OLD TAPPAN - A pair of higher seeded teams got past their opponents in the Round of 16 en route to come from behind victories Saturday afternoon. No. 4 NV/Old Tappan and No. 13 Mahwah were neck and neck through much of the first half, but the Golden Knights came away with a 39-34 win. No. 7 River Dell and No. 10 Pascack Valley were tied 20-20 heading into intermission of their game, but the Golden Hawks earned a 42-35 victory.

Old Tappan got balanced scoring from six different players, led by 12 points from junior Sadie Murphy. The Thunderbirds were led by sophomore Harper Cohn, who led all scorers with 18.

After the two teams’ defenses shut down the opponent with superb defense early on, Mahwah senior Bella Moffit hit a long range 3-pointer to put the first points on the board midway through the first quarter. The Knights countered with a putback by junior Sienna Drullinsky and Murphy’s first 3-pointer gave OT the lead, 5-3.

Mahwah took back the lead early in the second quarter when junior Ava Comer swished a 3-pointer and Cohn followed with a coast-to-coast reverse layup to give the Thunderbirds an 11-9 advantage.

“She’s an extremely hard worker,” Mahwah coach Kerin Roche said of Cohn. “She’s in the gym day in and day out all year round. She’s very coachable and her will to win is extraordinary. It’s something I respect about her. She gives this effort every game.”

The teams traded points and with a minute to go in the first half Murphy drained a pair of treys, sandwiched around a basket by Cohn to post OT to an 18-13 lead. 

Old Tappan maintained the lead throughout the third quarter and back-to-back 3-pointers by junior Mia Derrico and junior Nina Caunedo helped boost the Knights lead to seven, 29-22 heading into the fourth quarter.

Three minutes into the final frame Thunderbirds junior Emma Jordan, who was all over the floor running down loose balls tallied a 3-point play.

“She’s always like that,” Roche said. “They all kind of bring the same energy every single game. Emma’s a junior so she’ll be coming back next year and she works extremely hard. You tell her to do something and she does it exactly how you say to do it. With her there is no backing down. No matter who is guarding her or who she is up against she’s going to find a way to do it.”

On the subsequent Knights possession Cohn stole the ball, sprinted down the court and hit a side jumper to cut the Knights lead to 32-29.

But Murphy came to the rescue again with another trey to boost the lead back up to six, 35-29. 

Two free throws by Jordan and a basket by Cohn brought Mahwah within two, 35-33, but a basket by Knights sophomore Alivia Badurina grew the lead to four. Cohn added a free throw to Mahwah’s total but Derrico drained a pair of free throws with 11.7 seconds left to seal the win.

“It was not our best overall performance,” said Knights coach Brian Dunn. “It was a good effort but not a great performance.
It mostly had to do with the other team. They played really aggressive and tough, had some size and took us out of some things we wanted to do. They did a good job of taking us out of our game.”

Old Tappan moves on to play No. 5 Ramapo, 53-21 winners over No. 12 Ramsey, in the Elite Eight next Saturday at NV/Demarest High School.

Pascack Valley coach Jeff Jasper did a magnificent job juggling his lineup against River Dell, as the Panthers were missing their two best offensive players, seniors Ava Burke and Celina Bussanich. 

“I can’t be prouder of my kids,” Jasper said. “They showed grit, toughness and spunk. [Sophomore] Raina Gibbs was awesome. [Juniors] Riley Hirsch and Sophia Dalton, and [sophomores] Danny Regula and Alex Kesselman were more than good. Their effort was off the charts.”

Despite the shortfall of personnel, Pascack Valley came out fast, running out to a 14-5 lead in the first quarter. Gibbs tallied 10 of her game-high 24 points and Regula and freshman Keira O’Cathain added a bucket apiece as the Valley offense was humming.

“We played them early on and I knew it was going to be a different game,” said Hawks coach Lindsay Steffner. “I knew they improved a lot. They have been playing good basketball recently. Their big kids are rebounding and getting putbacks, their guards handle the ball very well - they don’t turn the ball over. It made us play a little bit differently on defense. PV is always tough.”

River Dell senior Kasey Ziegler canned 3-of-4 free throws, junior Alexa DePol scored on a putback and senior Morgan Sconza hit a jumper as the Hawks climbed back to within two, 14-12, as the first quarter ended.

DePol drained a three, sophomore Siena Riecken hit a jump shot and Sconza hit a 3-pointer to give River Dell the lead, 20-14, midway through the second quarter.

“Morgan is a First Team All-County kid for a reason,” Steffner said. “Anytime she puts up a shot there is a very high percentage that it’s going in.”

Gibbs swished a three to close the gap but Riecken answered with a basket from in close. Dalton canned a free throw and followed that up with a basket to draw Valley within two, 22-20, with less than a minute to go in the first half. Valley sophomore Emma Costello hit a jumper with 17 seconds to go and the teams went to intermission tied, 22-22.

“Anytime you go against Coach Jasper you know it’s going to be a great game,” said Steffner. “They have a lot of kids who can come off the bench and do great things for him. When you have two seniors out, that's an emotional game for them and someone has to step up for them. Gibbs stepped up big time and made some crucial shots to keep them in it.” 

The Hawks came out flying with an 8-0 run to open the second half. DePol drained a three, junior Val Visconti hit a side jumper and Sconza hit another 3-pointer.

“We knew at halftime we would have to turn things around,” said Sconza. “It was 22-22 so we knew we had to go out there and just play basketball. And that’s exactly what we did. We executed and got easy shots.”

Gibbs countered with a pair of 3-pointers a minute apart and Valley fought back to trail by two, 30-28.

“[Sophomore] Dalia Interiano did a great job on Raina Gibbs, who had a great game,” said Steffner. “We knew that two of their best players were out so we had to stop her. We did a great job of getting over screens and being in good helpside. We did a great job of rebounding and pushing it down the floor.”

That was as close as the Panthers would get as the Hawks outscored Valley 12-7 the rest of the way.

“We have a good inside-outside game,” Steffner said. “The big kids are always battling inside and we have guards that can knock down shots. Alexa DePol was a post player last year and we put her on the wing this year. She’s put on a phenomenal shooting display this year. Dalia (Interiano) is quick. She can shoot the ball and is a great passer. She’s doing a really good job and her defense kept us in this game. She really did a great job overall. Gibbs hit some tough shots but she hit those shots with a hand in her face.”

“PV is a great team and we knew we would have to come out firing from the very beginning,” said Sconza. “We have trust in our teammates and we knew we would have the advantage in size so we were ready to get it inside. We did a great job of executing the ball. The guards made big shots and we did a great job of going up hard in the post.”

River Dell moves on to play No. 2 seeded Teaneck, 55-39 winners over No. 15 Westwood, in the Elite Eight next Saturday at NV/Demarest High School.

The other teams who moved on to the Elite Eight are Saddle River Day, Immaculate Heart Academy, NV/Demarest and Glen Rock.

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