GL, Roselle Catholic and Hillside girls' basketball teams clinch their division titles Tuesday; Highlanders win at Oak Knoll behind game-high, 16-point Dowling effort

By JR Parachini
Union County Sports Editor
SUMMIT – For the first time this year on Tuesday Governor Livingston was playing after a loss.
After the first quarter against host Oak Knoll the Highlanders were still trailing, down by three points after the first eight minutes.
“We had a couple of defensive lapses, but eventually our defense picked up,” said senior shooting guard Sam Dowling.
GL overcame six-point deficits in the first and second quarter – sparked by a game-high 16-point performance from Dowling – to post a 49-38 come-from-behind Union County Conference-Mountain Division victory over Oak Knoll.
Less than 24 hours before they will be named the top seed for the 37th annual Frank J. Cicarell Union County Tournament, the Highlanders clinched their first league title since the 1980s.
GL - which leads Union County in wins - improved to 18-1 overall and captured the Mountain Division title with a 13-1 record.
Roselle Catholic repeated as the UCC’s Watchung Division champion Tuesday night by winning at Scotch Plains 43-29. The Lions improved to 14-5 overall and finished 13-1 in the Watchung Division, just as they did last year.
Roselle Catholic has won division titles the last four years now, including the final Mountain Valley Conference-Mountain Division crown in 2009 and the first UCC-Mountain Division title in 2010.
Hillside defeated Benedictine Academy 67-28 at home Tuesday afternoon to capture the UCC’s Valley Division crown. The Comets won for the seventh straight time to improve to 15-2 overall and are now 13-0 in the Valley Division.
If Hillside wins at home against Roselle Park Friday afternoon – the Comets already have a 58-20 win at Roselle Park – Hillside will be the only UCC division champion this year to finish undefeated in its division.
Hillside won its first league title since capturing the MVC’s Sky Division crown in 2004.
So the three UCC champions are Roselle Catholic repeating as the Watchung Division winner, GL winning the Mountain Division for the first time and Hillside capturing the Valley Division for the first time.
In order to get ahead of Oak Knoll for good Tuesday, GL went on a 16-5 run from the end of the first quarter to the beginning of the second to take a 23-18 lead.
Dowling paced the Highlanders at intermission with seven points.
“Once we got our defense going, we got our offense going,” said Dowling, who was back in the starting lineup for the first time since she went down with a concussion two weeks ago in GL’s home division win over Johnson.
Dowling was cleared to play again for this past Friday night’s division home game against Cranford and – after doing a great job of singing the National Anthem – came into the game off the bench after missing four games total.
“Sam coming back really gave us a big lift shooting the ball and she got to the rim better than she usually does,” GL head coach Andy Silvagni said. “If that continues, that will make her a much more complete player.
“We see that in practice and we try to see that in the game. For her to get to the rim the way she did was pretty good.”
GL, also lifted by an 11-point, nine-rebound effort from junior forward Mallory George, tied the game for the third time at 16-16. Senior guard Alyssa Polimeni and Dowling scored their first points of the game on consecutive three-pointers after Oak Knoll junior Monica Fritz opened the second quarter scoring with a three-pointer of her own to give the Royals a 16-10 lead.
Polimeni finished with six points to give her 975 for her career.
GL had three seven-point leads in the second quarter and then built its first lead of 11 at 36-25 midway through the third period.
Refusing to quit, Oak Knoll came back by concluding the third quarter on an 8-2 run, led by junior guard Kerri Moran and senior forward Gabriela Pallicer. Moran scored five of her nine points in the third and Pallicer six of her team-high 11 by making two of her three three-pointers.
“That’s what being a senior captain is all about,” first-year Oak Knoll head coach John Bertollo said of Pallicer’s performance. “Throughout the whole season whenever we needed that little spark Gabby has been able to provide it.”
Oak Knoll pulled to within three at 38-35 when the fourth quarter commenced after Moran scored inside for her final points.
GL answered with a game-clinching 9-3 run. After Polimeni scored her final point by making one of two free throws, George hit a jumper and Dowling scored in the lane and then made two free throws. George scored again after grabbing an offensive rebound, which followed a three-pointer made from the top of the key by Oak Knoll junior Kelly McAloon.
The long-range basket by McAloon pulled Oak Knoll to within seven at 45-38 with 3:50 left. After falling at GL 61-38 back on Jan. 20, the Royals this time gave the Highlanders all they could handle.
“The first time we played them they dominated the boards,” said Bertollo, who is in his first season as a head coach and also his first season coaching girls’ basketball after coaching the junior varsity boys’ basketball team the past six years at his high school alma mater, Hawthorne. “We emphasized in practice yesterday and in our pre-game today to box out and not let them get second chances.”
Moran and teammates Catherine Bonner and Amanda Fritz held their own on the boards against George, junior Erin Ferguson and senior Rebecca Johnson. Moran and Bonner grabbed six rebounds each, while Fritz and Bonner had one blocked shot.
“It was a dogfight,” Dowling said. “Even though we had a good enough lead we knew they weren’t going to stop. They always work hard.”
GL scored the game’s final four points, with Dowling netting the last two on the fifth and sixth free throws she made.
“We don’t have any banners in our gym, so this is great,” Dowling said of GL accomplishing one of its team goals by winning its division. “This is the first division title since, I think, 1985, so it feels really good to know that our banner is going to be up there and to know that it was us that got it there.”
  
