DEMAREST - Holy Angels, Teaneck and Old Tappan joined Saddle River Day to comprise the Final 4 of the 49th Annual BCWCA Basketball Championship by posting victories in the Elite 8 on Saturday afternoon. The Final Four will be played Feb. 10 in Fair Lawn.

The No. 5 seeded Angels jumped out to a 7-0 lead and never looked back in their 51-33 win over No. 4 Ramapo. The game got off to a slow start thanks to missed shots and tight defense by the two teams. Angels senior Celeste Harper broke the ice with a foul shot at 4:51 of the first quarter for the first point of the game.

That opened the floodgates as the Angels scored the next 6 points in about a minute.

Angels senior Samantha Serrano caught fire in the second quarter, scoring 17 of her game-high 24 points. She also grabbed 8 rebounds and had 7 steals.

“Coming into this game I knew defense was my main priority,” said Serrano. “I knew once I got my defense going my offense would come. So working on our ‘D’ would make the whole team work together and  push us on offense and score our points. It’s always been defense No. 1.”

Raiders sophomore Camden Epstein got hot late in the second quarter, scoring 8 of her team-high 10 points, but Ramapo trailed 26-14 heading into intermission. Harper scored 8 points in the second half to finish with 13. She is an excellent complement to Serrano.

“Working with her is a great duo,” Serrano said. “Playing together we can’t be stopped. Working with each other and working around each other works very well. It’s a great fit.”

Almost lost in the scoring prowess of  Serrano and Harper was the inside game of junior Daria Coll, who seemingly got nearly every loose ball, including a ton of rebounds.

“Our team has a lot of really good scorers,” said Coll, “so I found my place on the court by rebounding and feeding them the ball. I know I can rely on them to make all the shots we need.”

“She’s the unsung hero of this team,” said Angels coach Sue Liddy. “She goes after every loose ball she can. Against Westwood she had 20 rebounds and 9 points. You can’t move her off anything. I love her.”

The Angels increased their lead to 40-22 as the third quarter ended and when they upped the lead to 21 midway through the fourth quarter it was time to look ahead to the next round.

“We had a great day,” said Coll, “and it’s been our goal to get this far in the county tournament and we achieved that goal.”

“ I knew coming in it was not going to be easy,” added Serrano. “They were the fourth seed and we were the fifth seed so it was going to be a good challenge. I like challenges. We’re very excited. We’re ready for the next one. We’re going to work hard and push ourselves.”

The Angels will face off against No. 1 seeded Saddle River Day School Saturday at 5:30.

“This team was locked in today,” said Liddy. “They said they wanted to go one more step than they did last year and make the Final Four. And they did, which is tremendous. They executed our game plan to perfection. We said we can’t get up and down a lot - we’re going to have to possess the basketball. And Sam and Celeste are so difficult to defend.”

Teaneck survives with late rally to top River Dell
The No. 3 seeded Highwaywomen overcame injuries and a pesky No. 6 seed in getting past River Dell, 58-51, in game three of the Elite Eight. In the final two minutes of the game Teaneck outscored the Golden  Hawks, 10-2, to close out the victory.

“When you get to this stage in the game, every team is good,” said Teaneck coach Brad Allen. “At this stage of the tournament, every team plays very hard.”

The teams were tied five times in the game and there were 10 lead changes. River Dell led by as many as 7 points in the third quarter but Teaneck continued to hang in there. 

They did so without the help of sophomore sensation Lexi Carnegie, out with a torn ACL. Teaneck has had other problems too.

“[Sophomore] Jill Carter was out for a month with a sprained knee,” said Allen. “So we’ve been juggling lineups due to injury the whole season. Today [senior] Demi [Simpson] was out sick.”

The Highwaywomen chipped away and finally took a 40-39 lead with back-to-back baskets by senior Erin Frazier, who finished with 23 points and 15 rebounds. She talked about how they have countered the injury problem Teaneck has had this year.
“We all know that we’re good individually, so when somebody goes out we have to play as a team even more,” she said.

Playing as a team was never more apparent than late in the fourth quarter. River Dell sophomore Alexa DePol had just given River Dell a 49-48 lead when she stole the ball and sprinted the length of the court for a layup.

But Teaneck freshman Leayana Dorville drove and scored to give Teaneck the lead. After a Hawks turnover she scored again from in close. She finished with 16 points.

“We teach everybody you have to be ready every single moment,” said Allen. “She practices hard, she does everything we asked her to do. So when her time came, she was just ready to take on that responsibility.”

River Dell turned the ball over again and Frazier canned a pair of free throws. Forty seconds later junior Imani McKenzie also drained two foul shots.

Hawks senior Sofia Sanchez and junior Morgan Sconza finished with 13 points apiece. Carter added 10 points for Teaneck.
The Highwaywomen will play Old Tappan at 3:30 Saturday in the semifinal round.

“We’ve seen each other two or three times, whether it be in passing or playing against each other,” said Allen. “So you just have to be ready to perform.”

Old Tappan ends Cresskill’s Cinderella run
Cresskill came into the Elite Eight game Saturday having upset Tenafly in the first round of the tournament and absolutely shocking Immaculate Heart Academy in the Round of 16 a week ago. So Old Tappan knew they had to be ready for them.

“They played two great games in the tournament,” said Old Tappan coach Brian Dunn. “We had to be serious about getting ready for them. They play tremendous “D” and No. 4 (senior Erin Fahy) is fantastic and has been for years. She’s a tough matchup for anybody. She’s a handful and coach (Mike McCourt) does a fantastic job of getting his team to play.”

Nevertheless, the Golden Knights got off to a strong start and clamped down on defense in the second half to crush Cresskill, 47-23, in the final game of the day.

Old Tappan jumped out to an early lead and when the Cougars got within 2 points, 15-13, the Knights went on a 10-4 run to coast to a 25-17 lead at the half.

A three pointer by Old Tappan sophomore Mia Derrico jump started the Knights into a run which doubled their halftime lead of eight to a 38-22 advantage as the third quarter ended. More importantly they shut down the Cougars offense, yielding only a pair of field goals by Fahy and one free throw by senior Maddie Morgan in the entire quarter. And in the fourth quarter Cresskill was held to one point.

For the Knights senior Maya Giordano was extremely effective inside, scoring 8 of her 10 points in the second half.
“She was in foul trouble,” said Dunn, “but in the second half she got a couple of drop steps. We were able to get the ball into her. She did a great job of closing them out.” 

Giordano’s twin sister, Layla, led all scorers with 16 points and the sisters combined for 16 rebounds. In all six players managed to score at least 2 points for the Knights.

“We have a good mix grade wise,” said Dunn. “We have our consistent kids where we know what we’re going to get in the older kids. Then the younger kids are still developing. If we’re playing well we need one of them to step up each game and get some good buckets.”

The Golden Knights will play Teaneck Saturday at 3:30 and Dunn appreciates the significance of making it to the Final Four.
“It’s always special,” he said. “If you can advance it means you’re playing well at the time of year where you want to be playing well [because] you’re going to be playing great teams. You could play great and lose. If you get to the Final Four it means you’re playing well at the right time of year which is always your goal.”

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