GL girls' basketball comes back to win at Cranford 42-38 to remain undefeated; Highlanders now 11-0, while Cougars move to 9-3
GL leads the UCC's Mountain Division at 6-0, with Cranford next at 4-2By JR Parachini
Union County Sports Editor
CRANFORD – An important part of the game of basketball is to be in the right position at the most opportune time.
Governor Livingston senior Rebecca Johnson positioned herself right underneath the basket in case a shot by teammate Alyssa Polimeni didn’t go in.
After Polimeni drove through the lane and put up a shot that didn’t fill the hoop, Johnson was underneath on the left side to grab the offensive rebound and put the ball in off the glass.
Johnson’s inside basket with 50 seconds left snapped the game’s third tie and propelled the visiting Highlanders to a gritty, come-from-behind, 42-38 Union County Conference-Mountain Division triumph over Cranford Thursday at Martin Gymnasium.
Johnson’s game-winning field goal put GL ahead for good at 40-38 after Cranford junior Kaitlin McGovern made two free throws to tie the game at 38-38 with 1:14 to go.
“We always want to crash the boards, so I was looking for a possible rebound,” said Johnson, who tied Polimeni for the team lead in points with 14 and also grabbed nine rebounds, three of them on the offensive end.
In addition, Johnson - after getting fouled by Cranford senior Morgan Miller, which was her fifth - made two free throws with 15.9 seconds remaining. Johnson ended up scoring the game’s final four points and poured in 10 of her 14 in the second half.
“We’re all working really hard,” Johnson said. “It was just a matter of who was going to get it (the rebound for the winning basket) for us.”
“Rebecca was great,” GL head coach Andy Silvagni said. “She came down with a big offensive rebound and gave us a great finish. Her free throws sealed the game.”
GL remains the only undefeated basketball team in Union County and is now 11-0. The Highlanders also increased their lead in the Mountain Division over Cranford by two games at 6-0.
GL is now 5-0 on the road, while Cranford lost for the first time at home and is 8-1 in Martin Gymnasium.
Cranford, which has now lost three games by a total of eight points, fell to 9-3 overall and 4-2 in the Mountain.
“I thought we played well defensively, but their offensive rebounds really hurt us,” said Miller, who paced all scorers with 15 points, including a game-high three 3-pointers.
“We allowed too many offensive rebounds. To me that was the difference,” Cranford head coach Jackie Dyer said. “GL is a very aggressive team. We don’t play teams as aggressive as they are.
“Our defense was good and I thought we shut down (Mallory) George (five points) and (Erin) Ferguson (four points). We didn’t stop their rebounding.”
GL had to overcome a first quarter that saw them fall behind 5-0, not take a shot until almost three minutes into the game, take only four shots for the entire period and eventually get outscored 7-4.
GL made it 5-2 when Polimeni scored on a layup – which was GL’s first shot – with 5:12 left in the first quarter.
“This was a big game and we might have had a few jitters early on,” Silvagni said.
“It was a little uncharacteristic of us to take so few shots in the first quarter,” said Polimeni, who also grabbed three rebounds and came up with three steals. “We had to stay patient and eventually we calmed down and made easier passes.”
“We came out strong and focused to start, but then had problems finishing out plays,” Miller said.
The Highlanders shot the ball right away in the second quarter and did a much better job on the boards from the halfway point of the second until the game’s conclusion.
For example, GL took only three shots in the game’s first six minutes. In contrast, the Highlanders had already taken four shots in the first minute-and-a-half of the second quarter.
Still, GL needed to close the first half on a 5-0 run just to pull to within three points at intermission at 16-13. Miller’s first 3-pointer gave Cranford the game’s biggest lead at eight for a 16-8 Cougar lead with less than three minutes to go in the first half.
Before the Highlanders knew it they scored the first six points of the third quarter for an 11-0 run and a 19-16 lead. A layup by Polimeni gave GL its first advantage at 17-16.
After a 3-pointer from the right side by McGovern tied the game for the first time at 19-19, GL scored the next seven points on a jumper by Polimeni, senior shooting guard Sam Dowling’s first 3-pointer in six attempts and a layup by Polimeni. This was the first of three seven-point leads the Highlanders produced, two in the third quarter and one in the fourth.
Dowling, who scored all six of her points in the second half on two 3-point field goals, shot only 2-of-11 from the floor, including 2-of-10 from 3-point range. She was 0-for-6 from the floor in the first half, including 0-for-5 from long range.
