The Cougars, coming off of a hard-fought win against Hillside on Monday started off a bit slowly. After a couple of missed Cranford shots, Oak Knoll got on the board first with a layup from Junior Kerri Moran who then swiped a Cranford pass on the next possession and took it the distance for another two points.
The Cougars responded as Kaitlin McGovern got to the rim off a beautiful pass in the paint from Jenna Goeller and the score was 4-2. Both teams exchanged several possessions. The Cougars were able to get steals from Goeller and Morgan Miller, but were unable to convert them to points until Mairead McKeary got fouled driving to the basket and was able to connect on one of her freebies to close the score to 4-3. Oak Knoll came right back on the next possession with a short jumper from Senior Gabriela Pallicer. Pallicer then found Moran on the next possession for two more and the Royals led 8-3. Cranford was able to end their shooting drought when Miller tossed one in from long range off of a pass from Jess McCoy, narrowing the gap to 8-6. McGovern earned a trip to the line on the Cougars next trip up the court and was able to convert both to tie the game. Despite shooting only 2 for 13, the Cougars were able to escape the first quarter with an even game.
Oak Knoll was able to get on the board first at the beginning of the 2nd period with a foul line jumper from Pallicer. The Cougars answered with another trey from Miller. Both teams struggled again to get open looks until Kerri Moran grabbed a rebound off of a shot blocked by Jess McCoy and was able to get the putback to put the Royals up by one halfway through the period.
Coming out of a Cougars timeout, Goeller found McCoy who hit a 12 footer from the left side. McCoy then grabbed a rebound on the other end of the court and found Morgan Miller at the top of the arc for three more. Mairead McKeary grabbed an Oak Knoll pass on the next possession and found Jess McCoy under the basket to run the Cranford lead to 18-12. McCoy struck again with a baseline jumper off of an assist from Jenna Goeller. The Royals were able to get back on the board when Kerri Moran found Catherine Bonner in transition for two points. Cranford answered the same way when Miller found McGovern under the rim for two. Jess McCoy blocked the final shot of the half by Oak Knoll, and Cranford took a 22-14 lead into the locker room.
Cranford opened the scoring in the third quarter when Kaitlin McGovern took a pass from Morgan Miller to the bucket. Oak Knoll got two of their own when Number 10 took a fast break pass from Kerri Moran for two of her own. On the next possession, Jenna Goeller hit a pair of freebies after being fouled in the lane. Catherine Bonner of Oak Knoll hit for two of her own after a beautiful move through two Cranford defenders to get to the rim. The pace of the game was definitely picking up as Morgan Miller raced up the court with the ball, kicked it back to Jess McCoy who hit a jumper from just inside the arc. Oak Knoll’s Kelly McAloon struck right back with a trey from the left side, and then followed that up on the next possession with a traditional three-point play to bring the Royals to within four of the Cougars.
After Morgan Miller earned a trip to the line and made both, Kaitlin McGovern blocked an Oak Knoll shot on their next trip up the court. Jess McCoy grabbed the rebound and launched a pass to Mairead McKeary who was streaking for the basket to put Cranford up eight. A couple of possessions later, McCoy grabbed and offensive rebound and got the put back. Oak Knoll came back with two of their own as Kerri Moran drove into the lane and hit a floater to close out the scoring for the quarter with Cranford leading 34-26.
Bonner got the Royals on the board first after taking a beautiful pass from McAloon for two. Miller found McCoy with a great inlet pass of her own to get Cranford back on the board. Right away, Oak Knoll came back with two points from Amanda Fritz off of an assist by Kerri Moran to bring the score to 36-30 as the Royals called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, McCoy grabbed a steal, passed it to Morgan Miller, who gave it back to McCoy who hit from just inside the arc for two. At this point, Cranford began to slow things down offensively, running through their sets. Miller got fouled and made both ends of her one and one. Kelly McAloon got fouled shooting for Oak Knoll and made one of her freebies. On the other end, Miller closed out the game with two more from the charity stripe as Cranford went on to win 42-31.
For the game, Morgan Miller led all scorers with 15 points and recorded a double-double, also tallying 11 rebounds. Jess McCoy also recorded a double-double, hitting for 14 points and 11 rebounds. Kerri Moran led Oak Knoll with 10 points.
| PLAYER | PTS | RBD | AST | STL | BLK | 2PM | 3PM | FTM |
| Miller | 15 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Goeller | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| McCoy | 14 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| McGovern | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| McKeary | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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