February 24, 2010
Third time's the charm for Lincoln
Lincoln's Nhire Adams (left) scored 10 of her game-high 14 points in the first half.
Click Here for photos from Lincoln vs North Bergen.
By Jason Bernstein
Editorial Director
JERSEY CITY – If Lincoln was going to reach the final of the Hudson County Tournament, they knew they’d have to do something that had eluded them twice this season – beat North Bergen.
The third try proved to be successful as the Lions are one win away from a county championship after a 44-36 victory in the semifinals last night at the Yanitelli Center.
“We didn’t do anything differently,” Lincoln coach Tom Best said. “I thought we played well enough to win all three of these games. North Bergen’s a good team.”
“I honestly thought we were going to lose,” guard/forward Andrea Crute said. “We came out hard (and ready) to play. I was nervous, but we still won.”
As they did in the previous meetings, third-seeded Lincoln (16-7) continued to follow the blueprint of pounding the ball inside with Sharmane Rhodes, Zierra Williams and Crute.
While Rhodes and Williams made their presence felt on the boards with 13 and 10 rebounds respectively, in Best’s eyes the difference for the Lions was on the defensive end, especially in the second half.
Lincoln started to pull away midway through the second half as their defense as they held the seventh-seeded Bruins (16-8) without a field goal for six minutes as the Lions increased their lead to seven points.
North Bergen was also victimized by a five-minute scoreless drought in the first half.
“We didn’t shoot well,” Bruins coach Dan Reardon said. “We need to shoot to compete and we didn’t shoot well tonight.
“We didn’t play up to our potential. (When that happens) a good team will beat you.”
Six of the seven players Lincoln used had steals in the game. Guard Nhire Adams, who is sometimes rotated out of the lineup in key defensive spots, had two critical steals in the victory. The junior took full advantage of the opportunities, converting both thefts into a transition layups.
“I think Nhire is not known for her defensive prowess,” Best said. “But she made a couple of good steals that led to fast breaks.”
Defensive exploits aside, Adams lived up to her reputation as an offensive threat, scoring 10 first-half points and finishing with a game-high 14 points.
Four of Adams’ points came in a 10-0 second-quarter run as her 3-pointer with 3:00 left gave the Lions a lead they would never relinquish.
“She really stepped up,” Best said. “We needed her to step up. Nhire is a scorer, but she doesn’t know her potential right now and we’re trying to get it out of her right now.”
Adams was one of three Lincoln players to score in double-figures. Williams scored 11 points, all of them coming in the second half. Crute had eight of her 11 points after the intermission. The sophomore iced the game with a trey that made it 39-29 with 1:50 left in the game.
Maria Claros led North Bergen with 11 points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Ashley Vazzona connected on a pair 3-pointers in the opening half to finish with 10 points.
Lincoln was able to settle their score with North Bergen, but to win a Hudson County Championship they will have to defeat another team they lost twice to during the regular season in top-seeded Bayonne. The final is 4 p.m. Saturday at the Yanitelli Center.
Ashley Vazzona hit two 3-pointers in the first half and finished with 10 points.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Bergen Bruins (16-8) | 6 |
12 |
6 |
12 |
36 |
| Lincoln Lions (16-7) | 5 |
14 |
11 |
14 |
44 |
| North Bergen | Lincoln | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Lincoln: Rhodes 13 rebounds; Williams 10 rebounds; Calamito 6 rebounds, 4 assists; Crute 4 rebounds. North Bergen: Claros 9 rebounds; Palma 6 assists, 5 rebounds; Muriel 5 rebounds; Negroni 5 rebounds; Vazzona 4 rebounds. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||