JR’S TOP 5 COUNTY PLAYERS AS OF JAN. 30:
Alyssa Polimeni, Gov. Livingston; Marcia Senatus, Roselle Catholic;
Morgan Miller, Cranford; Kate Martino, Summit; Erin Ferguson, GL.
A LOOK AT UNION COUNTY GIRLS’ BASKETBALL For the week of Jan. 30:
By JR Parachini
For sidelinechatter.com
It will be up to arch rival New Providence – a team that has won state championships the past two seasons – to prevent Governor Livingston to get to February undefeated. For sidelinechatter.com
There are many reasons why the Highlanders - who next week should earn the top seed for the 37th annual Frank J. Cicarell Union County Tournament - begin the seventh week of the season at 15-0 overall and leaders of the Union County Conference’s Mountain Division at 10-0.
“I think this year we do a better job talking,” said junior center Erin Ferguson, who led all players with 15 points and 21 rebounds in Friday night’s convincing 46-28 win at 12-3 Dayton. “Last year we didn’t talk as much on defense. We have a lot more confidence in each other compared to last year.”
GL had to battle without injured seniors Sam Dowling and Cat Quinn. Stepping up in their place were Bari Machado, Alyssa Cranston and Patrice DiTomasso.
Quinn has been out with a knee injury she suffered in GL’s come-from-behind 42-38 win at Cranford on Jan. 19. Dowling suffered a concussion in Tuesday’s 50-33 home win over Johnson. She hopes to be back for Friday night’s home game vs. Cranford.
Other players stepped up in Saturday afternoon’s quick turnaround 59-28 win at Union Catholic.
“Everyone played so well and I was so happy for everyone,” Dowling said after Friday night’s win. “Coach talked about everyone stepping up because I was injured and Cat was injured.
“Everyone played really good defense and I knew our offense was going to come around. We were really pumped on defense.”
Machado stepped in at guard for Dowling Friday night, coming up with some key rebounds and steals, in addition to doing a solid job of guarding Dayton senior point guard Anna Lies, who was held to nine points, which is her average.
“We can all play together as a team,” Ferguson said. “We have a lot of depth on the bench. We had players come in and help out. It’s nice to see that it doesn’t matter whether it’s five or nine.”
If someone, starting with New Providence Tuesday night at 7 in New Providence, is going to beat GL, they’re going to have to prevent Ferguson from dominating the middle. She’s going to need to be boxed out and that won’t be easy.
“I take a lot of pride in rebounding,” said Ferguson, who uses both hands and her body to clear a path. Fellow front court starters Rebecca Johnson and Mallory George, in addition to players off the bench such as Quinn, rebound in the same successful manner.
“The points will come to me on an offensive rebound or some other way,” Ferguson said. “I would rather have a rebound than have a point.”
GL handled New Providence 47-23 at home on Jan. 14 the first time the teams played in Mountain Division competition. The Highlanders - who also defeated the Pioneers three times in four tries last year - won the second quarter 12-0.
GL will continue in division play at Elizabeth Thursday at 4 p.m. and will then host Cranford Friday night at 7. GL defeated Elizabeth 52-41 at home on Jan. 6.
Cranford begins the week 13-3 overall and in second place in the Mountain Division at 8-2. GL defeated Cranford at home last year by the score of 29-21.
Cranford’s three losses have come by eight points – three to Dayton, one to Linden and four to GL. Cranford got out to a 5-0 lead against GL the first time they played and also led the Highlanders at the half.
With one team goal being to capture the Mountain Division championship, GL will wrap its division schedule the day before the UCT gets seeded when it plays at Oak Knoll on Feb. 7.
“We preach in the program that we work hard in practice,” fifth-year GL head coach Andy Silvagni said. “We have a lot of talent and we don’t know where it’s going to come from. It could be anybody on any day that is going to pick up the slack.”
UCT WILL BE SEEDED WEDNESDAY MORNING, FEB. 8 AT RAHWAY LIBRARY
The 37th annual Frank J. Cicarell Union County Tournament will be seeded and formatted Feb. 8 in Rahway.
According to Roselle Catholic head coach Joe Skrec, the tournament will revert back to its original format, which includes the top four seeds not receiving byes right into the quarterfinals.
It also means that there will be another first round Monday that includes eight games to be played at four different gyms. Those games will be scheduled for Feb. 13.
Skrec also said that it’s looking like the championship game will be played at Kean University’s Harwood Arena in Union on either Friday night, Feb. 24 or Sunday afternoon, Feb. 26.
GL has never won the championship. The Highlanders reached the final last year as the third seed, falling to two-time defending champion Roselle Catholic 33-26 on a Sunday afternoon at Kean.
