Pascack Valley rolls past Teaneck in season opener
Wong, Smith have big performances for Indians
Pascack Valley coach Jeff Jasper didn’t want his players to become complacent in 2017-18 after a 30-2 season a year ago, in which Valley won the Group 3 state title and advanced to the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions.
In the opening game of their 2017-18 campaign, the Indians showed no signs of complacency, whatsoever.
Pascack Valley defeated Teaneck by a score of 71-46 on Friday at Pascack Valley High School. The Indians were brilliant from 3-point territory, as they finished with nine makes from behind the arc, with six of them coming from junior Brianna Smith.
“I just thought we moved the ball well, rebounded well. We just play so unselfishly,” Jasper said.
PV got major contributions from some of its most trusted players against Teaneck, which was needed as Jasper utilized a rather short rotation. Brianna Smith scored 22 points, while Senior Brianna Wong added 20. The duo combined to hit eight of Pascack Valley’s nine 3-pointers. Kelly Smith scored 7 points, Toriana Tabasco scored 6 points, and Cerina Dunkel chipped in with 4 points off the bench.
Meanwhile, senior Kelly Petro had a strong all around effort that included 6 points and a few blocked shots that energized the home crowd.
“Defense is probably the most important aspect of the game, so we always pride ourselves on if we can make stops,” Petro said.
Jasper was quick to praise his senior leader for the extreme versatility that she provides. “[She is] just about the best floor general that I’ve seen in this program… You can’t put a number on that type of vision and that type of skill,” he said.
Valley got off to a blazing start in the opening quarter and led 22-7 after just 8 minutes of play. In the late stages of the first, PV went on a critical 11-0 run, aided by back to back threes from Wong and Smith. From that point, the game seemed to get away from Teaneck and they never were able to get any closer than 15 points.
Valley continued to build up its lead in the second quarter, and the Indians were up by 20 points at the half. Pascack Valley’s largest lead was 29 at multiple points during the second half.
The Indians will be back in action on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. for a charity game against Lakeland at Pascack Valley. Later in the week, Valley will travel to Old Tappan and Demarest as Jasper continues to inch closer to his 1000th career win.
