ORADELL -- Westwood bolted out of the halftime locker room with a 19-4 run to erase River Dell’s 7-point advantage en route to a 64-57 victory Tuesday afternoon.
“Our kids played decently in the first half and I’m super proud that they came out with some extra fire,” said Cardinals coach Charles Collis. “This (River Dell) is a really good team, very well-coached and has a lot of great players. Maintaining our confidence throughout the game is something we talk about and it showed in the third quarter. We were down seven to start the second half and we still had full confidence in our ability to win the game.”
Junior Erin Gashler got things going with a three-pointer a minute into the third quarter. On the ensuing possession Westwood sophomore Ashlyn Geipel stole the ball and dribbled the length of the court for a layup. Thirty seconds later senior Kate Walsh drained a trey to give the Cardinals their first lead of the game, 29-28.
“The momentum shifted,” said Hawks coach Lindsay Steffner. “Walsh had a great game shooting. Some of the matchups favored them. Give them credit. They came here to win. We came out, then we got cold and stopped executing on offense. And they really took it to us.”
Golden Hawks sophomore Alexa DePol hit a jumper to put River Dell back ahead but a 3-point play by Gashler and a long 3-pointer by Walsh gave Westwood the lead for good. Walsh finished with a game-high 35 points.
“She’s been averaging about 16 points a game,” Collis said, “and she has days, like today, where she catches fire and she’s a handful for the defense. Her 3-point shot for the last two weeks has been on point and it showed today big time.”
“The most important thing,” Walsh said, “was bringing our energy. If we bring our energy and our bench is talking and we’re talking on the court it will get us in a better vibe and move the ball around better. It’s just a better mindset.”
River Dell junior Morgan Sconza (13 points) drained a three-pointer with 19 seconds to go in the third quarter and senior Sofia Sanchez (16 points) hit a jumper and scored again from in close in the first minute of the fourth quarter to cut the Westwood lead to 45-44.
But River Dell was hit with a technical foul and Walsh canned both free throws. A minute later Gashler completed another 3-point play and freshman Cameron Roche swished a three-pointer to boost the Cardinals lead to nine, 53-44.
Then Westwood stepped up on defense to thwart any comeback attempts by the Hawks, who saw their 9-game winning streak snapped.
“We made sure to get right in their face and not give them any space,” said Walsh. “We had our game plan so we knew how to guard each player and just make sure to execute that.”
The Cardinals offense also kept River Dell from making a comeback, as six different players contributed points.
“We switched defenses and each defense we showed them they really destroyed,” said Steffner. “They hit threes and fought for offensive rebounds over us. It felt like they couldn’t miss. Westwood came ready to play and unfortunately they put us on our heels.”
“We just made sure to all work as a team and bring the intensity up,” said Walsh. “We made sure to get open, we knew they were going to guard me a lot so I could get my other teammates open and get them the ball. And most importantly to move the ball around and set good screens. If we set screens our players would get open for good looks.”
River Dell never got closer than 4 points from the lead as Westwood made 9-of-10 free throws down the stretch to earn the victory.
“I gave the bench a huge compliment today,” said Collis. “They were loud, clapping, and the energy from the bench and from the court was no different. The energy was phenomenal. The [19-4] run and the shooting sparked some more energy there.”
River Dell had jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the first quarter by virtue of 3-pointers by Sanchez, Kasey Ziegler (14 points) and two from Sconza. Sanchez added a pair of treys in the second quarter but the team only connected on one 3-pointer (by Sconza) in the second half.
“They shot very well in the first half,” said Collis, “and one of our goals coming into the second half was to shut down those threes. [We wanted to] see if they could beat us with the drive and I think it worked to our favor.”
After league games on Thursday the two teams move on to tournament play on Saturday. Westwood takes on Waldwick in the BCWCA Basketball Invitational, while River Dell will play Teaneck in the quarterfinals of the 49th Annual BCWCA Basketball Championship.
“We shot the ball well today,” said Collis. “They’re a really good defensive team so to have a good shooting day against a quality defensive team shows that we’ve come a long way. We’re improving and getting better.”
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