Tuesday,
March 10, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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Junior Kailyn Sytsma made a 3-pointer to end the third quarter and another to start the fourth as Old Tappan won its first section title since 2007 with a 55-46 win at Ramapo. |
FRANKLIN LAKES – The North 1, Group 3 state sectional final was at its tipping point. Top-seeded Ramapo had just turned a 12-point deficit into a one possession game and forced Northern Valley/Old Tappan to take a timeout, which didn't help as the Green Raiders forced a turnover on the inbounds pass. Had Ramapo gone down and scored on that gifted possession it might have been a dead-even game with eight minutes to play for all the marbles.
Old Tappan's Kailyn Sytsma made sure that did not happen. After a Ramapo missed shot, Sytsma nailed a 3-pointer from the wing with 28 seconds to go in the third quarter to double the Golden Knights' lead and she hit another one 17 seconds into the fourth quarter to put Old Tappan comfortably in front on the way to a 55-46 victory and the program's first state sectional title since 2007.
“We needed to get the flow back, we needed to get the momentum and I just took the open shots,” said Sytsma, part of Old Tappan's all-junior starting five. “I knew that if I could make them and build the lead back up that we would be able to get everything going again.”
With her feet set and with an open look, Sytsma is one of the best 3-point shooters in Bergen County. With a game hanging in the balance, she is even better than that.
“She is a great 3-point shooter, but she is a great clutch shooter. She has a great sense of being able to be calm, keep her rhythm and stick it,” said Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn. “We'll try to slow it down at times, but if that kid is open she is going to shoot it and she can put a game away.”
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Sophomore Emily Calabrese scored a game-high 14 points for Ramapo. |
Sytsma hit two first quarter 3-pointers to nudge Ramapo out of its preferred zone and was fouled on another 3-point attempt midway through the second. She hit 2 of 3 from the line to give Old Tappan a 25-18 lead that swelled to 31-19 after Emily Crevani's conventional 3-point play. The Knights led 31-23 at halftime even though they had three starters on the bench with two fouls apiece for the back half of the second quarter, including Kelsey McLaughlin, Old Tappan's best on the ball defender who has drawn the assignment of guarding the opposition's best scorer through this season and state tournament run.
“Our bench kids did a great job in the second quarter when we had three kids with two fouls and had to cover those bigs inside. Emily Sullivan and Ashley Sullivan, the Sullivan sisters, came in and toughed it out and did a great job guarding,” said Dunn. “That was a big part of the game because we were up by 11 and they cut it to eight at the half, but no more than that.”
Ariana Chipolone hit a runner in the lane to give Old Tappan a 37-25 lead with 3:59 to go in the third quarter before Ramapo made a spirited charge to get back in the game. Emily Calabrese scored inside and then came up with a steal and a layup to kick off a 9-0 run. Reilly White hit a jumper from the corner and Kasey Finn finished it off with a driving layup that got the Green Raiders to within 37-34 as Dunn called for a timeout.
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Old Tappan point guard Emily Crevani scored 9 of her 14 points in the fourth quarter. |
Ramapo then got the steal to give itself the chance to draw even closer, but a missed shot led to transition and Sytsma found the open space on the wing from where she buried the 3-pointer that gave Old Tappan a 40-34 lead after three quarters. Sytsma struck again to start the fourth and the extra breathing room gave the Knights the opportunity to run clock with the ball in the hands of point guard Emily Crevani.
“We knew that we were the faster team and that our advantage was our quickness. We had to attack the gaps, get each other open and have Kailyn out there for the 3 and Ariana for the drive or jumpshot,” said Crevani. “Playing from in front is always in our game plan. It happened against Northern Highlands [in the semifinals] and it helped us and when we take a lead it takes the other team out mentally and getting a lead always pushes our confidence.”
It was the exact scenario that Ramapo was hoping to avoid.
“They hit a lot of early shots and we just couldn't get in a flow. We came out in our matchup [zone], but when we fell behind we had to come out and go man and that is tough against them,” said Ramapo head coach Sandy Gordon. “We hung around, but Old Tappan is a great team and they made it difficult. Hats off to them.”
Ramapo got back to within eight points three times in the fourth quarter, the last coming after Finn's steal and layup made it 47-39 with 3:36 to go, but Crevani went down the other end and hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to push the lead back into double figures and then made both ends of a one-and-one with 1:18 to go as Ramapo was forced to foul.
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Reilly White had 9 points and 8 rebounds for Ramapo, which finished the season with a 24-6 record. |
Calabrese (14 points), a sophomore, was the only Green Raider to finish in double figures and White played an excellent all-around game with 9 points and 8 rebounds. Karlie Brogan scored 7 of her 8 points in the fourth quarter, Olivia Kraebel (7 points) did all of her damage in the first half and Finn, who will play soccer at Montclair State University next year, had six in her final high school game. Rosie Martin had the other two points for Ramapo, which finished the season with a share of a league title and a 24-6 record.
“If you would have told me that I was going to win 24 games at the beginning of the year I don't know if I would have bought it, but these kids really came together and had a great run and we have a lot returning,” said Gordon, who will lose just Finn and Marina Pappas to graduation. “I am glad we got to experience this. It was a great atmosphere to play in but unfortunately we came up on the short end of it.”
Old Tappan improved to 21-7 with just four players doing all of the scoring but a whole lot more than that contributing. Sytsma finished with a game-high 17 points, Crevani scored 9 of her 14 in the fourth quarter, Chipolone was steady throughout on her way to 15 points and a team-high 9 rebounds and Alexie Piccinich had the other nine points for Old Tappan. Not to get lost in the shuffle was the play of Emily and Ashley Sullivan who provided quality minutes off the bench and McLaughlin, who again made even receiving the ball difficult for Ramapo's top scorer.
So now it is off to the Group 3 state semifinals and Old Tappan will be right back at Ramapo High School on Wednesday night where it will play North 2 champion Nutley in a 7 p.m. start with a trip to the state final on the line.
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