Monday,
February 1, 2016
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
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IHA's Megan Swords finished with 18 points, one less than Ridgewood's total in the Blue Eagles' 41-19 win in the Bergen County Tournament's Round of 16 |
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – Playing on a small floor with a big lineup, reigning Bergen County champion Immaculate Heart Academy was smothering Ridgewood through the first 15 minutes and 59 seconds of Sunday’s Round of 16 game in the Bergen County Tournament. With their inside tandem of Jordan Wilmoth and Megan Swords changing and blocking shots in the paint and crashing the boards at both ends, IHA held the Maroons to just one first half field goal in 17 attempts as the clock was winding down in the second quarter.
Crazy thing about it though is that when Hailey Riccardi launched a desperation 3-pointer that went in right before the buzzer, Ridgewood, despite just the two made field goals and added trouble from the free throw line, was still in the game. For all of its good work, IHA led by just seven points at halftime.
“We weren’t feeling all that good at halftime,” said IHA head coach Steve Silver. “And we were in some foul trouble with our guards, too. We had to stay with our mindset to continue to play to our strengths inside and force them to take contested shot like the one they made [at the end of the half].”
Instead of signifying the start of some type of comeback, Riccardi’s 3-point bomb that sent Ridgewood into the locker room on a high, was really just a temporary breach of IHA’s otherwise impenetrable defensive structure. Playing on their own home court, the Blue Eagles allowed just five field goals in the game and got a combined 30 points from Wilmoth and Swords and stormed into the quarterfinals with a 41-19 victory.
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Hailey Riccardi hit the 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer that kept Ridgewood in the game heading into the second half. |
IHA, the No. 7 seed, will play No. 2 Northern Valley/Old Tappan next weekend in a rematch of the Joe Poli Tournament played back in December and won by Old Tappan and a regular season matchup won by IHA last week.
“It was a good win because we really pulled together as a team. We moved the ball, we helped [on defense] and we kept working,” said Swords. “Our biggest asset was to bring [the ball] into the post because of our size advantage and trying to work in there.”
Ridgewood managed to stay in the game early by getting to the foul line. The Maroons shot six first quarter free throws, made four of them and were trailing by just 9-6 when Katie Bourque made one-of-two at the stripe with 16 seconds left in the opening quarter. There were some positive signs as Ridgewood was putting IHA in first half foul trouble, but the down side was that it made just three of nine foul shots in the second quarter as IHA started to pull away.
Wilmoth hit a free throw with 36 seconds left in the first half to give IHA a 19-9 advantage before Riccardi dropped in the rainbow to keep the Maroons at least within arm’s length.
“When Hailey hit that crazy shot right before the half we said to them [in the locker room at halftime] that we had not really played well and we were still in the game,” said Ridgewood head coach Karen Keyes. “We wanted to use that little bit of momentum and come out on fire, but it didn’t work out that way.”
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Jordan Wilmoth scored 12 points for No. 7 IHA, which will play No. 2 Old Tappan in the quarterfinals. |
Instead, Swords scored eight points in a 12-0 IHA run to open the third quarter that broke the game wide open. Again, Ridgewood was held to just one field goal in the period, a mid-range jumper by Jordan Iannone, and Wilmoth’s lay-up off a lob pass from the high post by Emilie Cieslak gave IHA a 33-14 lead at the end of three.
IHA ran its offense through repeatedly in the fourth quarter and effectively used the clock to close out the victory.
Swords (18 points) and Wilmoth (12 points) were the only double figure scorers in the game. Katie Jones finished with 7 for IHA and Madison Seelman and Dani Monocky made a field goal apiece for the Blue Eagles. Riccardi (6 points) and Iannone (4 points) were the only two Maroons to make more than field goal. Quinn Daly made three free throws, Lillie Kloak made two and Mia Barbera made a fourth quarter basket for Ridgewood, which fell to 11-5 with the loss.
While this is a different looking IHA team with a different style than the ones that had been so successful in the past few years, this group of Blue Eagles has still has a chance to equal the type of success that was common to the deep senior class that graduated last June.
“We were very lucky. The last three seasons before this we had that core group all together. Caitlyn [Roche] and Alex [Mesropyan], Jordan [Wilmoth] and Katia [Oge] and Stephanie Olear, that group of girls played together for three years. We had great chemistry, we knew our roles, we built on our roles and we knew exactly what we were about,” said Silver, whose team is now 11-4. “That is kind of like what Old Tappan, our next opponent, has going for it this year. We have to continue to grow, continue to improve and really understand what areas we can focus on to become that complete team we want to be.”
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