By Andy Loigu

The Warren Hills girls basketball team punched its ticket to the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament final on Saturday, while two Blue Streaks wrestlers were winning District 12 championships to gain byes into next week’s Region 2 action. Operation Survive and Advance was in full force.

The Newton Braves led the Blue Streaks 30-23 at halftime in Saturday’s girls basketball semifinal at Wallkill Valley, but Warren Hills tied it up 39-39 at the end of the third period and went on to a thrilling 54-52 win. The Blue Streaks (19-3) will face Hunterdon Central in the championship game on Friday evening at Centenary University.

Heather Laffan scored the game’s final basket on a fast break with 18.4 seconds remaining, but the win was not assured until Nicole Mallard stole the ball to erase Newton’s final shred of hope. Mallard scored 12 of her game-high 24 points from the free throw line and Laffan scored six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter.

“They are not afraid,” coach Meghan McGeehan said of her team. “I’ve been preaching attack the basket and we got the foul calls,” she said. Mallard also made good decisions on odd-man breakaways, passing to the wings for quick baskets.

The stubborn Newton team took a 49-43 lead with less than five minutes left, but the Blue Streaks outscored them 9-3 down to the wire.

“The man to man, full court, has been our bread and butter defense,” McGeehan said, “and we needed to guard the Newton three-point shooters on the perimeter. We stayed in the game by forcing turnovers with a trapping zone and we did lots of help-out combination defenses, but they kept hurting us with threes from the outside and backdoor passes inside. Their offense is spread out, with ample spacing, so it was man to man for us when it was all on the line. We scrimmaged Newton before the season and it was also this kind of a struggle. We knew it would be hard. The difference was our grit and hustle, getting the loose balls and tough rebounds in the fourth period.”

Maddie Leonardo landed four bombs from beyond the three-point arc for Newton and Kate Lynch led the Braves with 15 points.

Warren Hills had plenty of unsung heroes and solid performances off the bench. Advika Thandoni and Caroline Larsen were towers of power on the inside and Meghan Dufner and Lianna Johnson were relentless ballhawks on defense. State distance running champion Lexi Westley’s two free throws gave the Blue Streaks a 52-49 lead with 49 seconds left, after she made a steal and drove to the basket.

Among those celebrating the Warren Hills girls win was assistant coach Anthony Bonelli, a young wheelchair user who focuses on ability over disability. He provides valuable reports that go into the team’s pre-game preparation. He was an assistant at Hunterdon Central when they won the H/W/S championship and now has helped Warren Hills reach the final. Wherever Anthony goes, winning follows. A freelance journalist by trade, he will have much to share about this team’s journey on his Facebook and twitter accounts, for sure.

DISTRICT WRESTLING

The Road to Atlantic City started at West Orange last weekend for Warren Hills and Belvidere wrestlers, with the District 12 Tournament. A pair of Blue Streaks earned the gold medal in their weight classes. Nick Galka won the 220 pound championship with a pin of the West Morris Wolfpack’s Kevin Ramos in 2:33. Also in the championship finals, 285 pounder Durodolu Ajai won a title with an 11-5 win by decision. Also, the mighty Quinn Melofchik of Belvidere won the 113-pound championship with a 1-0 decision over Mike Rodriguez of Becton in a defensive battle and Shane Exley of Belvidere pinned Brian DePalma of West Orange for the 170-pound title in 1:46.

The top three finishers in each weight class survived and moved on to the Region 2 competition at Mount Olive High School, scheduled for Friday and Saturday. Warren Hills had four second place finishers and three third place medal winners. Greg Slivka (120), Steve Malia (126), Logan Nauta (132) and Chris Ostir (145) won silver medals and Jared Lee (106), Nick Hildebrandt (160) and Tyler McCatharn (182) captured bronze. Also, from Belvidere, Hunter Lensi was the 106-pound runner up and Carson Grogan was third at 285.

Hackettstown took part in the District 11 Tournament in Morristown. Oh, how we lament the passing of the days when all the Warren County schools were in the same district.

Alejandro Castro of the Tigers won the 182-pound championship with a 9-8 decision over Noah Ramadan of Kearny. Hackettstown’s Zeb Burke was second at 160, Matt Bremner was the 195-pound runner up and Dan Olson was third at 220 pounds.

Best wishes to all the qualifiers as they seek to climb the next rung on the ladder.

*** Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.