what might have been. But a day later, an error was corrected (somewhat) and Bergenfield was placed in as the No. 30 seed.
It was a good news/bad news situation as Bergenfield was in, but its opponent was No. 3 seed Immaculate Conception, which has on its roster Louisvlle-bound forward Samantha Fuehring.
On paper it appeared a mismatch, but with a second lease on life Bergenfield was not just happy to be in the tournament. It wanted to make a statement that could be heard throughout the county. Even though the Bears did not make the ultimate splash, they made enough noise to put a major scare into the Blue Wolves by nearly pulling off the biggest upset in the 40-plus year history of the tournament.
Bergenfield slowed the game down and controlled the pace for the entire 32 minutes. The Bears had four chances in the game’s final 77 seconds to tie the game and potentially send it into overtime, but all four were off the mark and Immaculate Conception survived the upset bid with a hard-fought 33-28 win on Sunday morning at Bergenfield High School.
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Haleigh Martin had 9 points for Bergenfield, which went of out of the field to almost pulling the biggest upset in tournament history. |
“That was a crazy game and I’m just happy we won,” said Fuehring. “Slow starts happen sometimes, but it was really frustrating because we never really shook it off and played well like we did against Life Center. (Bergenfield) played hard and smarter than we did all four quarters, which doesn’t usually happen against us. We’re usually the team with a lot of energy, but it felt we were playing more their style than they were playing ours.”
With the game moved from Saturday to Sunday, it presented some different challenges. Coming off of a buzzer-beating win over a Life Center Academy team that possesses five Division 1 players, IC went from having a home game to having to play on the road with a 10:00 A.M. tip. The Blue Wolves got off to a sluggish start with their first field goal coming on a layup from Jasmine Gee with six seconds left in the first quarter for a 7-4 lead after one.
Bergenfield moved the ball extremely well throughout and hit enough shots to keep the Blue Wolves off-balance. Junior guard Haleigh Martin nailed a 3-pointer to give Bergenfield a 13-10 lead. It was a one-possession game for the remainder of the half before Fuehring made her presence felt on both ends of the floor. With 6.8 seconds left in the half and the Bears inbounding the ball under the IC basket, Fuehring blocked a shot, then ran the floor to score on the other end with less than a second left to put IC ahead, 18-15, at the half.
When the tournament was originally seeded, Saddle Brook was placed in the No. 30 spot and Bergenfield was left out of the draw because the 32 teams who were thought to have applied all had the requisite .500 record or above. But Saddle Brook chose not to enter the tournament, an oversight that meant there was one open spot to be filled. Bergenfield, which plays a brutal Big North schedule, was known as the best .500 under team in Bergen County, took Saddle Brook’s spot. Teams with the No. 30 next to their names are not supposed to compete with one of the contenders for the Bergen County title. But the Bears had a chip on their collective shoulders and played with that fire from the opening tap to the final buzzer.
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Nikki Mellie and IC will play the winner of River Dell/Ridgefield Park in the Round of 16. |
The lead was still three when Martin scored on a putback on Bergenfield’s first possession of the first quarter. Fuehring appeared to right the ship with two free-throws followed by a basket to bump the lead up to seven.
Bergenfield fought back with the same hard-nosed defense and ball-control offense that it played with all game long. Kristen Gillman scored on a runner inside the foul line and Martin added a pair of free-throws to make it a one-possession game, 31-28, with 2:39 remaining.
“When we got it up to seven in the fourth quarter, I felt like that was the point where we’d wear them down and pull away, but it didn’t happen,” said Immaculate Conception head coach Jeff Horohonich. “We missed way too many layups and had 17 turnovers. It’s tough to pull away from smart teams when you do that no matter how talented you are. This is a team that has hung tough with Teaneck and Old Tappan. They were no number 30 seed I can tell you that. At that point in the fourth quarter where they kept coming at us, we had to change our focus to just surviving and getting out of here with a win any way that we could.”
IC had several chances to close the game out, but twice missed the front end of a one-and-one and turned the ball over twice to give the Bears numerous chances at tying the game. The Bears had four shots from 3-point range in the final 1:17 but did not connect on any of them. IC guard Khay’la Lattimore provided the final margin with a pair of free-throws with .8 seconds remaining.
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Kristen Gillman scored the first two points of a 4-0 spurt that got Bergenfield to within three points late in the game. |
Fuehring led all players with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and six blocks for Immaculate Conception (11-4). Martin had nine points to lead Bergenfield (6-7). Gillman and Ursillo added seven and six points, respectively.
The upset bid eventually fell short but Bergenfield earned a measure of respect that just a few days ago did not even seem to be possible. The Lady Bears proved they belonged in the tournament and are furthering their reputation as the one team with a mediocre record that nobody wants to play.
“While I’m happy we were in the tournament, we got penalized for an error the committee made and the tournament should have been reseeded,” said Bergenfield head coach Mike Kilgallen. “They plugged us in at 30 to cover up a mistake. We know we’re better than our seed. I don’t think it was fair to us and it certainly wasn’t fair to IC either. But you play who is in front of you and we had a chance to tie it late against one of the best teams in the county.
“We left some opportunities out there at the free-throw line, but that’s the only complaint I can have about our team today. I couldn’t be more proud of the way we battled. It’s the best basketball performance we’ve ever been a part of. We couldn’t have asked them to play harder, play smarter, and communicate better. That may be as well as we can play and as a coach, I couldn’t ask for more than we got out of them today.”
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