Once again it was the interior play – specifically rebounding – of GL’s front court players such as Johnson and juniors Mallory George and Erin Ferguson that proved vital. George and Ferguson grabbed six rebounds each. Following a missed shot by Cranford junior Jenna Goeller, Ferguson came down with her team’s final rebound to preserve GL’s four-point margin of victory.
A basket in the lane by Cranford junior Jessica McCoy, who finished with 10 points, followed an 18-3 GL run and pulled Cranford to within 26-21. Another basket by McCoy off a pass from Goeller right before the third quarter buzzer made the score 28-23.
GL senior Cat Quinn came out of the game early in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a leg injury and did not return.
Then, as everyone pretty much expected, Cranford came back and tied the game at 32-32 following two McGovern free throws.
Dowling then produced her second and final 3-pointer, which was a huge shot from the left side that put GL immediately back in front 35-32 with 5:02 to go.
Still, Cranford came back and tied the game once more before Johnson’s deciding offensive rebound and put back.
“I thought the difference was in the third quarter when our big girls started to rebound,” Silvagni said. GL won the quarter 15-7.
“We started to get some confidence and were then able to play our game. I still wasn’t happy with the way we closed the quarter.
“This wasn’t our best effort, but I’ll take the victory.”
“We have six seniors on this team, a lot of experience and we know how to stay calm and composed,” Polimeni said. “We know Cranford is a very good team. Once we got the momentum we were able to stay in control.”
While both teams are known for their stifling man defenses, it didn’t help either that their shots weren’t falling. GL made five of 19 field goal attempts in the first half and Cranford just four of 24.
“We had a hard time shooting the ball, our shots just weren’t falling,” Dyer said.
“We had a little trouble with the flow of the game in the half court,” Miller said. “We didn’t have the precision or the passing to stay composed and play our game. Sometimes we have a couple of lapses and we pressed a lot.”
“Throughout these games (the 3 losses) we, obviously, are able to compete and we can beat these teams. It’s just going to take a little more.”
Although Cranford starter Mairead McKeary didn’t score, she played a solid game, coming up with five offensive rebounds and three steals. She had three big offensive rebounds and a steal in the fourth quarter when Cranford came back to tie the game.
“Even though some of our girls might not score in double digits, they will get five to six steals or five to six rebounds and do the other things,” Dyer said.
GL and Cranford will play the only division teams they have yet to face Friday, with GL hosting Oak Knoll at 7 p.m. and Cranford going to Elizabeth for a 4 p.m. clash.
GL will seek to go through the division for the first time unscathed.
“We still feel like we can improve and we know we have to cut down on our turnovers,” Polimeni said.
“We have balance,” Silvagni said. “We’re long and athletic and our big girls really came through for us.”
UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-MOUNTAIN DIVISION
GIRLS’ BASKETBALL AT MARTIN GYMNASIUM
GOV. LIVINGSTON (11-0, 6-0) 4 9 15 14 - 42
CRANFORD (9-3, 4-2) 7 9 7 15 - 38
GL HIGHLANDERS (42):
21-Rebecca Johnson, senior, 5-0-4-14
15-Mallory George, junior, 1-0-2-4
14-Alyssa Polimeni, senior, 6-0-2-14
42-Sam Dowling, senior, 0-2-0-6
22-Erin Ferguson, junior, 2-0-0-4
24-Cat Quinn, senior, 0-0-0-0
3-Bari Machado, senior, 0-0-0-0
Starters: Polimeni, Dowling,
Ferguson, Johnson, George
Totals: 14-2-8-42
CRANFORD COUGARS (38):
22-Kaitlin McGovern, junior, 1-1-6-11
20-Jessica McCoy, junior, 5-0-0-10
3-Morgan Miller, senior, 1-3-4-15
4-Jenna Goeller, junior, 0-0-2-2
13-Mairead McKeary, sophomore, 0-0-0-0
10-Kerry Wischusen, sophomore, 0-0-0-0
Starters: Miller, Goeller,
McCoy, McGovern, McKeary
Totals: 7-4-12-38
PHOTOS BY JR PARACHINI:
TOP - GL junior Mallory George, at left, gets ready to guard Cranford junior Jessica McCoy.
BOTTOM - Cranford senior Morgan Miller, at right, drives to the basket vs. GL.
No comments:
Post a Comment