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While this years’ Lady Falcons basketball team did not reach fifteen games, they did scrounge up plenty of more successes during their three-week run, in which they played ten games. They finished with an overall record of 7-3, with a league record of 5-1. In their seven wins, they beat their opponent by an average of 19.7 points.
Because the panel did rule in Saddle Brook’s favor, the two seniors on the team, Bianca Ianneillo and Vanessa Gusicora, are the first two girls basketball players in school history to help win two league titles. Saddle Brook's last league championship was in 2018, when the two were freshmen, and the only one preceding that was forty years prior, in 1978.
By: Bianca Ianneillo
In addition, every single varsity player was awarded a postseason honor. Ella Marchesani, Bianca Ianneillo, Gabby Gusciora, and Deanna Occhipinti were named First Team All-NJIC, while Vanessa Gusciora, Saoirse Twomey, and Mia Ianneillo were named Second Team All-NJIC.
The girls’ basketball team was hit with plenty of obstacles, yet still managed to come out with a winning record and plenty of accomplishments. They have shown resilience in every way and continued to embody the spirit of competition with every game, in which they learned to play every one like it was their last. When playing through a pandemic, it could very well be.