LIVINGSTON MANOR – The Rockland Wolves girl’s basketball team played host to the Tri-Valley Bears on Thursday night. It was the first game of the season for the Bears while the Wolves already had a few games under their belt. But the lack of court time didn’t stop the Bears from securing their first win. “We were fortunate to get the win now, it’s our first game of the season,” said Tri-Valley Head Coach Jason Closs. 

By the end of the first quarter The Bears had just a four-point lead, despite both teams putting up multiple shots around the perimeter and in the paint. While foul trouble could have been a factor- with both the Bears and the Wolves racking up five fouls each, shot attempts just didn’t fall during the first eight minutes. Coming out of the halftime break told a different story for the Bears. Tri-Valley extended its five-point halftime lead to 11 by tightening up on offense and converting forced turnovers into fast breaks. During the break Tri-Valley’s Coach Closs said he told his team, “We need to turn it up, we need to look for some fastbreak points and some easy baskets. “Rockland is a gritty bunch; they’re a physical group and they don’t go away…if it’s close they’re gonna keep digging and we knew that.”

 Avery Carrier of TV scored five of her eight points in the third quarter including a three-pointer from behind the arc, and Jordan Dymond was consistent at the guard position creating plays and scoring 13 points of her own to lead all scorers for the night. Gia Ibarra of Rockland held her own in the low post. Ibarra closed out her performance with 10 points for the Wolves. The Wolves went scoreless for most of the fourth quarter with TV holding a 38-27 lead. With just seconds remaining Rockland’s Leah Ladenhauf drained a three pointer at the buzzer that ignited the crowd, but time was up for the home team. Tri-Valley sealed their first win of the season with a 38-30 win over Rockland.