Wayne Hills' Jailyn James provided lockdown defense to help the Patriots to their first Passaic County title in 42 years with a 50-47 win over Paterson Eastside.
WAYNE - When Wayne Hills walked to the locker room with an eight-point lead over Paterson Eastside in the Passaic County Tournament final last year, they felt invincible and that it was finally its time. However, the Patriots fell apart in the third quarter and were forced to watch the Lady Ghosts celebrate at their expense. On the scoreboard, this year's Passaic final was a carbon copy of last year with Wayne Hills holding a sizeable lead. This time, there would be no nerves and no overconfidence. Even when a 14-point lead got whittled down to a single point, there was no panic. The Patriots had worked too hard and come too far to let anything get in the way of their destiny.
Paterson Eastside had two game-tying three-point attempts in the final 15 seconds of regulation. Both were off the mark. Siena Shuster grabbed the rebound of the second miss and dribbled out the clock to snap a 42-year drought as second-seeded Wayne Hills won the Passaic County Tournament crown with a thrilling 50-47 victory over top seed and two-time defending champion Paterson Eastside on Saturday afternoon at Wayne Valley High School.
Paterson Eastside fell to 20-4 on the season.
"To see everyone play hard and contribute in our biggest game means everything to me," said Wayne Hills' head coach Todd Green. "Last year, we were happy to get here, and it just snowballed on us in the second half. Having such a tough loss in the final really made us work that much harder to get back here and to win it. It was going to take a total team effort to pull out a win and that's what we got."
With the Lady Ghosts double-teaming Shuster at every opportunity, the Patriots needed to knock down outside shots to stretch the defense. Star Vorabouth hit one, then Arianna Polifonte got into the act with one as Wayne Hills took the lead into the second quarter. With her quick release from the wing, Polifonte had the hot hand through the first three quarters. She hit a pair of threes with Vorabouth, Shuster, and Chara Sysounthone also added to the three-point barrage in the second quarter that gave the Patriots a 24-17 halftime lead.
"I knew with the attention (Shuster) would get from their defense that I had to step up and hit some shots," said Polifonte.
Memories of last year's halftime lead crept into the minds of the Patriots, but they used that as motivation to not let it happen again.
"We focused on staying together and keeping our composure," said Shuster. "We knew they were going to make a run at some point, but we really focused on trying to play confident and build our lead in the third quarter so that if they did make a comeback, it would be harder to do."
Wayne Hills' Star Vorabouth scored five of her eight points in the third quarter.
The Patriots did not sit back and came out firing in the third quarter. Polifonte added two more three-pointers and Shuster finally started to gain some rhythm with a putback and a corner three. While they did not show up in the box score, the ability of Sysounthone to handle the Lady Ghosts' pressure defense and the lights out defense played by senior Jailyn James allowed the Patriots to stretch their lead. James held Paterson Eastside's leading scorer Neveah Banks scoreless for just the second time in her career. When Sysounthone banked the long, high-arcing three from a tough angle at the buzzer, the Patriots had their largest lead and all the momentum heading into the fourth quarter, 45-31.
"No matter what they were going to press us, so it was really important to stay calm and make the right play once we broke their pressure," said Sysounthone. "Last year, they controlled the pace of the game and they ended up taking control. We just had to block out everything and take control of everything that happens on the court, which started with handling their press."
As long as there was time on the clock, the Lady Ghosts kept fighting. Surprisingly, it was a pair of freshmen who led them on the comeback trail. Jhy'Deisha Stewart hit two huge threes and Aubrey Newell added a breakaway layup and a three to slice the Patriots' lead all the way down to two points. With a chance to tie or take the lead another freshman Jianni Dickson drove the lane and got fouled with 38.7 seconds to play. Unfortunately, she cramped up when going to the ground and was forced to come out of the game. This set forth a chaotic ending to an already wild contest.
Yet another freshman, Khori Muckle, came off the bench and hit one of two free-throws to trim the lead to a single point. After a pair of misses at the line for Wayne Hills, Paterson Eastside had the ball down one with a chance to take the lead. The potential go-ahead shot was off with Shuster grabbing the rebound and Sysounthone getting fouled. She stepped to the foul line and calmly swished both free-throws to make it 50-47.
After a timeout, Paterson Eastside quickly got the ball up the court and hoisted up a game-tying three-pointer. The shot was long with Shuster grabbing the rebound and dribbling downcourt. But her turnover at mid-court gave the Lady Ghosts one last opportunity to send the game to overtime. They got a good look from the wing, but it was also just long. Shuster hustled back to grab the rebound with three seconds left before dribbling out the clock on one of the biggest wins in the history of the Patriots' girls basketball program as they won their first Passaic County title since 1982.
Despite a rough day at the foul line, Shuster managed her customary double-double for Wayne Hills (17-8) with 16 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. She leads all of North Jersey in double-doubles and has remarkably had at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in 18 straight games. Polifonte more than doubled her scoring average for the season with a 15-points effort, all of which came from beyond the three-point arc. Vorabouth and Sysounthone added eight and seven points, respectively.
Newell led the way with 17 points for Paterson Eastside (20-4).
A mixture of elation and relief was written all over the faces of the Patriot players. Finally getting the chance to celebrate was one they this team knows they will take with them for the rest of their lives.
"I'm so excited for our team and our coaches because we've worked so hard every day for this," added Shuster. "I'm so happy and so proud of everyone. My fellow captain (James) and I have been playing together since we were like 4. It was so special to have each other and work together towards this goal of being a county champion."
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