HILLSDALE - Pascack Valley jumped out to a 13-2 first quarter lead en route to a 42-23 victory over Northern Highlands in the opening round of the 50th Bergen County Women's Coaches Association Basketball Championship on Thursday afternoon.
“We decided to come out with a full court press early,” said Panthers sophomore Raina Gibbs, who led all scorers with 15 points. “We normally pick up full court man but we never do a zone press. So we came out with a diamond and I think it worked. We have really quick guards and they were able to get their hands in early and we were able to convert on the offensive end with fast break layups.”
Valley senior Celina Bussanich drained a 3-pointer 20 seconds into the game and a minute later Highlander senior Chelsea Barker scored on a put-back. On the next possession Bussanich drove and scored to begin a 22-second, 7-0 run fueled by that full court press.
Gibbs scored from in close off a steal, and sophomore Danielle Regula swished a trey off another steal, prompting a quick timeout called by Highlands coach Mike Kilgallen.
After the timeout the Highlanders had a number of offensive possessions that resulted in a missed shot and ball possession going to Valley.
“Sometimes we don’t shoot well,” Kilgallen said. “We tell them the only thing we can expect from them is a great attitude, good communication and that they just play their tails off. And they do that every day. We can’t expect all the shots to go down. We love the shots we got tonight. I think we got really good shots and they made really good decisions with the ball. It was one of those days where the shots didn’t go down and #22 for them (Gibbs) was special today.”
Gibbs made it 13-2 with one of her four 3-pointers and then the Highlanders shut Valley down the rest of the quarter and Barker’s last-second trey trimmed the PV lead to 13-5 heading into the second quarter.
“The way that we’ve been competitive this year,” Kilgallen said, “because we are inexperienced in terms of kids with varsity experience on the floor, is that we’re going to play hard and we’re going to play good defense. We’ve been able to do this; these kids work so hard - they do anything we ask. Sometimes we’ll play a zone where we’re taking away the paint. Sometimes we’ll play zone a totally different way.
Sometimes we’ll play man where we’re face-guarding one guy. We play a million different styles of defense and they’re just incredible. It’s one of the best groups of kids I’ve been around my entire life.”
The 7-5 second quarter featured strong defense by the two teams. Gibbs hit another 3-pointer early on and the only other basket was scored by Highlander junior Jackie Citera. The balance of the scoring was from free throws.
“After the first quarter they came out with a triangle-and-two guarding me and our point guard Celina (Bussanich),” Gibbs said. “So our game plan was to set screens and get other people open. Eventually I just got myself open after setting screens, and back cuts and all that. I’ve been on a bit of a shooting slump lately so it was really great to hit a three early and get our team back to where it should be.”
Missing for the Panthers was senior Ava Burke who was out due to illness.
“Ava is one of our best players - she does a lot for our team,” Gibbs said. “She does a lot for us rebounding, assisting shooting, she does everything a teammate should do. It was really a struggle to play without her but I think the rest of the team stepped up and did what they had to do to fill her spot.”
“Without Ava,” added Valley coach Jeff Jasper, “we don’t have anybody who can score like she does, rebound like she does, pass the ball like she does and that means we have to fill those roles with four people. So in this game we had to speed it up to take advantage of what we can do - which is our speed.”
Highlands trimmed a 20-10 halftime deficit in the third quarter when Barker and Citera scored to make it 20-14. Three minutes later, spurred by their defense, the Panthers increased a 23-16 lead to 32-16 and basically put the game out of reach.
Regula got things going with a drive to the basket.
“At halftime we told Danielle (Regula), ‘we know you’re good enough to score points so go to the basket.’ She did some of those things.”
Bussanich did some of her own things too, canning a 3-pointer and driving to the basket off a steal. Sophomore Emma Costello hit a jumper and Valley was on its way to the second round of the tournament.
“I think we move the ball really fast and we’re not a selfish team at all,” Gibbs said. “If you don’t have that first shot we look to get each other shots and I think that’s what I benefit from.”
Bussanich finished with 14 points and Regula contributed 9. Barker led the Highlanders with 7 points, while Citera and sophomore Catherine Main chipped in with 4 points apiece.
“We're a really hands on, pass aggressive team,” said Gibbs. “If we can get our hands on the ball we’re going to push and use that energy. Our pressing startled them and made them a little shaky. We used that to our benefit.”
TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT OF THIS STORY PLEASE VISIT 4-FeetGrafix.com.
