Wednesday,
February 4, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
|
Brianna Brooks had 27 points, 14 rebounds, and 5 blocks for Saddle Brook, which improved to 10-4 with a 56-49 win at Becton on Tuesday. |
EAST RUTHERFORD – When the 2014-2015 season started and Saddle Brook head coach Darren White looked both on the court and down the bench for senior guidance, there was none to be found. After riding the wave with the Class of 2014, led by 6-foot forward Taylor Harmon, to last year's North 1, Group 1 state sectional semifinal Saddle Brook was expected to take a big step back. However, nobody relayed that message to the current group of Lady Falcons. As the season has gotten past the midway point they gained experience and Brianna Brooks has grown into one of the most consistent players in Bergen County.
Facing a Becton team looking for a signature win, the Falcons fell behind early but never panicked. They quickly regained their composure behind the hot shooting of Cherie Smedlie and the all-around play of Brooks before holding off a late charge. Saddle Brook hit all 10 of its fourth-quarter foul shots, including four from Brooks in the final 34 seconds, in holding on for a 56-49 victory on Tuesday night in East Rutherford.
Becton had a huge size advantage in the paint and used it well in the opening minutes. The Wildcats ran a high-low offense with one post player getting the ball at the elbow before delivering it down low to Sam Stallone, who converted on four consecutive trips to give the Lady Wildcats an 8-2 lead.
“Their bigs ate us up early and we had to weather that storm,” said Saddle Brook head coach Darren White. “We had to make some adjustments and Cherie hit some big shots to get us back on track.”
|
Sam Stallone's work inside helped Becton get off to a fast start. |
The Becton lead did not last for long as Smedlie caught fire from beyond the three-point arc. She hit all three of her attempts from long-range, the last of which gave Saddle Brook the lead for good at 13-10.
Tanya Sanchez banked in a three-pointer and then a deep two to trim the lead to one in the final minute of the second quarter, but Karisa Quimby by rattling home a three-pointer to keep the Falcons in front at halftime, 29-25.
“Cherie hit some big three-pointers that made (Becton) play out on her further, which opened some things up for other players,” said Brooks. “It’s a team sport and everyone contributed in one way or another. Once Cherie gets going or we get some hustle plays, I get excited and I feel like I get more aggressive going to the basket.”
Brooks did a little bit of everything in the third quarter on both ends of the floor. It was her three-pointer from the corner that gave Saddle Brook its biggest lead of the game, 38-27.
“We gave up too many easy baskets and dug ourselves too big of a hole in the second and third quarters,” said Becton head coach Cheryl Bott. “I thought offensively we played pretty well and got the shots we wanted for just about the entire game. Transition defense has been an issue for us all season. We got better with it as the game went on and we’ve gotten way better with it since the beginning of the season. But when we needed to get a stop, they just beat us down the floor for a layup.”
The lead was still double-digits with less than two minutes to play when the Wildcats made one last stand. Stallone scored inside and Dany Balaskovits swished an off-balance three-pointer to cut the lead to five, 50-45, with 1:31 left. It never got close than that as Quimby hit two free-throws in the final minute to make it a three-possession game and Brooks added four more to ice the win.
|
Karisa Quimby hit a couple of late free throws to help Saddle Brook put the game away. |
“We’ve been practicing free-throws a lot and we’ve gotten so much better,” added Brooks, who had a streak earlier this season of seven straight double-doubles. “Free-throws always are big at the end of a game and you can’t do better than we shot them today in the fourth quarter.”
Brooks led all players with 27 points, 14 rebounds, and five blocks for Saddle Brook (10-4). Smedlie had nine of her 15 points in the first quarter and Quimby added 13 points.
Stallone had 14 of her team-high 18 points in the first half and Balaskovits finished with 11 for Becton (7-6).
The win guaranteed a home playoff game in the North 1 Group 1 state tournament later on this month. Without a senior on his roster, White feels like this year’s team and the program in general is turning the corner towards yearly runs at league and section titles.
“We’ve been preaching about being consistent since day one and it’s starting to show in the last couple of weeks,” said White. “After playing just one game in the past ten days, I thought we played pretty well tonight. After graduating our two leading scorers and two leading rebounds, but we’ve picked up the slack as a team. Our team chemistry is really outstanding. We still have a ways to go in executing in certain areas, but I’m happy with where how hard we work and where we are at this point in the season.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME. TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com. |