The Alternative Press

PATERSON, NJ – The Lady Knights and Lady Ghosts both found themselves in tight, hard-fought contests in Saturday’s Passaic County Tournament quarterfinal action. But the two Paterson teams went down to defeat in heartbreaking contests.

Second-seeded Kennedy was unable to overcome the loss of its star player Kylla Champagne, who was out with a knee injury. The Lady Knights lost to the seventh-seeded Eastern Christian Eagles, 45-44.

The Eagles (15-2) had the taller inside presence and it showed as 6’3”, center Michelle Van Dyke consistently shot over the smaller Lady Knights (16-6) and jumped over them for rebounds. She finished with 26 points and 11 rebounds.

The smaller, scrappier Lady Knights used a variety of zones and man-to-man defenses to stymie the Eagles in the first two periods. But the Eagles’ interior strength allowed them to have a decided rebounding edge, which led to a 26-19 half-time score.

Sparked by Ahnyah Jackson (13 points) and Karyn Lawrence-Barrett (12 points), the Lady Knights offensive and defensive ball pressure increased in the second half, leading to several quick turnovers and easy baskets.

But Eagles coach Barry Veenstra wisely busted the Lady Knights’ momentum with time outs.

Kennedy coach Marquette Burgess was often heard on the sidelines reminding his players to “play harder and smarter.”

But Kennedy’s lack of consistent offensive and defensive rebounding down the stretch proved too much for the Lady Knights to overcome.

In the 11 am game, Wayne Hills guard Nickolette Driesse handed out five assists and pushed the first-half tempo with end-to-end romps through the Eastside girls’ interior defense to lead her team to a 50-47 victory.

The Eastside girls (8-8) responded to Wayne Hill’s penetrating guard play by tightening their interior defense, boxing out, crashing the defensive boards, and putting increased ball pressure on the Patriot’s guards.  Desiree Salas (9 points, 4 assists) and Kayla Diaz (5 assists, 2 steals) sparked the Lady Ghosts defensive revival in the early portions of the second half.

Anchored by Freshman Taylor Brown, the Lady Ghosts shut down the penetration of the Patriot’s point guards down the stretch with four blocks and brisk close-outs to open shooters which forced Wayne Hill’s into several turnovers including a steal with 12.2 seconds left in the game.

Taylor Brown (11 points) hit the two free throws and on the ensuing possession, but Patriots’ point guard Driesse hit a clutch three-pointer from the right baseline to seal the victory for Wayne Hills (15-4).

When asked about his team’s performance, Coach Ray Lyde, Jr. said, “Turnovers and lack of offensive rebounding hurt us.”

“We have four seniors, but we are a young team and we will get better,’’ he added. “We are learning to play together”

In the second game, DePaul Catholic’s (16-3) Jade Walker scored inside at will with a variety of pivot and power moves towards the basket as the Lady Spartans dominated the Wayne Valley Indians, 70-27.

Poor guard play put Wayne Valley (11-10) into an early 23-3 hole that spanned the first and second periods and despite a late defensive effort in the latter stages of the third period, Wayne Valley never really challenged in the game. Alicia Hester led all Wayne Valley scorers with 5 points.

DePaul Catholic coach Marcia Harper stated about her team’s performance, “Every possession is like gold…everybody on the bench knows their responsibility.” When asked about her liberal substitutions throughout the game, coach Harper responded, “We have fresh bodies on the bench…we have a deep bench and they stepped up and gave us a chance to win with good defensive intensity”

In the 3:30 game, Passaic County Tech defeated Clifton, 75-31.