 
UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-MOUNTAIN DIVISION
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL GAME AT OAK KNOLL
GOV. LIVINGSTON (18-1, 13-1)           10        19          9       11 - 49
OAK KNOLL (10-9, 8-6)                       13          9        11         5 - 38

GOV. LIVINGSTON HIGHLANDERS (49):
42-Sam Dowling, senior, 2-2-6-16
15-Mallory George, junior, 5-0-1-11
14-Alyssa Polimeni, senior, 1-1-1-6
22-Erin Ferguson, junior, 1-0-2-4
21-Rebecca Johnson, senior, 2-0-2-6
10-Alyssa Cranston, junior, 1-1-1-6
3-Bari Machado, senior, 0-0-0-0
Starters: Dowling, George,
Polimeni, Ferguson, Johnson
Totals: 12-4-13-49

OAK KNOLL ROYALS (38):
10-Kelly McAloon, junior, 1-1-0-5
20-Kerri Moran, junior, 4-0-1-9
34-Gabriela Pallicer, senior, 1-3-0-11
32-Amanda Fritz, senior, 0-0-0-0
30-Catherine Bonner, sophomore, 3-0-2-8
23-Monica Fritz, junior, 1-1-0-5
Starters: McAloon, Moran,
Pallicer, Bonner, A. Fritz
Totals: 10-5-3-38

FINAL MOUNTAIN DIVISION STANDINGS:
1-Gov. Livingston (13-1), CHAMPION

2-Cranford (12-2)

3-Dayton (8-6)

Oak Knoll (8-6)

5-New Providence (7-7)

6-Johnson (5-9)

7-Union Catholic (3-11)

8-Elizabeth (0-14)

UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
FOR THE 2011-2012 SEASON:

WATCHUNG DIVISION: Roselle Catholic (12-1 and hosts Plainfield Thursday night)

MOUNTAIN DIVISION: Governor Livingston (13-1)

VALLEY DIVISION: Hillside (13-0 and hosts Roselle Park Friday afternoon)

PHOTOS BY JR PARACHINI:

TOP - Oak Knoll junior guard Kerri Moran (No. 20 at right) brings the ball up against GL senior guard Bari Machado (No. 3).

MIDDLE - GL head coach Andy Silvagni guided the Highlanders to their first division title since the 1980s and to the UCT's top seed.

BOTTOM - Oak Knoll first-year head coach John Bertollo instructs his team during a timeout.