Jules Batelli is one of just two seniors on the roster for Westwood, which advanced to the Round of 16 in the Bergen County Tournament with a 41-28 win over Paramus on Thursday night.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP - Junior Cameron Roche poured in 29 points as the Cardinals ran past Paramus, 41-28, in the opening round of the Bergen County Women Coaches 51st annual basketball tournament on Thursday night.
"She is the main focus of the offense, without a doubt," said Westwood coach Charles Collis. "But what is nice is that some kids have definitely picked it up. Bria Charles didn't have a great game offensively, she's been scoring about 12 points a game as a freshman, but she did a lot of good things defensively."
Spartans senior forward Eve Schumucker was also on fire, scoring 10 of her team-high 16 points in the first half to keep Paramus close.
Freshman Sophia Collis drained a 3-pointer to open the second quarter to give Westwood a 16-6 lead, but Schumacher canned a trey and 40 seconds later drove and scored to cut the lead to 16-11. A minute later sophomore guard Yusa Hirai hit a jumper and the Spartans trailed by only three, 16-13.
Roche then hit on a long 3-pointer to get Westwood back on track.
"We just had to stay calm," Roche said. "I thought we did a good job today under pressure, even with the trapping at the beginning of the game. Everyone, including the underclassmen, did a good job of taking care of the ball."
Collis utilized 9 players, four of them freshman throughout the game. Aside from Roche and senior Jules Batelli everyone else who played was a freshman or sophomore.
"We have a lot of freshmen this year so we're a young team," Roche said. "Coming into this year we knew we were inexperienced so we just try to help the younger players whenever we can. We're doing pretty well with that. They're very skilled."
"We've actually had five different starting lineups," added Collis. "Sometimes we go with a matchup or we go with a kid that's playing well. Those are the two biggest driving factors. We're trying to keep a lot of kids fresh - we think defense is super important. When we're focused on the other team's best or second best player we try to rotate the kids so they can play the best defense possible to shut those kids down."
As the first half was coming to a close Cardinals sophomore Leah Olives took a pass from Batelli for an easy layup just before the buzzer sounded. It was the first of several easy baskets for the Cardinals.
"We moved the ball really well," Roche said. "We really see each other. We have such a good connection outside of basketball too. We have such a close bond it helps us play."
The defenses dominated a 4:14 stretch in the third quarter when neither team scored a point. Roche broke through with a pair of free throws with 26.7 seconds left to end the drought and boost Westwood's lead to 31-22.
"That's what I was happy with today," Collis said of his defense. "We've been averaging 50 points a game and we didn't score 50 tonight but I was proud of the defense. During that lull we weren't scoring but we were able to shut them down from scoring. That's something we've been preaching to this group - if we stop them on 'D' the offense will take care of itself. What's really nice is that some kids can play great 'D.'
Cam (Roche) gets tips and steals left and right, Bria (Charles) is getting tips and steals and other kids have taken on a role and embraced it."
"We have some good defenders," added Roche. "Freshmen are stepping up, knowing their role. Their job is to play great defense and that's what they did."
Collis and his assistant coaches have been successful in motivating the young kids to stick with his program and continue to play for the Cardinals.
"The kids in town value basketball," he said. "We've been very lucky with that. They're very into it. We as a program try to make a very strong effort with camps and clinics, getting to know the kids and the parents so No. 1 they develop and No. 2 they stay here. We have IHA right in town and Demarest, with the Bergen County All Stars, are there too."
With the win Westwood improved to 12-4 and all four losses were to very good teams.
"We lost to River Dell, Ramapo and two really strong Morris County teams, Pope John and Mendham," said Collis. "Outside of one game all those games have been very competitive. Three of the four losses have been super competitive so I have been proud of this group coming together, meshing freshman to senior. The upper classmen have done a really good job of bringing them in, taking them under their wing."
Westwood will play Ridgewood in the next round of the tournament Saturday at 11:30 a.m. at Northern Valley/Old Tappan High School.
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