Thursday,
March 5, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Back healthy now, Milan Johnson scored a game-high 23 points for Teaneck, which won at River Dell, 63-47, in the opening round of the North 1, Group 3 state sectional playoffs. |
ORADELL – Over the past few years under head coach Shenee Clarke, Teaneck has been considered one of, if not the, favorite to win a North 1, Group 3 state title with center Kayla Gibbs leading the way. But with Gibbs now graduated and having battled several injuries to key players throughout the season, the Highwaywomen did have the success in the regular season that they have been accustomed. But the disappointment can easily be erased with a strong state tournament run, which is certainly in the cards now that shooting guard Milan Johnson is fully healthy. Coming into the state playoffs as the No. 13 seed this year, Teaneck is relishing the role of underdog.
Johnson dropped a game-high 23 points as Teaneck went on the road and pulled away in the third quarter to score a 63-47 victory over fourth-seeded River Dell on Wednesday night in Oradell.
“Last year, all the pressure was on us and now the seed we have is motivation for us,” said Teaneck's senior point guard Faith Ashby. “When we couldn't get anything going, we just got the ball into (Gibbs) and hope she got us going. This year, we are basically all guards so we rely on swinging the ball quickly and using our defense to create our offense.”
Playing on their home floor, the Hawks played with fire early on. Chloe Derian hit an elbow jumper late in the first quarter and Jeana Cappolla hit a pair of free throws to start the second quarter for a 12-7 lead. Johnson responded with 10 points in the second quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers, as Teaneck grabbed a 25-22 halftime lead.
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Chloe Derian scored a career-high 12 points for River Dell, which finished the season at 19-8. |
Even though the pace of the game was in Teaneck's favor throughout the first half, the Highwaywomen felt that they could still turn it up a notch. It was Johnson, back at 100-pecrent from a quad injury sufferend earlier in the season, who provided the spark.
“I finally have that feeling back that I can explode off of that leg,” said Johnson. “I've been working really hard to get my leg stronger and get my confidence back. I have to play with confidence in myself because if I don't, my teammates won't believe in me either. I felt I had an advantage with my speed and my shots were falling, so it gave me a lot of options when I had the ball in my hands.”
Hannah Ashby hit a 3-pointer from the corner on the first possession of the third quarter and Johnson followed with five quick points to bump the lead up to nine, 34-25. The Highwaywomen could have fallen apart when Amanda Gordon picked up her fourth foul early in the third quarter and Cappolla's 3 trimmed the lead to four. But, in the blink of an eye, the lead was back up to double-digits on consecutive layups by Johnson. She then put the game away in the opening minute of the fourth quarter with a jumper and a 3-pointer on the first two possessions for a 49-32 lead.
Johnson finished 7 of 11 from the floor and 4 of 6 from three-point range on her way to 23 points, two off of her season-high for Teaneck (16-6). Faith Ashby provided a nice complement in the backcourt with 15 points, five assists, and four steals.
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Faith Ashby scored 15 points for No. 13 Teaneck, which will play at No. 5 Demarest in the quarterfinals. |
Caton Henderson had 14 points and Derian notched a career-high 12 points to lead River Dell, which finished the season with a 19-8 record. Christine Woods added 11 rebounds and seven blocks to go with six points.
Teaneck will look to keep its season alive when they play fifth-seeded Northern Valley/Demarest, which survived a scare from 12th-seeded Wayne Hills (42-40) on Wednesday, in the North 1, Group 3 quarterfinals. Despite being 22 games into their season, the Highwaywomen consider their record to be 1-0. That is the mindset of a team that of a team that feels they can make a run at a section title.
“This section has a lot of really good teams, but when we're playing our best we feel we're right there with all of them,” said Clarke. “When we communicate and play defense the way we did in the second half, we are a really tough team to score on. We've always had so much pressure on us in the past. With us having a tough season and having a low seed, we're just enjoying the moment and having fun. You see the smiles on the faces of our players and you see how relaxed we are. We finally have the chemistry we've been searching for all season. We want to keep surprising teams and keep the momentum going.”
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