River Dell Varsity Girls Basketball team fourth quarter offensive eruption leads to win over Ramsey

The River Dell Golden Hawks Varsity Girls Basketball Team(5-1, 1-0 Big North Patriot) offense exploded in the fourth quarter, totaling 28 points that led to an impressive 62-48 victory over the Ramsey Rams(5-1, 0-1) in the Big North Patriot Division opener at Ramsey High School in Ramsey, New Jersey. Altogether, River Dell chalked up 44 second-half points.

Hope Arturi amassed 15 of her game/team high 21 points, including knocking down three of her five trifectas in the fourth quarter while Val Visconti supplied 19 points and Dalia Interiano tallied ten of her 18 points in the final frame.

River Dell Head Coach Lindsay Steffner on Hope Arturi’s offensive performance, “She was on fire for sure and matured a lot since last year on the court.” “She’s confident, responsive and understanding the game plan and where the pass needs to go and understanding defensively.” “It’s a total and major jump in her game since last year and I couldn’t be happier for anyone else and she’s such a good kid, really works hard and a gamer and came alive.”

River Dell trailed 38-34 entering the fourth quarter when Hope Arturi canned her third triple of the game 15 seconds in. The Golden Hawks were down 41-37 when Dalia Interiano provided a spark with back-to-back layups, coupled with four points from Val Visconti, that ignited an 8-0 run.

“It’s just again the maturity, patience and resiliency,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner described. “When things aren’t going your way, you call a couple of plays and that’s where Dalia gets the confidence going.” “She’s one of the quickest guards we’ve had a in a long time to the get to the rim and read the defense right.”

“I had no problem with her shot selection, she can hit the long ball, get to the rim and reads and sees the court very well.” “She’s the complete player right now defensively as long as she moves her feet and she’s really a hard defensive player to go by.”

After Ramsey went briefly up 46-45 on Kylie Bahn burying a pearl, River Dell answered back in emphatic fashion with Hope Arturi scoring eight points that included back-to-back jumpers from downtown. Dalia Interiano capped off the spectacular 11-0 spurt on a jump shot with less than two minutes remaining. The Golden Hawks displayed unselfishness on the offensive end, distributing the ball to everyone on the court, which led to points in the paint and down in the low post.

“I talked to them a lot about strategy, learning the game as much as possible that grows the game and makes them better athletes and understanding what our game plan is,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner explained. “We talked about if they’re going to play in a zone we needed to be able in the right spots for passes, for the shots and we make some shots that they go back to a man-to-man.” “I say who’s going to guard us now, what are they going to take away, who is the weakest link and where are they going to attack.”

“If there’s no weak link, it only makes us stronger, and Hope showed that they’re going to play zone and we have great shooters, and with Lex(Alexa De Pol) on the bench, she took that moment to shine, and it couldn’t have been at a better time for us.

“There was one point I leaned over to my coaches and said that’s the most patient we’ve been all year.” “It was crucial to make Ramsey play defense at that point and for us to wait for the higher percentage shot that we wanted.” “I always tell them there are certain momentum shifts in the game.”

The Golden Hawks exhibited a tenacious defense in the final four to five minutes of action, limiting the Rams to two points, clogging the passing lanes, contesting jump shots and layups, and blocking shots. Ramsey’s Emily Swierk, firing on all cylinders offensively through three quarters of play, netting 14 points, was held to five in the fourth.

“I put Emma(Yeandle) on number 30(Emily Sweirk) who at that point was having an aggressive game and Emma had fresh legs and kept in front of her and she did an excellent job,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner noted.” “Especially with Dalia being in foul trouble, we were able to change our matchups around and made a big difference at that point in the game, and our fitness was where it needed to be.”

Down the stretch, River Dell was able to maintain a double-digit lead and close out the game at the free throw line with Hope Arturi converting four free throws and Dalia Interiano splashing a pair of shots.

Once the third quarter commenced, the Golden Hawks quickly faced a 27-18 deficit but were able to ignite a rebuttal and stay within striking distance, attributed to the exceptional offensive style of Dalia Interiano, consistently attacking the basket and driving to the rim for layups that led to Interiano finishing with eight points in the period.

With the early tip-off, both teams struggled to get into an offensive rhythm in the first quarter. Ramsey managed to take a 10-8 lead at the end. Val Visconti provided the bulk of the offense for River Dell, racking up six points.

In the second quarter, the Rams extended their advantage to 15-8 with Emily Swierk and Keira Doughterty combining to score ten points.

The Golden Hawks answered back with a 9-3 run to take the lead as Val Visconti continued to be relentless in the down low, muscling her way to the hoop for layups and converting an and one. Dalia Interiano hit a jump shot to put River Dell up 18-17.

“Val was very impressive, she kept her composure and had some major rebounds,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner cited.

However, Ramsey ended the first half on a 6-0 blitz to reclaim the lead heading into the locker room at halftime.

River Dell returns home for the first time since December17th, 2025, and squaring off against the Westwood Cardinals(4-2) with tip off set for 7 p.m. at River Dell High School in Oradell, New Jersey.

“Our girls were very happy about the win against Ramsey,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner mentioned. “We have prepared a lot for Westwood in practice and reviewed a bunch of stuff and how we’re going to try to attack them.” “There’s a nice little rivalry between Westwood and River Dell between football, basketball and other sports and it’s come alive over the years, and our girls are excited about it and we just hope that we have the home court advantage with the fans there.”