Last year RC became the first team to win three straight titles since Elizabeth accomplished the feat under head coach Bob Firestone in 1995, 1996 and 1997.
Roselle Catholic was soundly defeated by GL 42-25 at home back on Dec. 29 in the championship game of the RC Holiday Tournament. Both teams were 4-0 at the time.
“Right now it’s GL and then everybody else in Union County,” Skrec said. “GL is talented enough and has played well enough to have earned the role of favorite when the UCT commences.
“The rest of the field is pretty evenly-matched, which could and should make for some very competitive and potentially exciting games.”
The last team to win four straight titles was Union Catholic in 1986, 1987, 1988 and 1989. UC has won the most crowns, with eight championships.
Plainfield is the only team that has won more than four straight titles. The Cardinals won all six of their crowns in a row from 1979-1984. Although it still has not won the championship since 1984, Plainfield has still won the second-most titles with its six crowns.
In addition to trying to win a fourth straight championship, Roselle Catholic will attempt to win its fifth crown.
“This is definitely one of those seasons where quite a few teams – maybe more than a few – will enter the UCT believing they can win a couple of games and advance,” Skrec said.
From 1995 to 2008 – 14 tournaments – eight teams won their first championship, including Elizabeth in 1995, Summit in 1999, Union in 2000, Roselle in 2002, Roselle Catholic in 2003, Scotch Plains in 2004, Cranford in 2006 and Westfield in 2008.
“Coach keeps saying we haven’t won anything yet,” Ferguson said. “We don’t want to play our best basketball now. We want to play our best in the counties and in the states.
“We haven’t won anything yet and that’s being reinforced. The date is on our board for the county final and that’s what we want to get to and that’s what we want to win.”
ROSELLE CATHOLIC MAKES IT HARD FOR OPPOSITION TO FILL BASKET
With Saturday’s 33-26 Watchung Division victory at 9-3 Summit, Roselle Catholic has now held an opponent to 27 points or less in regulation for the sixth consecutive game.
“Our team’s defensive intensity is something I’m starting to get impressed by,” Skrec said. “We keep challenging the girls to try to keep this streak going and they’ve responded with some tremendous defensive efforts and execution. It’s going to end, but not for lack of effort.”
Roselle Catholic improved to 12-4 overall with its fourth straight win, while also getting to 10-0 in the Watchung. Summit had a seven-game winning streak snapped, falling to 9-4 overall and 5-3 in the Watchung.
“This is a pretty quick, athletic team, probably one of the most athletic we’ve had in recent seasons,” Skrec said. “It's also a smart team.
“This group can still play better defense – especially when it comes to our principles and fundamentals – but this team’s quickness and basketball smarts help erase a lot of mistakes.”
The last team to score more than 27 points on Roselle Catholic in regulation was Westfield when the Blue Devils were defeated 49-42 at home on Jan. 10. RC snapped a 42-42 fourth quarter tie by scoring the game’s final seven points.
Westfield rallied from four 13-point deficits to stun visiting Scotch Plains 49-45 Saturday night.
Although RC did not score in double digits in any quarter against Summit Saturday, the Lions never trailed in the second half.
“We’ve had some excellent scouting reports, as usual, from (assistant) Coach (Charlie) Wischusen and I think the girls are starting to embrace the challenges and goals we’ve been writing on the board before games,” Skrec said. “Our girls are excited about playing defense.
“We haven’t shot the ball well on the other end of the floor and have struggled to score points, which I think only enhances our defensive commitment. Also, our girls understand that no matter how much you might struggle on offense, you can always play strong defense, always bring your lunch pail and always do the dirty work that helps create strong team defense.”
Junior point guard Marcia Senatus paced Roselle Catholic with 15 points, in addition to contributing two rebounds, one assist and four steals.
“Marcia is doing a great job of challenging the opponent’s point guard and making her work hard,” Skrec said. “Her combination of speed, quickness and basketball ability is tough to match. She has tremendous offensive skills and has become a very, very good defensive player for us.”
Sophomore forward Tori Pozsonyi scored six points and grabbed a team-leading eight rebounds.
“Tori is very, very solid trying to deny the post pass and is becoming a better and better weak/help-side defender,” Skrec said. “Tori moves very, very well for her size and is doing a good job against opposing post players.”
LINDEN HAS COUNTY’S SECOND LONGEST WINNING STREAK AT 8 GAMES
Linden defeated Watchung Division foes Scotch Plains, Westfield and Plainfield this past week to improve to 12-3 overall and 7-2 in the Watchung Division.
