Thursday, February 25, 2016

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Jesse Semeniak came up with a key steal late in the game to help top-seeded Bayonne hold off defending champion Secaucus, 34-33, in the Hudson County semfinals on Wednesday in Jersey City.

JERSEY CITY – When Madison McGlone and Kailey Gallagher came into Bayonne High School as impact freshmen, it seemed more a formality than anything that the Lady Bees would play for a Hudson County title and that they would be a part of the celebration. Now seniors, the two are still searching for that elusive trophy. Holding a 13-point lead with less than four minutes left in Wednesday night's semifinal against Secaucus, it looked like the Bees would finally get another shot at getting back to the HCT title game.

But as the final seconds wound down, it was the Bees who had to make a defensive stop to prevent a collapse of epic proportions. Fittingly, it was another impact freshman who came up with the big play that helped seal the victory to give McGlone and Gallagher one last shot at a title.

In a rare low-scoring game with strange twists and turns, the Bees were up by a single point with just seconds to play when a missed free-throw gave Secaucus a chance to go ahead. Jesse Semeniak came up with a steal that helped No. 1 seed Bayonne survive a major scare from defending champ Secaucus and advance to the Hudson County final with a 34-33 victory at the Yanitelli Center on the campus of St. Peter's University in Jersey City.

“This was a crazy game, but we're happy to get out with a win,” said Bayonne head coach James Turner. “This was a chess match, not checkers. Hats off to Secaucus to lose as many starters as they did and still get back to the semifinals. That's a credit to coach (John) Sterling. I think once we went up 13 we went into cruise mode and you can never do that. I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss though every time.”

The first quarter was hard-fought as a much-smaller Secaucus team did whatever it could to stay in the game against a physical Bayonne side. The Patriots did so as they trailed by only a basket after one quarter. However, that came with a price. On a team that primarily plays just five players, three of them (Julia Peschetti along with sisters Kristina and Amanda Ulrich) each picked up two fouls. With the Patriots getting the ball to start the second quarter, Sterling knew he had to try something radical to help shorten the game.

Kristina Ulrich led all players with 16 points, 10 of them coming in the final 3:12 for Secaucus.

Peschetti inbounded the ball to Kristina Ulrich to start the period. With Bayonne in a triangle and two defense, the Patriots were content to preserve the fouls as Ulrich and Peschetti passed the ball back and forth to one another for all but the final 20 seconds of the quarter. The move both worked and backfired at the same time as Bayonne sat in the zone for the entire quarter, but the Patriots were unable to get off a shot and Kristina Ulrich picked up her third foul with two seconds left. McGlone scored her lone point of the first half and the only point by either team in the second quarter on a free throw for an 11-8 halftime lead.

“Without the depth to go to and with the foul trouble we were in, we had to make it a three-quarter game,” said Sterling.

After Secaucus' Amanda Ulrich picked up her third and fourth fouls on consecutive possessions, the Bees started to use their size advantage on both ends of the floor in the third quarter. They not only held the Patriots to just one offensive rebound over that eight-minute stretch, but scored three times on putbacks. Semeniak converted hers into a 3-point play and Gallagher followed with a basket off an offensive board to bump the lead up to double-digits heading into the fourth quarter.

Momentum was completely on the side of Bayonne as, at the midway point of the final stanza, its lead grew to 30-17 on baskets by Arianna Blake and McGlone. The Patriots were not about to give up their reign as Hudson County champ without a fight and nearly completed an improbable comeback.

Kristina Ulrich answered with seven straight points in a 51-second span to get Secaucus back in the game. A Peschetti steal led to a layup from Amanda Ulrich to make it a one-possession game, 30-28, in what turned out to be a frantic final 1:09. McGlone sliced through the full-court pressure for a layup only to watch as Kristina Ulrich answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key that cut the lead all the way down to one, 32-31.

Madison McGlone and Bayonne will take a 16-game winning streak in Saturday's county final against Lincoln.

With both teams out of timeouts down the stretch, it made for a free-flowing finish with both teams giving it everything they had left. After McGlone and Peschetti traded layups, Secaucus fouled to put the Bees on the line for a one-and-one. The move worked as the front end was missed and the Patriots grabbed the rebound with 19 seconds left and a possession to potentially pull into the lead. Semeniak came up a huge defensive play by stripping the ball from a Secaucus player with seven seconds left. Another front end of a one-and-one was missed and Peschetti's half-court heave at the buzzer was on line but fell short as Bayonne hung on for a berth in the Hudson County final.

“We had to hold Bayonne to one shot per possession and a lot of times we didn't. But we never gave up even when we got down 13. A lot of teams in our position would have lost by 20 or 25 then but that's a credit to our kids' mental toughness,” said Sterling. “I could not be prouder of our effort to fight all the way back from down 13 to having the ball with a chance to win the game.”

Semeniak and Blake did well inside with nine and eight points, respectively. McGlone added seven points and four assists for Bayonne, which sits at 19-2 and has now won 16 straight games.

Kristina Ulrich led all players with 16 points, 10 of them coming in the final 3:12 for Secaucus (19-6). Peschetti had her usual gritty effort on defense along with seven points, six rebounds, and three steals.

Bayonne will renew its rivalry from earlier in the decade when they face Lincoln for the Hudson County title on Saturday. That game will also be played at the Yanitelli Center with a 6:00 P.M tip-off. It will be a rematch of the 2014 final when Bayonne let a fourth quarter lead slip away in a heartbreaking 46-45 loss. With one last chance for revenge, McGlone and Gallagher hope to end their senior seasons as champions.

“It was scary that we almost let this slip away but we played our hearts out and we held on,” said McGlone. “This was a fun atmosphere to be in and I'm sure it will be even better against Lincoln. Our bigs have worked really hard this season and they stepped up today. We've been preparing ourselves for playing in the county final since the first day of practice and we can't wait for Saturday.”

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