Play of the Year Comes on Last Day of Season in Fort Lee Girls Basketball League

The Fort Lee Girls Basketball League Playoffs had three championship games this weekend, and they were all decided by a total of five points including a buzzer-beating, game-winning shot in the fourth grade division final.

After Friday’s finish in the eighth grade division ended on the final possession, the fourth grade game on Sunday came down to the final second when Aversa Dental’s Kristen Lee caught an inbound pass, turned , shot and sank the championship-winning basket as time expired.

Teammates and coaches stormed the court to be with Lee as screaming parents were seen leaping out of their seats in the stands. Aversa Dental defeated Cafasso’s Fairway Market 6-5 on the shot and their head coach, Ed Aversa, discussed his thinking after the game.

“I really did not have a play with five seconds left,” coach Aversa said honestly with a smile. “I asked the girls ‘who can shoot the furthest,” and it was eventually Kristen who said she could.

So the ball was lofted to Lee who hoisted up the game-winning shot. The team described it as a long way to reach this point where coach Aversa pointed out that seven of his nine team members had never played basketball before this season started. That made the moment all the more memorable for him.

“That’s what you do it for,” Aversa continued, “to see their faces and to see [the girls] jump up and down.”

Aversa Dental has now won back-to-back buzzer-beating championship games going back to last season.

But that wasn’t the only championship game that came down to the wire on Sunday as the sixth grade game was also decided on the last shot.

The Silly Rabbits led Norm’s Ice Cream 7-2 early in the contest, but Jamie Rosa rallied her team back to a tie. Rosa scored all eight of her team’s points as the score was evened up with less than a minute to go.

But Gianna De Jesus made a layup for the Rabbits to regain the lead with 44 seconds left. After the teams swapped possessions, Norm’s Ice Cream had the ball with 4.3 seconds remaining and trailing 10-8 in the game. The inbound pass got batted around to Rosa who turned around at the free throw line but missed the game-tying shot at the buzzer.

“That was a great game and the teams were evenly matched,” said Greg Vucci, the head coach of the Silly Rabbits. “They are all champions…the points don’t make a difference.”

League President Mike Klein looked for the proper words to describe the day after the championship trophies were handed out.

“It doesn’t get better than that,” he said referring to the championship games on Sunday. “It’s March Madness.”

All participating players received trophies for their efforts over the past few months, and each athlete posed for a group picture after the final award was handed out.

With the final buzzer, the Fort Lee Girls Basketball League season has officially ended, but the memories for those involved today may live on well past the final shot.

Most coaches talked during the awards ceremony about how much the girls have grown throughout the year as well as praising the parents and league president  Klein for their commitments.

But when most coaches were asked about what they would do on Monday now that basketball season was over, most simply said, “Softball starts.”

And with that, the torch has been passed to the next sports season.  

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