Girls Basketball: Ridgewood gets by Leyden

Updated: December 17, 2011 7:04PM

Bad memories were a key motivating factor for Ridgewood center Mallory McCormack Saturday when the Rebels defeated host Leyden in a nonconference game, 35-19.

“We gave them their first win in each of the last two seasons, and I didn’t want that to happen again,” McCormack said after scoring eight points for the Rebels, who improved to 6-7 on the season with the victory. “We had too many turnovers in the first half; that’s been a problem for us a lot this year, but we talked at halftime about cutting down on the turnovers and being more focused.”

With the loss to Ridgewood, Leyden fell to 0-10.

Ridgewood had the best of a 12-7 first quarter and had the same five-point lead when it took an 18-13 advantage into halftime intermission.

“Cutting down on our turnovers was very important for the second half,” Ridgewood coach Karl Frixen said. “Leyden plays good, tough defense, and we stressed that a team that hasn’t won, yet, is the most dangerous.”

The Rebels extended their five-point halftime lead to 25-16 after three quarters and then pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Ines Grepo led Ridgewood with nine points.

“I was happy with our defense,” Frixen said. “We moved better as a team and got our hands up in the passing lane.”

While disappointed with another loss, Leyden coach Michele Szatko was pleased with her team’s effort.

“The girls are still playing with a lot of heart and effort,” Szatko said. “We played good defense again, which has been our strength this season, but we are continuing to struggle with our offense. We had some good shots in this game, but we just didn’t make enough of them.”

Ruba Saleh led Leyden scorers with seven points.

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