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Lady Bridgemen Holiday Tournament Champs Again

The Week in Sports and a Look Ahead; Senior basketball standout Ally Long earns Athlete of the Week honors.

Girls Basketball

The Lady Bridgemen had a great week, winning the Leonia Holiday Tournament and reaching the .500 mark after a slow start to the season. In the first round of the holiday tournament on Tuesday, Fort Lee defeated Parsippany Hills, 39-33. Senior guard Ally Long had a strong performance with 15 points and 6 assists in the comeback win. Senior forward Anthe Nikolaidis finished the game with a solid stat line, including eight points, eight rebounds, five steals and four blocked shots. Fort Lee advanced to the championship game on Wednesday and defeated Leonia, the host team, 47-36, to capture the tournament title. Ally Long had 15 points while Renee Mattesich had 13 points. Senior Anthe Nikolaidis finished with eight points and 15 rebounds. 

Head coach Stacie Zafiris drew up a game plan that worked.

“The game plan was to shut down Leonia’s top scorer, Senior Miya Okado, who had 26 points against Becton," she said. "Seniors Mattesich, Long and Sophomore Caitling McKenna each took a turn guarding Okado and held her to just 10 points.”

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Riding high on emotion, the team finished the week on a high note with a blowout win against Memorial High School by a score of 44-13. Ally Long and Renee Mattesich each had 10 points for Fort Lee. The girls, who went from 0-3 to 3-3, will take the court again on Tuesday at Hasbrouck Heights.

Boys Basketball

The Bridgemen participated in the Jack Reilly Holiday Basketball Tournament last week. The team opened up with a first round win against Manchester on Monday by a score of 57-50. Tondi Mushandu had 18 points for the Bridgemen, while Nick Gentile poured in 17. But perhaps the main story of the game was Josh Ford’s lockdown defense on Manchester’s leading scorer, Tuhray Smith, who was held to just 10 points in spite of averaging close to 30 points a game on the season.

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Fort Lee fell in the semifinals to a tough Old Tappan team on Wednesday. The score was 75-53, and the Bridgemen gave up 17 points in the first quarter.

Assistant coach James Puliatte knows the team had to put the game behind them.

“We had zero energy," Puliatte said. "We were outplayed and outcoached, but tomorrow we move on.”

On Friday, the the team lost the consolation game to St. Mary’s in double overtime. The 3-3 Bridgemen will look to get back above .500 on Tuesday when they travel to Ramapo High School.

Winter Track

The Bridgemen and Lady Bridgemen participated in the Pearl River Holiday Festival Indoor Track Meet at Rockland Community College on Tuesday. More than 35 schools ran in the event.  For the Lady Bridgemen, Senior Sophia Luppino finished in fifth place in the 55 meter high hurdles with a time of 11.4.  Sophomore Melanie Plattner placed 12th in the 1,000 yard run with a time of 3:04.4, while other members of the team also turned in solid performances.

For the Bridgemen, senior YuYu Fahmy had the best performance of the evening, finishing in 16th place in the 3200 meter run with a time of 10:32.3. The 4 x 800 meter relay team of YuYu Fahmy, Soichiro Itagaki, Yuki Takahashi and Sam Topaz placed eighth. The teams return to action on Tuesday when they participate in the Tom Zaccone Invitational.

Wrestling

The Bridgemen were off this week but will return to action on Wednesday when they have a match against Cliffside Park.

Bowling

The Bridgemen and Lady Bridgemen did not have any matches this week and will return to the lanes on Jan. 13, when they take on Westwood High School.

Athlete of the Week

Ally Long, Girls Basketball

Long, a senior guard, had a huge week, helping lead Fort Lee to the Leonia Holiday Tournament title. In game one against Parsipanny Hills, Long had 15 points and six assists. She had another 15-point performance against Leonia in the championship game and also had 10 points against Memorial High School to finish out what was a memorable and crucial week for the team.

Winning the championship game was a memorable experience for Long, and she really sees the team coming into their own.

“Winning the holiday tournament felt great," Long said. "Even though all of our roles have changed as players, we still continued to keep it together. When our offense isn’t there, that’s when our defense appears. This tournament was all about trusting each other, and it showed by us winning the tournament and bringing home the trophy.”

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