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Cougars send Lions to their first loss of the season.

By Mike Curci

Cranford had one thing in mind when they traveled to visit unbeaten Roselle Catholic Saturday afternoon--to come away with a victory against the No. 1 ranked team in Union County.

Thanks to senior Jamie Webb's shot off the glass as time expired, the Lady Cougars edged the Lady Lions 49-47 after trailing by 11 points entering the fourth quarter.

"I can't even believe it," said Webb, who had a team-high 16 points. "I'm really happy. Nothing could have gone better. They thought they had it, and that the whole time they were going to beat us. We just gave it our all, especially in the fourth quarter."

"This was an amazing victory," said senior Taylor D'Antico. "This is what we need to get over the hump, like our coaches just told us. We came out here knowing they were an undefeated team and we knew that we had to come out here strong in order to win. We know that we're a good team, we play hard and even when we're losing, we'll never give up."

Cranford started chipping away at the Lions' double-digit lead, with Webb hitting a driving layup to start the fourth quarter. Morgan Miller also hit a couple of big baskets, including a three-pointer to cut the lead to six with 5:41 to play.

Soon after, it was D'Antico's turn, hitting a pressure three-point shot from just right of the arc to cut the deficit to 44-43.

"When I got that pass, I knew I had to take the shot, I was going to follow it, even if I missed," said D'Antico, who proved that she could handle pressure by burying a pair of penalty kicks in leading the girls soccer team to the Union County Championship this past fall. "When it went in, it was an exciting feeling. We needed that."

Webb then buried a pair of free throws with 1:45 remaining to give Cranford a 46-45 advantage.

"We do a lot of foul shots," said Huber. "We do a drill, they have to make 10, we do another drill, they have to make 10, because it's in situations like this where foul shots are key and they can make or break a game."

After a turnover, Morgan Miller (eight points) nailed a free throw to make the score 47-45, but the Lions battled back when Skrec hit two free throws of her own to knot the game at 47-all with :08 left.

After the inbounds, freshman standout Jessica McCoy (11 points) dribbled quickly past midcourt, and after getting caught in traffic, dished to Webb who took a two-step drive in the lane, before sending a left-handed five-footer off the glass and through the net, setting off a big celebration in front of a stunned home crowd.

"I was really close to Jess and I said, give me the ball, because she got stuck," said Webb. "So then she gave me the ball and I always go to my left because I'm better with my left hand even though I'm a righty. I knew I had to do something and put it in so we didn't have to go into overtime. We really deserved this win."

Cranford is just four points away from being unbeaten, suffering a pair of close losses to Governor Livingston and Roselle. But today's win made up for that, as the Lady Cougars upped their mark to 7-2.

"We had nothing to lose in this game, and they had everything to lose," said D'Antico, who finished with eight points. "That just made us come out here and work harder."

This one was a tough one," said Huber. "At first we came out a little shaky, then it was neck and neck. We got into a little bit of foul trouble, and we allowed them to score 26 points from the foul line. If we had done a little better job helping each other on defense it would have been different, but one thing about this team, they don't stop."

Roselle Catholic, 13^th in the latest Star-Ledger state rankings, was led by senior Allison Skrec, who led all scorers with a game-high 29 points. The loss dropped the Lady Lions to 8-1 on the season. This was the second straight year the Cougars handed RC their first loss.

"That's one thing we never even talked about, where our rankings are in county, where they're ranked, we didn't mention that," said Huber. "We play 110 percent. We work hard and hustle for the rebounds. When we want it we want it. This shows that we are able to compete with teams that are ranked in the state and No. 1 in the county and we should be up there as well."

Meanwhile, Webb had nothing but praise for her teammates.

"I've been playing with Danielle (Gross) and Taylor for years, Jess has the same game as me, it's like we have the same brain on the court, and Morgan, when she's on she's on," Webb said. "She plays really good defense. It was just a great team effort."

"We all have in our head that we want to be No. 1 in the county and we want to win the county tournament, and I think the girls are doing a really good job of showing that we deserve to be up there."

Cranford will look to keep the momentum going when they travel to face Linden Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m.

For today, at least, they can enjoy being the queens of Union County.

