Junior Sienna Drullinsky scored a game-high 18 points for Old Tappan, which handed rival Demarest its first loss of the season, 59-51, on Thursday afternoon.
OLD TAPPAN – Northern Valley/Old Tappan (8-3) clamped down on defense and turned up the offense to knock rival NV/Demarest (10-1) from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 59-51 victory on Thursday afternoon.
“We all talked about how the defense had to be good,” said Old Tappan junior Sienna Drullinsky. “They are good, very athletic players so we talked about boxing out. We really wanted to defend so we tried our hardest.”
“Coach [Brian] Dunn is really strict about that,” added freshman Alexa Caunedo. “He’s constantly telling us to box out. He tells me to focus on that so when a shot goes up that’s exactly what we think of. It’s really benefited us - focusing on that.”
The Golden Knights never trailed, jumping out to a 9-1 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Drullinsky, Caunedo and junior Mia Derrico all scored from in close and junior Sadie Murphy swished a 3-pointer to put Old Tappan ahead early.
“We really work at getting the ball inside,” Caunedo said. “We really do have a lot of good shooters but we focus on getting it in. We’ve been practicing being more efficient on the post and that’s really helped us, especially in this game.”
But as they did throughout the game, Demarest went on a mini run, to come within 3 points, 12-9, when junior Gabby Mittleman, senior Angelina Tirado and sophomores Deana Finkelstein and Lila McElroy all scored from inside.
Old Tappan introduced its outside scoring prowess in the second quarter. Junior Nina Caunedo and sophomore Alivia Badurino drained back-to-back treys to boost the Knights lead to 22-14 and a minute later Drullinsky added a basket inside, prompting a Demarest timeout midway through the quarter.
When play resumed the Old Tappan defense picked up as the Knights held Demarest to a basket by Tirado and five free throws in the second quarter to carry a 29-18 into intermission. Drullinsky canned a pair of free throws 25 seconds into the second half but the Norsewomen went on a 7-0 run to cut the Old Tappan lead to six, 31-25.
Mittleman banged home a 3-pointer and then stole the ball and dribbled coast-to-coast for a layup. Then senior Chloe Poirot took a pass, went the length of the court and scored. After Murphy zipped a pass inside to Drullinsky for two points to slow the run, Poirot scored again and went to the line for a free throw.
“When Chloe [Poirot] was getting the ‘and-one’ I was telling my team we can’t let them get on a roll because their bench was getting really hyped up,” Alexa Caunedo said. “Their coach was trying to make them get on a run from that and I was like, ‘we can’t let it affect us.’ It was giving them momentum and we had to settle down.”
“We got the first basket and then they went on a run,” said Old Tappan head coach Brian Dunn. “They did that a couple of times in the [second] half, getting it down to six. But every time our kids came down we got a big bucket, or made a good play and got a stop. I was happy with our kids’ composure in those situations. That’s what you want in these games - that you learn how to answer the runs.”
With the Knights lead down to 6 points Alexa Caunedo went to work, taking a pass from Drullinsky for a basket and on the Knights’ next possession completing a three-point play. She said she doesn’t think much about being the only freshman among the starting five.
“I try not to think about that,” Alexa Caunedo said. “My coach always tells me you don’t want to try to be like a freshman. It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in for leadership. I just try to ignore that part (of being a freshman) and just play.”
“Lex is tremendous as a freshman with her size and composure,” Dunn said. “She’s a kid who wants to be good.”
Mittleman scored on a beautiful spin move, but Nina Caunedo drained a three to boost the lead back to 41-29. Demarest had another run in it and another Mittleman jumper, a pair of free throws by Tirado and a basket by freshman Caitlyn Fontana shrunk the Old Tappan lead down to six, 41-35.
“They get up and down the floor,” said Dunn. “They have five kids who can handle the ball, get to the rim and can shoot it.”
Alexa Caunedo added a pair of free throws before the third quarter ended and Badurina opened the fourth quarter with a trey to give Old Tappan an 11-point lead, its largest advantage of the game.
The balance of the quarter was mainly a free throw shooting contest until, with only 8.46 seconds left in the game, Tirado drained a 3-pointer.
Drullinsky led all scorers with 18 points, while Alexa Caunedo finished with 14. Mittleman was tops for Demarest with 17 and Tirado added 16.
“They were 10-0 and we really wanted to beat them,” Drullinsky said. “I think this is the best game we played. We really played our hearts out today. We wanted to beat them bad and it feels good.”
“I thought we did a good job of controlling them in transition,” said Dunn. “I think all our kids had to step their game up and do a good job. Obviously we did a good job on their two big scorers (Mittleman and Tirado) but the other kids are all legit players. I’m proud of our other kids who stepped up, not just Sienna (Drullinsky) and Mia (Derrico), but Sadie (Murphy), Alivia (Badurina) and Lex (Caunedo). And we got contributions from the kids off the bench. We have a couple of seniors (Mia Badurina, Katie Fitzhugh) who give us depth and know how to play. And we have some good young kids who can shoot the ball and are learning how to play.”
TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY PLEASE VISIT 4-FeetGrafix.com.
