January 25, 2012

Senior Jocelyn Morales scored six of her 16 points in the fourth quarter for Union City. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Union City at Kearny Girls Basketball Photo Gallery

KEARNY – In preparation of yesterday's game with Kearny, Union City tailored its practice towards the advantage it would have inside with Shaela Rodriguez, even installing new plays to maximize the mismatches the 5-foot-9 senior could create.

Not only did Rodriguez respond to the challenge with one of her top performances of the season, but it proved to be the difference in what was the Soaring Eagles' biggest win of the season.

Rodriguez dominated with 23 points and 13 rebounds as Union City delivered a surprising 56-49 road victory.

"Special, Stack 3, those were plays put in just for her last night. Those are new ones to take advantage of her size," head coach Charlie Roussel said. "She played very, very well."

"Size-wise I thought we were going to take advantage because they didn't have the size to cover me," said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez opened up strong, scoring the first six points of the game for Union City (7-7), but it was in crunch time when her strength and scoring touch was pivotal.

Rodriguez took a lob from sophomore Karina Garcia and scored on an and-one to snap a 49-all deadlock with 1:46 left. Less than a minute later, Rodriguez had another and-one to make it 53-49 with just 50 seconds remaining in the game.

"I was ready to go. I was confident," Rodriguez said. "I knew they couldn't handle me from the beginning and they're not going to handle me at the end."

"(Shaela's) improved a whole lot. Without her, we would be in big trouble," guard Jocelyn Morales said. She's our main scorer and she can put the ball in the basket."

Rodriguez's two key buckets were sandwiched by 3-pointers from Garcia and Morales as the Soaring Eagles closed the game with a 10-0 run.

"(Rodriguez) deserves a lot of credit. She did a job on rebounds and she's a strong player," Kearny head coach Jody Hill said. "At points we started doubling down on her, but then you've got to give credit to (Morales), she hit some clutch threes. They had a nice balance today."

Morales, who hit a trio of 3-pointers on the day, finished with 16 points. Garcia, a sophomore who tied the game on her trey with 2:20 left, had six points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Kearny was led by Stefanie Gomes, who scored 17 points to eclipse 1,000 points for her career. Gomes, who set the mark on a layup with 29 seconds left in the second quarter, scored 15 points in the opening half, but was kept in check after reaching the milestone.

"The girls were a little upset when she scored her 1,000th point," said Roussel, noting it was the second time in two weeks someone scored their 1,000th point against Union City. "It seems like we're the mark for 1,000 points in the county. It's been unbelievable. "The girls that are seniors for three years are tired of seeing someone score 1,000 points, seeing someone celebrate and they came back and they answered with a little bit of pride."

Union City's defense responded in a big way after Gomes' accomplishment. After allowing 31 points in the first half, the Soaring Eagles limited Kearny (11-4) to just 18 points in the second half. The Kardinals shot just  8-of-31 in the second half after previously torching the Union City defense with transition baskets and easy lay-ups.

"The adjustment we made was to hedge out on the shooters getting back in transition," Roussel said. "They were killing us coming in transition, getting to the corner and then attacking us from the corner. We hedged out on the corner and made them come back toward the middle of the floor."

Angel Conde and Michelle Goncalves added 14 and 12 points respectively for Kearny. Mercedes Lois added 10 rebounds in the loss.

Kearny senior Angel Conde scored 10 of her 14 points in the first half. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Union City at Kearny Girls Basketball Photo Gallery