Layla Giordano finished with a game-high 26 points as NV/Old Tappan advanced to the North 1, Group 3 state sectional fina with a 61-58 win over Ramapo.

OLD TAPPAN – It was high level high school girls basketball between two rivals that always seem to find each other in the deepest reaches of the state playoffs and the matchup rarely disappoints. This one certainly did not as it was not decided until Ramapo’s last shot, a rushed and contested heave from the logo, hit the inside of the rim, went halfway down the cylinder and then was flushed out by centrifugal force.

When that final effort spun up and away, Northern Valley/Old Tappan took a deep breath and its place in the North 1, Group 3 state sectional final with a 61-58 win over Ramapo on Tuesday afternoon in Old Tappan. The Golden Knights will play top-seeded Teaneck, a winner over NV/Demarest, in the section final on Saturday in Teaneck.

While physics worked in Old Tappan’s favor this time around, while Ramapo’s last shot was deciding whether it wanted to go in or not, senior Maya Giordano was having one of those been-here-before-moments.

“The first thing I was thinking about was our sophomore year. The same shot, the same round and she made it; Jules Vassallo of Pascack Valley,” said Giordano, who was talking about THIS GAME. “It was the exact same thing so this was really nerve-wracking and I am glad we came out with the win.”

Ramapo had lost just one game to a public school all season, and that was to Old Tappan in the second game of the season back on December 16. The Raiders came in on a seven-game winning streak and had just held rival Northern Highlands to 34 total points in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

And then then they fell behind 10-0 in the first three minutes of the game and were on the verge of getting bullied out of the gym by Old Tappan’s aggressive style.

“I wasn’t worried. I said, ‘We are good,’ we just had to make that first shot and settled in. We had some looks,” said Ramapo head coach Sandy Gordon. “We didn’t back down. This team is not built that way.”

Cayla Menacola had 21 points for Ramapo, which finished the season with a 24-4 record.

Toni Pernetti’s 3-pointer from the top of the key got Ramapo on the board and the chase was on. Cayla Menacola, a 1,000-point scorer and one of only two seniors on the Raiders’ roster, hit one from the top of the arc to draw her team to within 18-15 at the end of the first quarter.

It was a pretty wild first half and example was a two-minute stretch in the second quarter that included a technical foul against Old Tappan and a five-point trip on another Ramapo possession. With 4:07 left in the half Camden Epstein scored on the fastbreak off an assist from Maddie Saxton and Epstein added a technical free throw after an NVOT turnover, a loose ball scrum and some magic words.

Ramapo trailed by just a point, 22-21, after all of that before the Golden Knights extended back out to a six-point lead on an Alivia Badurina three-pointer and Layla Giordano fastbreak layup.

At the other end as Pernetti went up for a 3-pointer that ultimately went, Old Tappan was called for a foul for trying to fight through the screen that got Pernetti open. The basket was good, Ramapo retained possession and Ella Saxton, Ramapo’s other senior, made it hurt with a long 2 that made it a one-point game.

For all of its hard work, Ramapo never led in the first half, trailed 33-29 at halftime and by six after a Grayson Housley steal and layup put Old Tappan up 43-37 with 2:51 left in the third, but the Raiders closed the period with a 13-2 run to grab a 50-45 advantage heading into the final quarter. Menacola scored the last five points of that spurt with a tough runner and a conventional 3-point play that was the result of her hustling out in transition.

Just when it seemed like Ramapo had the momentum, Layla Giordano seized it right back with a 3-point play to open the fourth quarter scoring and Old Tappan locked down defensively, piecing together an 11-1 run that lasted all the way into the final minute of regulation.

Freshman Alivia Badurina scored 8 points of the bench, including the 3-pointer that gave Old Tappan the lead for good..

“Both teams played really well. I kept busting my kids chops that they needed to defend better, but the truth was [Ramapo] made some tough shots and executed some stuff really well. They were tough to defend. They hit some big shots against us,” said Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn. “A big thing was that we rebounded well in the fourth quarter. We didn’t give them second looks, except for in the last minute, and we can defend well when we are locked in and focused.”

It was Badurina, a freshman, who hit the 3-pointer from the corner with 4:13 left that put Old Tappan back in front for good, 52-50.

“I was very, very nervous, but in a situation like that you just know that you have to knock down that shot,” said Badurina. “When I got the ball I was ready and I was like, ‘This is the one.’ And, bang, I got it.”

Old Tappan was up 57-51 after Housley made a free throw with 58 seconds left and Ramapo still had not made a fourth quarter field goal. That finally changed when Menacola cleaned up some loose change on the baseline with 49 seconds left and she scored again from the baseline with 21 seconds left to cut the Ramapo deficit to 59-55.

Old Tappan then made one and missed one from the stripe before fouling Epstein as she rose up for a 3-pointer inside the final 10 seconds. Epstein made all three to make it a two-point game, before Maya Giordano missed the first from the stripe at the other end with four seconds to go in a two point game.

That was when her twin sister, Layla, paid a visit to the foul line.

“She gave me some tough love, First she said, ‘You got this,” said Maya. “And then she said, ‘You better make this right now.”

She did to bump the lead back up to four as Ramapo sped down the court. Epstein, who was brilliant all game against Old Tappan’s unyielding man-to-man, looked for a tying shot from the wing, but was cut off. She shoveled the ball to LeeAnn Downey, who picked it up and launched at the buzzer. The ball could not have been closer to going in, but after taking a peek down the cylinder, it decided to make a U-Turn and it is second-seeded Old Tappan that is heading to the final where it will play league rival Teaneck in a 1:00 p.m. start on Saturday.

Menacola, who recently signed to play at Haverford College next year, lead three Ramapo starters in double figures with 21. Epstein added 18, Pernetti finished with 10 and the Saxton sister, Ella (2), Grace (5) and Maddie (2) rounded out the rest of the scoring for the Raiders, who finished the season at 24-4.

The Giordano sisters led the way for the Knights with Layla Giordano leading all scorers with 26 and Maya adding 13. Badurina made two of OT’s three 3-pointers and had 8 points off the bench. Housley and Mia Derrico each had 5 and Sienna Drullinsky, who made a host of key plays defensively, had the other 4 points for Old Tappan, which improved to 23-6.

“This is the first time we have made it [to the section final] since we have been here and we are really excited,” said Maya Giordano. “We are ready. We are going to prepare and we are playing really good basketball right now.”

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