River Dell Varsity Girls Basketball Team captures Big North Patriot League Title in decisive victory over Pascack Hills

The River Dell Golden Hawks Varsity Girls Basketball Team(17-5, 9-1 Big North Patriot) continued their era of domination in the Big North Patriot, securing their sixth league title in the past seven years with a convincing 69-42 win over the Pascack Hills Broncos(10-14, 3-7 Big North Patriot)at Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, New Jersey.

Alexa De Pol amassed a game-high 21 points. Hope Arturi tallied 20 points, including six three-pointers, and Maddie Roth added 12 points.

River Dell Head Coach Lindsay Steffner on the win and sixth Big North Patriot League title: "Every year is a big challenge, but the girls buy in and work hard. The league keeps getting tougher. Despite illnesses and injuries this season, we put it together. Other kids stepped up, and our players' work ethic made the difference. A lot goes into a season."

"Even from my own experience playing, I won the league all four years. It’s a big moment to stand with my teammates in the gym and see our classes’ names on the banner." "River Dell girls’ basketball has a strong tradition and high expectations. Seeing us return to that level, six out of the last seven years, is impressive to me, and I don’t take it lightly."

The Golden Hawks fell behind early, 5-0, in the first quarter to Pascack Hills, but answered with a 9-0 run to jump ahead. River Dell kept the offensive flow going, boosting their advantage to 14-7 with less than two minutes remaining. Hope Arturi contributed eight points during this stretch, demonstrating her dynamic presence on the offensive end.

"We came out a little flat, and Pascack Hills came out gunning for us. They've been playing very good basketball late in the season," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner explained. "Their coaches do a great job getting them to play well. They had just put up 66 points against Westwood, and they're capable of scoring. It came down to us guarding them on the perimeter better than in our first meeting. Once we adjusted matchups and played better defense, we slowed them down a bit. They started strong in the first quarter against us."

Pascack Hills responded with a 6-0 spurt on consecutive three pointers to narrow the gap, but Hope Arturi nailed a triple to stem the tide. The Golden Hawks ended up leading 19-13 at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, River Dell continued to flourish from downtown on back-to-back treys from Alexa De Pol and Dalia Interiano. By the five-minute mark, the Golden Hawks extended their advantage to double digits at 27-17.

"Hope and Alexa made it look easy. To their credit, teams have trouble matching up against us with our size. We need people that can shoot the ball outside, and they did that." "Dalia did a great job of distributing the ball. I don’t know how many assists she had, and she did it quickly before the zone could get out to them."

Hope Arturi was in the zone from long range, splashing two more triples for River Dell. Alexa De Pol erupted offensively, scoring 13 points, including three three-pointers, helping to extend River Dell's lead to 43-20 at halftime.

"We tried to attack their zone, which wasn’t easy since we hadn’t faced one in a week and a half. Several teams have used a 3-2 against us," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner noted. "Hope and Alexa were on fire early. Once we settled in, our quick shots started falling, and it’s hard to slow them down."

I told the team our inside size and strength are tough to match, and if we shoot well, we’ll be hard to slow down. They had no answer for our post play or outside shooting.

"We talked at halftime. I liked the way we were shooting the ball. You never want to rely on the three ball as much as we were. I’d rather have us play solid defense and get up and down the court with transition offense. That’s where our strength is. We needed to shut down their shooters and really kick it up a notch. We came out in the third and did that."

The Golden Hawks followed Head Coach Lindsay Steffner's halftime speech, starting the third quarter with a 6-0 blitz and steadily increasing the advantage as the quarter progressed, holding a commanding 60-30 lead at the end of the period. Five River Dell players scoring in the quarter, whether in the low post, from the perimeter, and out in transition and fast break.

"It's fun watching different players step up. We had a high-low with Val (Visconti) and Maddie, and while you can coach the pass, it's great to see them execute," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner remarked.

In the fourth quarter, with a sizable lead, the players off the bench got some quality time on the court, and Kayleigh Windram notched four points.

"Kayleigh works really hard at practice. She looks comfortable in those situations—smiling and having a good time with her teammates," Head Coach Lindsay Steffner said. "She deserves these moments and has done a great job all year. Highlighting her ability to get those points was a lot of fun for everyone."