Lady Bridgemen Back to Winning Ways with Victory at Memorial

Despite losing senior forward Bindi Parikh to a foot injury, the Fort Lee Lady Bridgemen were able to overcome her absence in a 40-25 road win against the Memorial Tigers.

After losing back-to-back games entering Saturday’s action, Fort Lee was in full pursuit of avoiding a possible three-game losing streak.

The Lady Bridgemen started the game by winning the tip, working for a good shot and finding junior guard Ally Long for a corner three. Fort Lee scored seven of the first eight points in the game. The last points of that stretch were scored by Parikh, whose night ended when she was taken out of the game a few minutes later.

 “When Bindi got hurt we stepped up as a team,” said junior guard Megan Gimson. “We all have our own role, but she has a really big role…when she gets hurt, we always have someone to come off the bench and help her.”

 At the same time, senior guard Brianna Mattessich was held scoreless through the first half and the Lady Bridgemen held just a seven-point lead at the break.

“It was nerve-wrecking,” added Gimson.

But despite Parikh being sidelined and Mattessich not scoring, Fort Lee found a way to win.

Sophomore guard Renee Mattesich scored eight points off the bench, Gimson chipped in with another seven and a few players filled in for Parikh on the glass.

“We are starting to really utilize what we are doing in practice and apply it in games,” head coach Stacie Zafiris said. “I think Memorial definitely took us out of our game. When Bindi came down with the injury, I think other people stepped into her role and tried to do what they could.”

Coach Zafiris has also been emphasizing confidence with this team, something that helped Brianna Mattessich score 11 second half points.

“I talked to them about confidence and believing in themselves,” Zafiris said. “I don’t care if they miss 10, 20, 50, or 100 shots. They’re going to take each shot with confidence…It was great to see [Brianna] stay composed in the second half and be the leader that I know she is capable of being.”

Fort Lee took their largest lead of the game into the fourth quarter but Memorial started to hit a few baskets. Senior forward Caolanny Melo scored eight of her game high 16 points in that period as the lead started to shrink.

“Scary,” Gimson said, describing the fourth quarter. “But we pushed through.”

Even though many of the players mentioned that it was not their best team game, the Fort Lee Lady Bridgemen improve to 3-4 on the season, while the Memorial Tigers drop to 2-5.

Now the focus shifts to Tuesday, when Fort Lee hopes to have Parikh back in time for the 7 p.m. contest at home.

“It would be great to have her back,” said Zafiris. “We’re going to keep her rested tomorrow and Monday and see what happens from there.”

A win against Westwood would be the first one in league play for the Lady Bridgemen this season.

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