Lady Bridgemen Season Ends with State Tournament Loss

Two weeks ago, the Fort Lee Lady Bridgemen hosted Rutherford and played the Bulldogs to the final buzzer in a two-point loss.

This time around, the teams met in the state tournament with a do-or-die opportunity to win and advance or lose and go home.  

Fort Lee nabbed the early lead when junior Ally Long banked in a three pointer and senior Brianna Mattessich added a lay-up for the 5-0 edge.  

“We got motivated and we had confidence from that,” the senior guard said. “Like I always say, when we have a good start, it really gives us confidence but Rutherford came out on fire and they really wanted the game too.”

After Fort Lee lead 7-3, Rutherford rallied back with 12 of the next 14 points to close out the quarter. What was a five-point lead for the Lady Bridgemen, then became a six-point advantage for the Bulldogs.

“That’s Rutherford for you,” said Fort Lee’s coach Stacie Zafiris. “They give you everything they have.”

But Fort Lee kept the score close like they did in the previous meeting between the teams, and only trailed by five points at the half.

Junior Anthe Nikolaidis secured 16 total rebounds in the game and assisted the Lady Bridgemen with many second chance opportunities.

“She rebounds like crazy,” said senior forward Bindi Parikh. “She has those moves that no one can defend.”

In what players described as a “dog fight” and a “very physical” game, fouls started to become a concern for both teams in the second half.

As Fort Lee was behind 27-23, Brianna Mattessich and junior Megan Gimson both picked up their fourth fouls and were taken out to avoid a game-ending fifth.

That is when Rutherford scored the next 15 consecutive points as the Bulldogs pulled away with the 20-point win.

“Our shots weren’t falling and our offense wasn’t flowing,” coach Zafiris said of her team in the second half. “I want to applaud Rutherford because they played a phenomenal game."

And as the Lady Bridgemen end the season 10-15, Zafiris looks back positively on the program’s jump this season.

“I’m extremely proud of my girls,” she said. “One thing that I’ve never had to worry about is them playing hard and they played hard tonight…They played with all heart and that is something that we lacked in Fort Lee for many years.  I’m proud to say that these girls have set the way for Fort Lee athletics.”

Before the final minute ticked off the clock, coach Zafiris removed senior starters Brianna Mattessich and Bindi Parikh to an ovation from the Fort Lee fans in attendance. The two players sat weeping on the bench as their high school careers came to an end as the remaining seniors finished their careers in the closing seconds as well.

“Very hard,” Zafiris remarked on saying good-bye to the seniors. “Pulling those two off the court was one of the hardest things I had to do.”

“I knew that was it,” said Mattessich looking back at the final moments on the floor. “I cried right away.”

Mattessich finished with a team-high 11 points for Fort Lee and junior Anthe Nikolaidis added seven points.