Linden begins the week with the county’s second-longest winning streak of eight games. On Friday Dayton had a six-game winning streak snapped and on Saturday Summit had a seven-game winning streak halted.
Sparked by senior Shannon Wheeler and junior Jada Lewis, the Tigers won at Plainfield 53-44 Saturday after winning the fourth quarter 17-7.
Linden has three more Watchung Division games this week, including big ones at Summit Tuesday night at 7 and home vs. RC Saturday at 1 p.m.
Linden downed Summit 51-45 at home on Jan. 5 after losing at Roselle Catholic 50-45 on Dec. 20.
Linden’s last loss was a 50-34 Watchung Division setback at Union on Jan. 3.
UCC LEADERS ALL BEGIN THE WEEK UNDEFEATED:
Watchung – Roselle Catholic (10-0)
Mountain – Gov. Livingston (10-0)
Valley – Hillside (10-0)
JR’S TOP 5 UCT SEEDS AS OF JAN. 30:
1-Governor Livingston. 2-Roselle Catholic. 3-Linden. 4-Dayton. 5-Cranford.
(my follow-the-leader theory so far: GL beat RC, RC beat Linden, Linden beat Cranford and Dayton beat Cranford; GL has also beaten Cranford,
GL has swept Dayton and Dayton has defeated RC in OT, which is another
reason why I have Dayton ahead of Cranford right now)
JR’S TOP 5 COUNTY PLAYERS AS OF JAN. 30:
Alyssa Polimeni, Gov. Livingston; Marcia Senatus, Roselle Catholic;
Morgan Miller, Cranford; Kate Martino, Summit; Erin Ferguson, GL.
UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE
2011-2012 GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
STANDINGS OF GAMES PLAYED
THROUGH JAN. 29:
WATCHUNG DIVISION:
Roselle Catholic (10-0)
Linden (7-2)
Summit (5-3)
Scotch Plains (4-5)
Plainfield (4-5)
Union (4-5)
Westfield (2-7)
Roselle (0-9)
MOUNTAIN DIVISION:
Gov. Livingston (10-0)
Cranford (8-2)
Oak Knoll (6-4)
Dayton (6-4)
New Providence (4-6)
Johnson (3-7)
Union Catholic (3-7)
Elizabeth (0-10)
VALLEY DIVISION:
Hillside (10-0)
Kent Place (7-2)
Rahway (6-4)
Brearley (5-4)
St. Patrick (4-4)
Benedictine Academy (4-5)
Roselle Park (1-8)
St. Mary’s, Elizabeth (0-10)
OVERALL RECORDS:
Gov. Livingston (15-0)
Cranford (13-3)
Hillside (12-2)
Linden (12-3)
Dayton (12-4)
Roselle Catholic (12-4)
Brearley (10-7)
Summit (9-4)
Benedictine Academy (9-9)
Kent Place (8-4)
New Providence (8-6)
Rahway (8-6)
Union Catholic (8-7)
Oak Knoll (8-7)
Scotch Plains (7-9)
Union (7-9)
Plainfield (6-10)
Westfield (5-10)
St. Patrick (4-5)
Johnson (4-10)
Elizabeth (3-13)
Roselle Park (2-13)
Roselle (1-13)
St. Mary's, Elizabeth (1-13)
GMC school: Mother Seton (7-4)
JR’S TOP 10
THROUGH JAN. 29:
1-Gov. Livingston (15-0)
2-Roselle Catholic (12-4)
3-Linden (12-3)
4-Dayton (12-4)
5-Cranford (13-3)
6-New Providence (8-6)
7-Summit (9-4)
8-Scotch Plains (7-9)
9-Union (7-9)
10-Union Catholic (8-7)
Right there: Oak Knoll (8-7), Hillside (12-2),
Westfield (5-10).
DIVISION GAMES OF NOTE THIS WEEK:
Watchung – Scotch Plains at Union Saturday (Feb. 4) at 1 p.m.
Scotch Plains defeated Union 47-34 at home in division play on Jan. 17.
The Raiders begin the week seeking to snap a four-game losing streak.
Mountain – Oak Knoll at Union Catholic Thursday (Feb. 2) at 4 p.m.
Union Catholic won at Oak Knoll 39-36 on Jan. 6. The Vikings begin the week having lost three of four after a 7-4 start. The Royals begin the week with a two-game winning streak.
Valley – Hillside at Brearley Friday (Feb. 3) at 7 p.m.
Hillside defeated Brearley 57-21 in Hillside back on Jan. 13, so the host Bears will want to show the visiting Comets that they will provide a better matchup this time in Kenilworth.
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