Girls Basketball

February 24, 2010

Flynn, Bayonne up to the challenge

Tara Flynn Bayonne

Guard Tara Flynn led Bayonne's strong defensive performance against St. Anthony.

Click Here for photos from Bayonne vs St. Anthony.

By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director

JERSEY CITY – For many players, the thought of having to stop a player the caliber of St. Anthony’s Shonice Hawkins is a terrifying one. For Bayonne’s Tara Flynn, it was a task she embraced.

“That’s my pride and joy,” Flynn said about trying to stop the other side’s best player. “That’s why I love this game so much because I just love playing defense. I just love it. If they say this is a challenge (and) you can’t guard her, I’ll say ‘No, I can guard her.’ I don’t care who it is, I just go out there and do it.

“(Hawkins) can put on a show. Going into this game I (knew), don’t let her take over.”

Flynn proved up to the challenge as she and the Bees got the better of Hawkins in a 45-36 victory last night in the semifinals of the Hudson County Tournament at the Yanitelli Center.

“She had Hawkins’ number,” Bayonne coach James Turner said. “(Tara) played excellent defense for 32 minutes. She did not give up. That was her mindset since last night, playing defense on this girl and she executed.

“She listens, she pays attention to detail.”

The Iona-bound Hawkins, entered the game averaging more than 23 points a contest. But Flynn and the top-seeded Bees (19-5) frustrated Hawkins from the start and limited her to just 10 points.

Flynn, who watched Hawkins score 27 points against Marist in person on Saturday, knew the key was to try to keep her from driving to her left.

“She’s predominantly left-handed so in the game I stayed on her left side, forced her right and just took 60-degree angles to give her space,” Flynn said. “If she wanted to pull up, I’ll let her pull up and just took my chances with those. She’s a slasher. She’s very fast, she’s very quick.”

With Hawkins having a nightmarish performance, St. Anthony head coach Tony Jackson felt the struggles had an effect on the entire team.

“Thirty-six (points), we usually have that at half time,” Jackson said. “For us to have that in a game is a problem. I just know we can play better than that.”

Despite holding Hawkins scoreless in the first half, Bayonne was only up 19-16 at the half as the fourth-seeded Friars (18-4) recovered from a disastrous start to close the half with a 10-0 run.

Trailing the entire game, St. Anthony continued to claw back in the third quarter. An old-fashion three-point play by Hawkins (her first points) of the game, gave the Friars their first lead at 23-22 with 3:48 left in the period.

Tied after three quarters, the Bees’ Lisa Rovatsos took control in the fourth. The junior gave her team a lead they would not relinquish on the drive and free throw just eight seconds into the period.

The three-point play jumpstarted a 9-2 Bayonne run which broke the game open. Seven of those points came from Rovatsos, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. Rather than take the air out of the ball, Rovatsos kept applying the pressure on the offensive end.

“(Coach) was saying slow down, slow down,” Rovatsos said. “I made him nervous handling the ball. I had a big girl on me, I had to do it.”

“(Lisa) drove so many times on us,” Jackson said. “We just broke down defensively too much.”

Rovatsos, who has admitted her struggles from the foul line in the past, connected on 12-of-13 foul shots in the game. She had 18 points in the second half, to finish with a game-high 22 points.

Connie Hayes scored eight points in the opening quarter and had 10 in the game. Kerrie Kosawkowski had six points pulled down 13 rebounds. Flynn had just three points saying she “didn’t do her job on the offensive end,” but had two steals in a stellar defensive performance.

Adrianna Allen led the Friars with 11 points. Hawkins added nine rebounds and five steals and Nyquell Simmons scored seven points in defeat.

With the win, Bayonne will face third-seeded Lincoln for the Hudson County Championship Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Yanitelli Center.

Adrianna Allen St. Anthony

St. Anthony senior Adrianna Allen scored a team-high 11 points.

  1 2 3 4 Total
St. Anthony Friars (18-4)
6
10
12
8
36
Bayonne Bees (19-5)
11
8
9
17
45
St. Anthony   Bayonne
  2s 3s 1s Pts
Adrianna Allen
3
1
2
11
Shonice Hawkins
4
0
2
10
Nadirah Durr
2
0
0
4
Cassandra Houghton
0
0
0
0
Naquell Simmons
3
0
1
7
Wakeemah Sawyer
0
0
0
0
Breana Bey
2
0
0
4
Total
14
1
5
36
 
  2s 3s 1s Pts
Samantha Maggio
1
0
2
4
Lisa Rovatsos
5
0
12
22
Kerrie Kosakowski
2
0
2
6
Connie Hayes
1
2
2
10
Tara Flynn
1
0
1
3
Kaitlin Gallagher
0
0
0
0
Jillian Ceglio
0
0
0
0
Total
10
2
19
45
     
Bayonne: Kosakowski 13 rebounds; Rovatsos 7 rebounds; Hayes 5 rebounds; Maggio 4 rebounds. St. Anthony: Hawkins 9 rebounds, 5 steals; Bey 7 rebounds; Simmons 5 rebounds.