Game of the Week: Lady Bridgemen Support Cancer Research

After weeks of planning, the Fort Lee Lady Bridgemen set out to accomplish something meaningful with their cancer research benefit game Saturday.

Long before the crowd arrived for the noontime game, the team was at the high school, redesigning the gym with pink balloons, banners and streamers by 9:30 a.m.

“We decorated the whole [place],” said junior guard Megan Gimson. “It was really close to our hearts because in our coach’s past and our past, we all have a connection.”

As the team was playing for the school, the program and themselves, the thought of honoring cancer survivors was weighing on the minds of athletes, such as senior guard Brianna Mattessich.

“It’s a really good cause, and it gave us a lot of motivation,” she said. “It’s not only a basketball game, but it’s playing for a cause. To play for someone you know that has gone through this horrible disease is real motivation.”

Before the game started, the Lady Bridgemen took a team photo with their pink displays of support and also made a check presentation to the American Cancer Society.

“The girls extremely supported the idea,” Fort Lee head coach Stacie Zafiris said. “The [team] did such a beautiful job, and I am so proud of what they did here.”

Then before one of the largest home crowds of the season, Fort Lee tipped off against the Rutherford Bulldogs.

The Lady Bridgemen trailed early in the game, saw one of their top scorers Brianna Mattesich hurt her head, and trailed by as many as eight points in the last quarter.

But much like the spirit of fighting cancer, the girls battled back by scoring the next eight consecutive points to tie the game.

“It was amazing,” Zafiris said. “I think I jumped up at one point like I was James Brown or something. It’s just a wonderful thing because we came out in the first quarter flat … and could have easily backed down.”

In the final minutes, the Lady Bridgemen had a chance to complete the comeback when they trailed by two points on the last possession. But Mattessich missed a contested lay-up in the lane with five seconds left and Ally Long’s three pointer missed at the buzzer.

 “We always play well against Rutherford,” Gimson said. “We showed a lot of heart when we were down by 10 and we came back to tie the game. I thought we played really well.”

After the game, Zafiris took the day into perspective.

“Extremely proud is the way to probably phrase this game,” she said. “Both from a personal viewpoint on how the girls came out today and really supported such a wonderful cause and how they performed athletically, they never gave up. The [team] really never gave up and they played their hearts out.”

Mattessich led the Lady Bridgemen with 12 points during the game as junior guard Long finished with nine points as well. Fellow junior Gimson totaled eight points and six rebounds for Fort Lee in the 43-41 loss.

After the girl’s game, Rutherford and Fort Lee met again as the boy’s teams took to the floor.

The Bridgemen leapt ahead to the 12-8 first quarter lead, but Rutherford rallied back with a 13-0 run before halftime.

“In the beginning of the year, when a team made a run [against us], it was over,” said Fort Lee head coach John Ziemba, whose team clawed back to tie the game in the third. “We’re not putting our heads down. We’re talking and pulling for each other. Everything that I’m seeing out of them is positive, except we’re not getting the win.”

The Bridgemen lost to Rutherford 51-48, with both of Fort Lee’s teams losing Saturday by a total of five points.

“It was an exciting game,” said sophomore guard Nick Gentile, who scored 22 points. “It feels good that we are getting closer and closer. Now we just have to start winning. We’re craving everything.”

Sophomore center Anthony Rafes scored nine points and had 11 rebounds for Fort Lee in the defeat.