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Cougars Net a Narrow Victory Over Westfield

Cranford netted 21 points in the third quarter to win the game.

By David Riggs

A 21 point third quarter propelled the Cranford High School girls basketball team to a narrow 46-40 road victory over Westfield on Tuesday afternoon.

In the third, the Cougars hit five three pointers and held the Blue Devils to just nine points. Sophomore and freshman guards Morgan Miller and Jess McCoy led Cranford with 13 points each, while senior center and captain Diana Venezia paced Westfield with a game high 15.

Eleven of Venezia's points came in the first half though, as Cranford switched its defense and quieted her.

"In the first half Cranford started with zone, and in the second half they went to man-to-man," WHS head coach Joe Marino said. "It put a little more pressure on Venezia and made it harder for her to get open."

"We went into man, because zone was too slow paced for us," Cranford head coach Jamie Huber said. "We're a very quick team that likes to be aggressive, and our zone was taking us out of that. We wanted to pump up the tempo a little bit."

Cranford switched up their style of play after being down 21-19 at halftime. Blue Devil junior forward Katie Ponce also wreaked havoc on the Cougars offense through the first 16 minutes, as she forced turnovers and trapped opponents in double teams. Marino knows that Ponce's strengths lie in her speed.

"Ponce is a great athlete, and her speed alone is going to get us turnovers in games," he said. "Once she starts to get that speed under control, she will be a bigger factor for us offensively."

Huber credited Ponce as the reason why Cranford struggled to limit its turnovers.

"She is extremely quick," Huber said. "On defense we had too many turnovers because she was very aggressive and there for the steals."

Ponce finished the game with eight points.

Cranford's third quarter rally was due in large part to Miller, who hit three from long distance. Miller is not afraid to be aggressive in taking threes if her opponent is giving her space. Although the Cougars played more reserved in the first half, when Westfield couldn't guard Miller in time in the second, she let loose.

"In the second half I think I was more focused on making shots, but I also didn't over think it," she said. "If I can shoot it and make it, then I'm going to take the shot."

Huber is proud of Miller's development this season after she struggled earlier in the year.

"In the beginning of the season Miller was struggling a little bit with her outside shot and then she started working from the inside out," Huber said. "Her shot has just been falling and she's been doing well ever since."

Thanks to their strong output in the third, the Cougars led 40-30 going into the fourth. Both teams struggled offensively in the final quarter, but Westfield managed to go on an 8-0 run through six minutes.

Cranford then called a timeout to talk it over. They returned with a backdoor cut pass that found McCoy wide open along the baseline for a layup. After another layup by senior guard Jamie Webb, McCoy hit both free throws in a 1-and-1 situation to seal the win.

"It was really good that we picked it up in the end and were able to stay in control," Miller said. "We remained aggressive, but without getting crazy."

"In the end we were getting open shots, but we had to make them," Marino said. "If we made our shots it would have been different."