Taylor Miller did the work inside for NV/Demarest, which advanced to the North 1, Group 3 state sectional quarterfinals with a 79-66 win over River Dell.
ORADELL - NV/Demarest opened the second quarter with a 10-2 run to take the lead for good in a 79-66 victory over River Dell in the quarterfinals of the North 1, Group 3 state tournament on Tuesday night.
“We said they’re going to come after us,” said NV/Demarest sophomore sharpshooter Gabriella Mittleman. “They want the win but we want it more - we’re the lower seed. We’re meant to be here with all the hard work we put in. So we came together and said, ‘let’s go do it’ and get to the next round.”
Norsewomen junior Angie Tirado drove to the basket and scored to break a 19-19 tie to start an onslaught where NV/Demarest outscored the Golden Hawks 27-9 in the second quarter to grab a 41-26 lead at halftime. The Demarest offense fed senior Taylor Miller in close for easy scores three times during the run.
“She’s that dynamic player that we need,” said NV/Demarest coach Jenny Jurjevic. “She has a bit of an outside presence and more of an inside presence - defense and offense. When you have a player like that it changes the complete dynamic of the team for sure.”
“I’m starting to take advantage of my size,” said Miller, who finished with 8 points, 2 blocks and 2 rebounds. “There are not many 6-footers in the league so I have to take advantage of that. I’m starting to build my confidence a little more - starting to cut in, find the open pass and try to shoot a little more.”
The Norsewomen didn’t just get points from Miller. Tirado and Mittleman hit jumpers and three-pointers to contribute 9 and 7 points, respectively, in that high-scoring second quarter.
“We just work together and trust each other,” said Mittleman, who had five three-pointers in the game. ”This past week we’ve been working on our offense, our sets, making sure everything connects together. I found my shots.”
“She was on tonight,” said Miller. “She’s a really good shooter. I always trust that she’s going to make it so most of the time I don’t even have to go in to rebound for her.”
River Dell began chipping away at the large NV/Demarest lead with about two minutes to go in the third quarter. Senior Sofia Sanchez hit a shot and junior Kasey Ziegler added a free throw. Sophomore Alexa DePol scored and Sanchez added a pair of free throws. With less than a minute to go junior Morgan Sconza drove the lane and scooped and banked a shot off the glass and into the net as she tumbled out of bounds.
Norsewomen freshman Deana Finkelstein, who finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds in the game, drove and scored to end the run and NV/Demarest headed to the fourth quarter up by 15, 58-43. The two teams battled throughout the fourth quarter, going back and forth exchanging points. River Dell closed to within 9, 71-62, on a three-point play by Sconza, but could not get any closer.
“We moved the ball - we took open shots,” said Jurjevic. “I don’t think anyone was selfish today. We worked three sides of the court before we pulled the trigger. River Dell did an excellent job of taking away our transition. So we had to settle for our secondary which I thought was the game plan that won us the game.”
Tirado led all scorers with 27 points and had 3 steals and 3 assists. Mittleman finished with 26 points and 7 assists. Sanchez led the Golden Hawks with 25 points, Sconza added 17 and Ziegler contributed 16. NV/Demarest travels to Teaneck to play the Highwaywomen in the tournament semifinals Thursday night. The teams have split two meetings this season.
“They’re all really good players,” said Miller. “They’re all good shooters, they’re very quick and relentless, they’re very scrappy so I think we really have to work the ball. We can’t take contested shots. We have to have a tough defense against them. They’re a tough team - they drive, they shoot, they do it all.”
TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY PLEASE VISIT 4-FeetGrafix.com.
