By Andy Loigu

Basketball has arrived with a bang in the area, as the Belvidere girls won a come-from-behind double overtime battle in Hackettstown, to start off 2-0. You can’t win them all if you don’t win the first two.

Playing their second road game in consecutive days (they won 37-24 the previous night at Manville) Belvidere trailed the Tigers by eight points going into the fourth period on Saturday. Despite a hot-shooting 28-point game by Hackettstown’s Jessica Scheper, Belvidere overcame the deficit with a balanced offensive output by three players. Brieann Opdyke led Belvy with 13 points, including eight clutch free throws. Tara Rothrock and Samantha Dultz each contributed 12-point games.

North Warren defeated Hackettstown 40-25 the previous evening in Blairstown. Tiffani Szkarlatiuk of the Patriots was as hard to stop as she is to spell, scoring 13 points. Maddie Allen added eight points in the winning effort.

Scheper led Hackettstown with 14, and Sofia Cuello and Phoebe Nadeau each contributed five point outputs.

Boys basketball

The Tiger boys start off with a tough early schedule. Hackettstown hosts North Warren on Dec. 21, but then travels to their next four games before hosting High Point on Jan. 14. In the Freedom White Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference, they will have competitive battles with perennial contender Newton, along with High Point, Jefferson, Lenape Valley, and Wallkill Valley.

After earning the top seeding in North 2 Group 2 and hosting the sectional final last year, finishing 19-9 overall, the Tigers have a young group. They need someone who can fill the shoes of graduated point guard Jelani Awai and head coach Mike McDonagh hopes junior guard Tyler Gorczyca can step into a featured backcourt role. The coach liked the talent Gorczyca displayed as a swing man last season when he averaged 7.8 points per game.

Senior guard Kevin Magnotta will also be getting the ball more often during crunch time.

McDonagh, who coaches aggressive man-to-man defense in the style of Hoosiers (great movie), hopes the Tigers’ hustle will keep them in every game as they seek another deep playoff run and face those speedy and talented city teams.

Veteran Warren Hills coach Stan Kubbishun, who has mentored Blue Streaks teams in several sports over the past two decades and won a sectional title when he had a superlative point guard named Jonny Bamford (quality point guards raise everybody’s level of play), hopes his team can return to the upper echelon in the Valley Division of the Skyland Conference. He felt the Streaks let too many winnable games slip away last year, and hopes that by minimizing turnovers on offense and creating turnovers with his athletic team putting forth a max effort defense, Warren Hills will return to the top rung. The Streaks reached the North 2 Group 3 quarterfinals last March.

Senior guard James Jordan and his 16.7 points per game average are back to lead the scoring parade, which also includes senior forward Sean Morris (11.8 ppg) and junior guard Al Freeman (7.6 ppg).

The Blue Streaks host Delaware Valley on Dec. 20, play three on the road, and then host the Bernards Mountaineers on Jan. 8.

Belvidere and North Warren hope to bounce back from disappointing seasons, looking for experienced players to grow into expanded roles.
Big Red head coach Seth Hineline looks to senior swingman Dennis Dornich (8.5 ppg) to lead the way for Belvidere on offense while the team develops an effectively coordinated defense that can keep the games close.

North Warren head coach Charles Tillou can build his offense around returning senior guard Evan Szkarlatiuk (14.7 ppg) while returning senior center Alex Close establishes an interior scoring threat and rebounding presence.

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Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.