Streaking basketball team jumps to No. 2 in North Jersey
Sophomores Petro and Wong lead team to four straight wins
Sophomore Toriana Tabasco with the ball against Indian Hills
The wins just keep piling up for coach Jeff Jasper and the Pascack Valley girls basketball team.
After a remarkable thrashing of usual powerhouse Teaneck last week, the girls have indicated no signs of slowing down. The team has now racked up wins against Indian Hills, Rutherford, and Ridgewood in a period of six days. In the process, the team has stretched its winning streak to four games and its overall record to 9-3.
“I think the biggest reason is that we are all so close on and off the court,” explained sophomore Kelly Petro, who led the team in scoring with 16 points against Rutherford and 14 points against Indian Hills. “We definitely have a chemistry that not all teams are fortunate enough to have.”
Their effort has not gone unnoticed, as the team earned the No. 2 ranking in North Jersey according to The Bergen Record. They have also been placed as the #6 seed in the upcoming Bergen County Tournament, and will host #27 Fort Lee to begin the county playoffs.
Petro believes that other teams will begin take notice of their success and therefore will begin to give their best shot when matched up against the Indians. “We’ve gotten our names up there, and now teams are going to come out with a really strong will to win.”
To combat this newly painted target on their backs, the Indians must increase their own level of intensity and continue playing as hard as they have been recently, according to Petro.
On the other hand, perhaps one of the biggest revelations the Indians have seen this season is sophomore Brianna Wong, who turned in a fantastic performance against Ridgewood on Tuesday. Scoring 20 points, including 9 at the free throw line, Wong has shown how valuable she is to her teammates and how she has been improving throughout the season.
“That morning we had just found out we were ranked number 2,” said Wong, describing her performance Tuesday. “So that gave me motivation to step up my game and work harder.”
With the county playoffs approaching, the girls know what they must do in order to keep their momentum and keep winning.
“We need to cut out our mental mistakes, focus on the fundamentals of the game, and go back to old school PV basketball,” said Petro.
“We have to stay focused on playing the game and not getting too caught up where we’re ranked,” stated Wong. “Like Jasper always says, you don’t have to be the best team, you just have to be the better team that day.”
