Physical conditioning might have played a huge part in Bergenfield’s 64-38 win over Demarest last week.

"I always tell the girls in October and November, when you have to run and you want to be home or out shopping with your friends it’s not fun," said Bergenfield coach Erik Olson.

"It’s not supposed to be fun. The fun is when you win by 24 points."

The Lady Bears led by only four at halftime, but they outscored the Norsewomen 37-15 in the second half.

"We practice really hard and we run up and down the court," said Bergenfield guard Kathy Palacio. "Our conditioning is excellent – we have one of the best conditioned teams."

"We do off-season and in-season conditioning," agreed center Olga Nahlova. "If we hadn’t had the conditioning we wouldn’t be able to run in the second half like we did.

"It’s not fun when you have to run in October but it pays off now."

Bergenfield jumped out to an 11-0 lead in the first quarter but Demarest seniors Caroline Becker and Kim Dabagian each scored four points to help pull the Norsewomen within three, 15-12.

"We played hard," said Demarest coach Jennifer Leahy. "They hustled, they played with intensity. They were in the other girls’ faces. It was a tough game. They are playing really hard and are not giving up, which is the most important thing."

"We came out with so much emotion," said Olson. "This is a huge game for us, one we knew we had to win. For us to jump out 11-0 didn’t surprise me. And what happened after that didn’t surprise me either. We started pressing. We started thinking instead of playing. They knew they had pressure. It was the first time that they knew they had pressure to win a game. It definitely showed in the first half."

The score remained close through the first half, as. Dabagian scored six and teammate Alissa Migliore scored the other five Demarest points.

"We were a little nervous to start with," said Nahlova. "Even though we had a lead we lost control of it."

At the half the Lady Bears were clinging to that four-point lead.

"I think we decided to scare our coach a little bit," Palacio joked. "We were getting a little sloppy but we had a meeting at halftime and pulled it together."

"Coach told us we were playing really sloppy but we were still winning by four," said Nahlova. "[He said] if we go out and play our hardest, the game we know how to play, we are going to win."

The teams traded baskets through most of the third quarter as the score remained close. With a little more than 90 seconds to go in the quarter and Bergenfield up by only four, the Bears went on a 10-0 run to surge to a 14-point lead.

First Palacio scored on a pass from Chanelle Banta. Then Nahlova scored on a put-back and Palacio drained a pair of free throws.

Brianna Croonquist induced a charging foul from Dabagian and scored a basket. Shana Rivera capped off the run when she banked in a layup off a steal.

"Kathy (Palacio) really sparked us in that third quarter, along with Brianna Croonquist," said Olson. "Brianna goes in for two minutes, takes a charge from Dabagian, gets an offensive rebound, puts up a basket, gets a steal and we get a another basket.

"We score six points in about 30 seconds to make a 10-point lead 14."

The Bergenfield onslaught continued into the fourth quarter as Demarest went nearly eight minutes without scoring.

"Defense, defense, defense," said Nahlova. "That’s the key to our team. Coach Olson always stresses defense. You can’t make baskets without defense first. So from defense everything else comes."

"It didn’t help that we had some of our starters on the bench in the third quarter, in foul trouble," said Leahy. "We didn’t look to shoot enough in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter we came down looking to shoot but sometimes it is just too late."

As much as the defense plays a big part in Bergenfield’s success, the Bear offense came alive in this game.

"We play at a frantic pace and that is what best suits this team," said Olson. "We turn the ball over but we also cause a lot of turnovers because we are a scrappy team. I knew if we continued to put our foot to the pedal, we would be fine in the second half. We have some depth and we are in shape.

"In a game like this where the other team is not as deep and gets themselves in foul trouble, you are able to run them off the court a little bit." "

"It takes us a little while to get into the game," Palacio said, "but we always finish strong."