River Dell Varsity Girls Basketball Team shows grit and tenacity in a loss to Ramapo

Despite a challenging match-up against the Ramapo Raiders, the River Dell Golden Hawks Varsity Girls Basketball Team(9-3, 5-0 Big North Patriot) demonstrated their resilience, fighting hard in a 51-43 loss at River Dell High School in Oradell, New Jersey.

Morgan Sconza totaled a game-high 13 points, while Dalia Interiano and Kasey Ziegler each netted 10 points.

"It's a great barometer and I don't walk away from this game with us holding our heads down and we competed and just came up short," River Dell Head Coach Lindsay Steffner explained. "I think we learned a lot from this game and it's very eye opening and to see where our program has gotten to, and Ramapo has two kids on their team that are first team all-county."

"We did a pretty good job against them, and we had to change defenses and handled their pressure and scored against them when we needed to, and I feel pretty confident on how we played."

Ramapo quickly surged to a 12-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. The Raiders utilized their size and length to drive into the paint for layups. River Dell struggled to put the ball in the basket, and the first points of the game did not occur until the four-minute mark.

"Ramapo just came out and really picked our defense apart which really slowed us down a little bit," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner described. "They were very deliberate with their approach and executed very well and found some weaknesses in our defense."

In the second quarter, Ramapo widened its advantage to 19-6, but the Golden Hawks ignited a rebuttal with back-to-back buckets by Morgan Sconza and Val Visconti, trimming the deficit to single digits. Once halftime rolled around, River Dell closed the gap to 22-15.

"We switched up defenses a little bit that kept them off and just changed up things on them," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner noted. "That was kind of the tipping point of the game, and we started getting more confident in our offensive strategy."

"It was critical that the players could play against Ramapo and the game wasn't over and we showed a lot of fight to come back." "At halftime we discussed it's just a matter of clawing and fighting back and executing on offense and keep getting as many stops as we can on defense."

The Golden Hawks carried the momentum from the second quarter into the third, going on a 7-2 run that was capped off by a trifecta from Dalia Interiano.

River Dell's stifling defense wreaked havoc, causing the Raiders to commit turnovers and put their offense out of sync. Ramapo still managed to hold on to the lead, 33-26, heading into the final frame. LeeAnn Downey hit a dazzling half-court three-point shot at the buzzer off an initial inbounds play by the Golden Hawks, and then Arianna Furnari made a steal and fed a pass to Downey.

"That half-court shot really helped shift the momentum and if we just executed that play and cut it down to three instead it's flipped around and now a six-point game and stung a little bit," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner noted.

In the fourth quarter, the Raiders extended their advantage to 37-28 as a potent full-court press resulted in River Dell turning the ball over, resulting in transition and fast-break points for the Ramapo.

Despite the miscues and missed shots from the perimeter, the Golden Hawks kept within striking distance as Morgan Sconza tallied six points while Dalia Interiano added five points.

"We haven't been in a tough situation like that where we've been behind and having to execute fouling, making baskets, coming off screens and hitting quick shots and getting offensive readouts," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner stated. "That was a great game to be in a situation where the pressure is on to win, and we battled." "We had some nice open looks that we unfortunately missed but the fact we were able to get them in time."

"Dalia(Interiano) is very skilled and in time you're going to see her game get better and better and grow." "She's a nice compliment to Morgan(Sconza) and they work very well together." "Dalia is extremely quick and can get to the rim and over time will gain more confidence in the ability with her outside shot and a very good outside shooter."

Down the stretch, the game evolved into a free-throw shooting contest with the Raiders capitalizing as leading scorer Camden Epstein((26 points) sank 8 of 10 shots from the line while Toni Pernetti(12 points) converted three out of four that enabled Ramapo to hold on for the victory.

"With the new rule of not having the one on one hurt us in that situation," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner cited. "You have to give Ramapo credit; their kids made the foul shots when they needed to." "We played a solid last three minutes to keep within reach but just came up short on two or three possessions."

"My message to the team was we probably could have found six possessions where we didn't execute on a layup, offensive rebound or on defense and they took advantage and didn't go our way in that situation."

River Dell returns to the hardwood court on Tuesday, January 28th, at Paramus Catholic(7-8, 1-2 Big North United), with tip-off set for 7 p.m., followed by another tough match-up at Ramsey on January 30th, also with a 7 p.m. start. More importantly, the seedings and brackets will be unveiled for the Bergen County Tournament.

"This is the last weekend where we can breathe a little bit because it's going to get fast and furious," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner remarked. "We're on the road against really tough opponents." "Paramus Catholic is a very athletic and competitive team."

"Depending on the seeding coming up and shakes out at the end of the week if we're in the top eight we get a bye and if not, we have to play." "We're going to see how this kind of plays out and lots of scouting and games to watch."

"We have to think about our defense, making adjustments the second time around in the league and this is the fun part of the season." "We had a nice long talk about where our goals are right now, what we want to and showcase what we are and in a really good spot right now."