Wednesday,
March 4, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Rose D’Annibale scored 8 points and added 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals to help 13th-seeded Waldwick pull a 36-34 upset of No. 4 Saddle Brook in the opening round of the North 1, Group 1 sectional tourney. |
SADDLE BROOK – Little was expected of the Waldwick girls basketball team when it walked into the gymnasium at Saddle Brook High School for a first round state tournament game. But to the shock of the crowd, the coaching staffs, and even to themselves, the Warriors had seized control of the game going into the fourth quarter. But with less than five minutes to play, their once sizable lead started to evaporate and Waldwick looked almost helpless to stop it.
The Warriors only option was to keep fighting and cling to the belief that somehow they would find a way to hang on.
Over the final 4:35, Saddle Brook reeled off the final 12 points of the game to get a raucous home crowd back into it. But the Falcons ran out of time as 13th-seeded Waldwick held on for a huge 36-34 upset over No. 4 seed Saddle Brook on Tuesday night to advance to the North 1, Group 1 quarterfinals.
“It feels great to work so hard and see it pay off tonight,” said Waldwick's Colleen Moran. “We’re not used to having a big crowd or playing in really big games, so it was an adjustment for sure.”
Saddle Brook got off to a quick start behind its backcourt of Jamie Latona and Cherie Smedlie. Latona had two mid-court steals and breakaway layups, while Smedlie scored six of her eight points in the opening stanza for a 12-7 lead. But on the last play of the quarter, Saddle Brook’s leader in most major categories, Brianna Brooks, picked up her second foul and was forced to the bench for stretches of the second quarter.
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Despite foul trouble, Brianna Brooks finished with a game-high 14 points. |
That gave the Warriors some life and they took advantage of it. Kelly Moore hit a pair of free throws to give Waldwick the lead and Grace D’Annibale capped the 9-0 spurt to open the second quarter with a 3-pointer. Holding a three-point lead late in the half, Rose D’Annibale got in the act with a conventional 3-point play that doubled Waldwick’s lead at the half, 22-16.
The D’Annibale sisters hit back-to-back 3-pointers to bump the lead up to 10 in the third quarter. The lead grew as large as 14 on a runner off the glass from Moran with 4:35 to play, 36-22, but those were the last points Waldwick scored as the Falcons turned up the full-court pressure and forced turnover after turnover to quickly make a game of it.
“It goes to show you, you can never feel too comfortable,” said Waldwick head coach Frank Clark. “They turned up the pressure and we started to panic a bit. There were a couple of times where we got really flustered and made some bad decisions. Saddle Brook is a good team and if you make mistakes, they’ll take advantage of them.”
Asia Rivera had barely played going into the fourth quarter but provided an instant spark when her team needed it. She had steals and layups sandwiched around one by Brooks as the Falcons needed just over a minute to get back within single-digits. Rivera scored on another layup with 2:20 to play but it looked like Waldwick would survive with a four-point lead and just 20 seconds to play. But before the Warriors could blink, Saddle Brook was looking at a wide-open shot for the lead.
Brooks stole the inbounds pass and laid it in with 15 seconds left and then the Falcons immediately forced a turnover to regain possession. They had an open look from 3-point range that would have given them the lead, but it did not go down and Waldwick’s Lauren Toolen was able to secure the rebound.
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Colleen Moran had 10 points for Waldwick, which improved to 14-10. |
Unfortunately for the Falcons, they had only four team fouls at that point and by the time they sent Moran to the line, there were only 1.6 seconds left. The Falcons had a prayer on an inbounds pass from underneath their own basket with less than a second left but Rose D’Annibale picked it off as time expired to give Waldwick just its second state tournament win in the past 16 years, the last one coming over Morris Tech under former head coach Scott Papetti.
“Sometimes those games get away and I’m proud that we held on,” said Clark. “We’ve come an awful long way as a program and from where we were at the beginning of the season. For us to come in here as a 13 seed and play as well as we did for most of the game, it’s just huge for the program. Even when we went down early, we just kept playing hard. Saddle Brook really got us out of our rhythm at the end, but we made enough plays to escape with the win.”
Grace D’Annibale and Moran each finished with 10 points for Waldwick (14-10). Rose D’Annibale added eight points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Despite saddled with foul trouble Brooks led all players with 14 points, eight rebounds, eight blocks, and four steals for Saddle Brook, who finished the season with a 17-8 record.
This is now uncharted territory for the Warriors, who will go on the road again to play their North 1 Group 1 quarterfinal game on Tuesday. They will face the winner of tomorrow’s game between fifth-seeded Midland Park and 12th seeded Butler. Regardless of the outcome there, this Warrior team knows it has done something special.
“If you told me as a freshman that at some point we’d make the state tournament and make it to the second round, I don’t think I would have believed it,” said Moran. “We’ve gotten better as the season went on. We haven’t had the most success, but we’ve continued to work really hard. I’m so proud that we kept our cool when (Saddle Brook) made that run at the end. We’re excited to play another game and see if we can keep it going.”
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