It would be completely understandable if the Lyndhurst girls basketball team was still trying to establish chemistry on the court as we head into the new year. The weeks leading up to the start of the season saw the Golden Bears lose two project starters due to injury, then had a coaching change in late-October when Dan Kesack took over following Christian Boyce’s departure to take over as the boys coach at North Arlington.
Despite all the sudden changes both on the court and on the bench, Lyndhurst finds itself at 4-2 and coming off victories over Paramus and Midland Park during last week’s New Milford Winter Classic.
“I feel like the girls have responded nicely, sitting at 4-2 right now,” said Kesack, who coached many of the girls either as the JV coach from 2018-2022, or in flag football where he is the head coach. “I feel that we’ve shown that we can win a close game. But I feel like our best basketball is ahead of us. My goal is, as we get later into the season, for us to get better as a team each week, each game.”
Leading the way offensively for Lyndhurst has once again been 5-foot-11 senior Asya Akar, who has averaged 17.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game so far this season.
“It really just comes natural to her. When she’s out there on the court and she’s locked in, she’s a different type of athlete,” Kesack said.”She’s got to deal with the fact that every time she goes on the court, teams are developing a plan to stop her. And she’s still averaging 17 a game and doing the things that she needs to do for the team to be successful.”
More focus has been directed towards Akar with 6-foot-1 junior Brooke Harper sidelined indefinitely due to an offseason injury. While the loss of Harper, who averaged 11 points and 7.9 rebounds last season, leaves a huge void, the blow has been softened by the emergence of senior Jolie Paz-Garcia (8.2 points, 6.3 rebounds per game).
The 6-foot-1 Paz-Garcia has been limited by knee injuries the past two seasons, but is now healthy and playing the best basketball of her career. Paz-Garcia scored a career-high 18 points to go with eight rebounds in Friday’s win over Midland Park.
“The biggest thing for her is staying healthy and staying on the court because when she’s out there, she’s a force, she’s a presence and she’s getting better,” said Kesack. “She’s strong down low, she finishes, she can rebound and I think it’s not going to take that long for teams to realize that she’s a player to be worried about.”
Lyndhurst took another big loss in the fall when its best perimeter defender, Kyla Marino suffered a torn ACL during the soccer season. In Marino’s place, junior Gianna Lembo has emerged as the Bears’ defensive stopper.
“She doesn’t care about stats, she doesn’t care about points,” Kesack said. “She just wants to do whatever she has to do on her end to help us win.”
At point guard is Sam Mayer, a four-year starter. Mayer is 9.7 points, 4.2 assists and 2.7 steals per game, while leading the team in 3-pointers, but those numbers only give a glimpse of the veteran’s impact.
“I can’t say enough good things about Sam. She’s a dream player for a coach,” Kesack said. “She’s a great leader and she’s vocal. We put a lot on her plate and she handles it with grace. She’s the straw that stirs the drink for us for sure.”
The other guard spot is currently a rotation with senior Alexia Marmorato and juniors Gabriella Bojarski and Juliana Gonzalez all vying for the starting role. Promising freshman Alexa Gibbons could also force her way into the mix as well.
Junior guards Mylah Campbell and Zeynep Celik as well as senior forwards Dayanah Campbell and Alejandra Ramirez are also in the mix for minutes off the bench.
Lyndhurst looks to continue to ride the positive momentum on Jan. 3 when it goes to Weehawken for a division matchup before returning home to face North Arlington on Jan. 6.
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)