River Dell Varsity Girls Basketball Team cruises past Holy Angels in the Adopt-A-Soldier Showcase

The River Dell Golden Hawks Varsity Girls Basketball Team(7-1) coasted to a 53-30 victory over Holy Angels at the Adopt-A-Soldier Showcase at Cresskill High School in Cresskill, New Jersey, and won their fourth game in a row.

Hope Arturi scored a game-high 15 points while Dalia Interiano chipped in with 12 points.

River Dell Head Coach Lindsay Steffner mentioned the importance of the team playing in the Adopt-A-Solder Showcase, "I appreciate the invite and kind of matchup where there are a lot of different benefits and other coaches starting to reach out to other teams involved." "This is our first year in this benefit game and very nicely done and organized by the Cresskill staff." 

An early tip-off at 10 a.m. saw both teams struggling to put the ball in the basket and missing numerous shots, but the Golden Hawks started to gain momentum and rhythm offensively as the quarter progressed, leading to a 10-3 score at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, River Dell quickly bumped up the margin to double digits at 16-6 behind the sizzling outside shooting by Hope Arturi, canning back-to-back trifectas.

The Golden Hawks continued to be on fire from behind the arc the rest of the quarter, with Hope Arturi burying her third trifecta and Emma Yeandle and Dalia Interiano adding triples. By the time halftime rolled around, River Dell held a comfortable 30-12 lead.

“We haven’t played a lot of zones this year and knew they were going to play a 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner described. “Usually because of the zone setup just slows a down a little bit but because of our shooting ability and you saw Emma, Hope and Dalia calm and collective knocking down threes.”

“You can see when Hope and Dalia get super excited for each other when they’re making shots and big plays for each other.” “This team has very good chemistry and really enjoy playing for each other and getting each other the extra shots.” “Every game somebody else has been stepping up and it’s been a fun first eight games.”

“You have Val and Maddie inside and collecting all the missed shots and even if we didn’t convert on them it’s exhausting to have try and battle that inside and what the game plan was know they’re going to play zone and just move the ball as much as possible and the shots were going to be there and take them and down them down.”

River Dell breathed a huge sigh of relief as Maddie Roth rolled her ankle and had to depart the game for a while, but after receiving treatment for the injury, she returned to the court.

“She’s one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coaches and she didn’t want to come out of the game,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner remarked. “She’s a strong kid and knows what injuries are like and for some kids it’s hard when they get their first injury and don’t know what to do and think they need to sit out.”

“You teach them early on an injury is an injury and you can go take care of it, get stronger, heal and get ice on it and play.” “She’s had that experience before playing multiple sports and you can still play and it’s okay to be sore and she handled that perfectly.”

In the third quarter, the Golden Hawks kept applying pressure by driving to the rim, drawing fouls, and getting to the free-throw line.

Holy Angels managed to go on a brief spurt that was stymied with Dalia Interiano sinking a trey. River Dell exhibited patience on the offensive end, working the ball around the perimeter and inside the paint and low post.

On the flip side, the Golden Hawks' potent defense led to turnovers and steals. Once the period concluded, River Dell held a commanding 44-21 advantage.

In the fourth quarter, holding a sizable lead enabled the Golden Hawks' bench players to get quality playing time, with Ava Guiterrez scoring the last bucket on a short jumper down low before the buzzer sounded, ending the game.

“I was happy that I was able to get everyone in and played a little bit,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner explained. “Ava hit a big shot at the end which was great and such a good kid and able to run that play.”

River Dell returns to action on Tuesday, January 13th, hosting Indian Hills(3-6) with tip-off set for 4:15 p.m. at River Dell High School in Oradell, New Jersey.

“They have some nice wins this season and have a very good coaching staff,” Head Coach Lindsay Steffner cited. “We want to keep this balling rolling as much as possible and hope we can make shots and we’re ready to play against them and doesn’t who we’re play and excited about this competition.” “A four o’clock start but we just got to be ready to go.”