Monday,
February 1, 2016
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
|
Jordan McLemore finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists for Immaculate Conception, which advanced to the Bergen County quarterfinals with a 48-30 win over River Dell on Sunday. |
HILLSDALE – For the past few years, Immaculate Conception's offense was quite simplistic. Get the ball to All-American Samantha Fuehring and let her go to work. With Fuehring having graduated, the offensive decisions are now in the hands of point guard Jordan McLemore.
For this year's Blue Wolves team to be successful, it would have to be more a collective effort on both ends of the floor. With the rotation going only six players deep, it is imperative that Immaculate Conception does four things well every game: Play good team defense, make good decisions with the ball, make sure everyone gets involved in the offense and hit open shots. The Blue Wolves checked every box on Sunday against River Dell in the Bergen County Tournament’s Round of 16.
Top-seeded Immaculate Conception shot 6-for-9 from 3-point range in the first half to grab an early lead and never looked as it advanced to the quarterfinals with a 48-30 win over No. 16 seed River Dell at Pascack Valley High School.
River Dell's two-sport standout Christine Woods scored on a putback to give her team a 4-3 lead, the last that the Golden Hawks enjoy as Immaculate Conception heated up quickly from the perimeter. Autumn Webster and Devyn Dash each hit a pair of 3-pointers from the wing and McLemore added one from the top of the key as the Blue Wolves responded with an 18-2 run en route to a commanding 31-12 halftime lead.
“Our biggest problem this year has been patience and I thought we showed great patience today both offensively and defensively,” said McLemore. “We shot the ball really well in the first half. I feel like I matured over the past year and I've become a better point guard because of it. I tried to make sure everyone got touches where we had chances to score and we did a great job of knocking down open shots throughout the first half.”
|
Christine Woods finished with 7 points and 6 rebounds for River Dell, which fell to 9-5 on the season. |
The Hawks did not give up and had a solid third quarter to make things interesting. Chloe Derian and Madeline Weber scored on consecutive baseline drives to slice the deficit to 11, 33-22, late in the third quarter.
The lead never got back down to single-digits as the experience of Jasmine Gee, Breanne Bellerand and McLemore took over in the fourth quarter. Bellerand hit a jumper at the third quarter buzzer then scored early in the fourth as Immaculate Conception advanced.
Webster led all players with 12 points, all from from beyond the three-point line, along with five rebounds and three steals for Immaculate Conception (11-4). McLemore added 10 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Bellerand had a solid all-around game with seven points, six rebounds, six assists, two steals, and two blocks.
Woods led River Dell (9-5) with seven points and six rebounds.
Immaculate Conception advances to next Saturday's quarterfinal round where it will face upset-minded Northern Valley/Demarest fresh off of a buzzer-beating shot to beat previously undefeated Queen of Peace on Sunday.
“It doesn't get any easier from here,” said Immaculate Conception head coach Jeff Horohonich. “I thought we played excellent in the first half but I was disappointed in the energy we had coming out to start the third quarter against a team like River Dell, who you know is going to play hard until the very end. To advance in this tournament you can't lose focus because the opponents get tougher each week. We'll have our hands full in the quarterfinals, but we're playing with a lot of confidence and we're excited for the next challenge.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME. TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com. |