Cranford Defeats Undefeated RC With Buzzer-Beater

Cougars send Lions to their first loss of the season.

By Mike Curci

Cranford had one thing in mind when they traveled to visit unbeaten Roselle Catholic Saturday afternoon--to come away with a victory against the No. 1 ranked team in Union County.

Thanks to senior Jamie Webb's shot off the glass as time expired, the Lady Cougars edged the Lady Lions 49-47 after trailing by 11 points entering the fourth quarter.

"I can't even believe it," said Webb, who had a team-high 16 points. "I'm really happy. Nothing could have gone better. They thought they had it, and that the whole time they were going to beat us. We just gave it our all, especially in the fourth quarter."

"This was an amazing victory," said senior Taylor D'Antico. "This is what we need to get over the hump, like our coaches just told us. We came out here knowing they were an undefeated team and we knew that we had to come out here strong in order to win. We know that we're a good team, we play hard and even when we're losing, we'll never give up."

Cranford started chipping away at the Lions' double-digit lead, with Webb hitting a driving layup to start the fourth quarter. Morgan Miller also hit a couple of big baskets, including a three-pointer to cut the lead to six with 5:41 to play.

Soon after, it was D'Antico's turn, hitting a pressure three-point shot from just right of the arc to cut the deficit to 44-43.

"When I got that pass, I knew I had to take the shot, I was going to follow it, even if I missed," said D'Antico, who proved that she could handle pressure by burying a pair of penalty kicks in leading the girls soccer team to the Union County Championship this past fall. "When it went in, it was an exciting feeling. We needed that."

Webb then buried a pair of free throws with 1:45 remaining to give Cranford a 46-45 advantage.

"We do a lot of foul shots," said Huber. "We do a drill, they have to make 10, we do another drill, they have to make 10, because it's in situations like this where foul shots are key and they can make or break a game."

After a turnover, Morgan Miller (eight points) nailed a free throw to make the score 47-45, but the Lions battled back when Skrec hit two free throws of her own to knot the game at 47-all with :08 left.

After the inbounds, freshman standout Jessica McCoy (11 points) dribbled quickly past midcourt, and after getting caught in traffic, dished to Webb who took a two-step drive in the lane, before sending a left-handed five-footer off the glass and through the net, setting off a big celebration in front of a stunned home crowd.

"I was really close to Jess and I said, give me the ball, because she got stuck," said Webb. "So then she gave me the ball and I always go to my left because I'm better with my left hand even though I'm a righty. I knew I had to do something and put it in so we didn't have to go into overtime. We really deserved this win."

Cranford is just four points away from being unbeaten, suffering a pair of close losses to Governor Livingston and Roselle. But today's win made up for that, as the Lady Cougars upped their mark to 7-2.

"We had nothing to lose in this game, and they had everything to lose," said D'Antico, who finished with eight points. "That just made us come out here and work harder."

This one was a tough one," said Huber. "At first we came out a little shaky, then it was neck and neck. We got into a little bit of foul trouble, and we allowed them to score 26 points from the foul line. If we had done a little better job helping each other on defense it would have been different, but one thing about this team, they don't stop."

Roselle Catholic, 13^th in the latest Star-Ledger state rankings, was led by senior Allison Skrec, who led all scorers with a game-high 29 points. The loss dropped the Lady Lions to 8-1 on the season. This was the second straight year the Cougars handed RC their first loss.

"That's one thing we never even talked about, where our rankings are in county, where they're ranked, we didn't mention that," said Huber. "We play 110 percent. We work hard and hustle for the rebounds. When we want it we want it. This shows that we are able to compete with teams that are ranked in the state and No. 1 in the county and we should be up there as well."

Meanwhile, Webb had nothing but praise for her teammates.

"I've been playing with Danielle (Gross) and Taylor for years, Jess has the same game as me, it's like we have the same brain on the court, and Morgan, when she's on she's on," Webb said. "She plays really good defense. It was just a great team effort."

"We all have in our head that we want to be No. 1 in the county and we want to win the county tournament, and I think the girls are doing a really good job of showing that we deserve to be up there."

Cranford will look to keep the momentum going when they travel to face Linden Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m.

For today, at least, they can enjoy being the queens of Union County.