People are finally standing up to take notice of the Cranford girls' varsity basketball team, in big part due to their buzzer-beating upset of the top-ranked team in Union County, Roselle Catholic, this past Saturday.
That also means the Lady Cougars now have a target on their backs. Linden made sure the Cougars would have to earn their stripes against the Tigers, which Cranford did by defeating the home side by a final of 44-39 Tuesday afternoon.
Freshman Jessica McCoy had a team-high 12 points, including a big three-pointer in the extra frame, while Taylor D'Antico also nailed a key three spot which shut the home team down for the rest of the game.
"I asked them, 'do you girls want to win' and they all answered 'yes'," said head coach Jackie Huber. "I said that you have to go out there and you have to do what you can to make sure that we do win. That's hustling, defense, causing them to turn the ball over and protecting the ball on offense. And I reminded them that what separates us from being a good team to being a great team is that we don't back down and we don't give up."
It's been the same old story for the Cougars. Come out slow, give up the lead and then fight back. This time, Linden held a 12-6 lead after the first quarter, were up 18-15 at halftime and actually had a 12-point advantage in the second half before the blue-and-gold took their game up a notch.
"Sometimes it gets a little nerve-wracking," said Huber. "You know their potential and what they're able to accomplish. We're going to continue to work on setting the pace and the tone of the game from the beginning so we don't have to play the catch-up ball."
"We started off again really rough," said McCoy. "We came out and fought, we wanted to win."
As a freshman, McCoy has taken the rare step of making an impact despite this being her first year of varsity play. She's not afraid of the big shot. She craves it.
"Actually, I used to be kind of afraid to (take the big shot), but I've come into it now," said McCoy. "It feels good when you make the shot. It's definitely been a great experience. All the players are excited and intense. They really want you to do well. They help you to do well."
There are others who love to have the ball in key spots, including seniors Jamie Webb (nine points), Taylor D'Antico (10 points) and Morgan Miller (eight points), who continue to hit the crucial buckets when the chips are down.
"We're just a very hard working team," said D'Antico. "We'll do whatever we need to do in order to come back and win it."
Cranford improved their overall record to 8-2, jumping from eighth to fourth in the county rankings this week thanks to their big win over Roselle Catholic.
"Well that motivated us, we didn't think about that at all," said D'Antico. "It doesn't matter to us where we're placed in the county. No matter what, we just go out and try to win."
"At the rate that we're improving, we can go really far," said McCoy. "We just need to keep pushing each other and working hard."
The Cougars will tip off against Brearley on Thursday, another team who will no doubt be looking for the big upset.
That also means the Lady Cougars now have a target on their backs. Linden made sure the Cougars would have to earn their stripes against the Tigers, which Cranford did by defeating the home side by a final of 44-39 Tuesday afternoon.
Freshman Jessica McCoy had a team-high 12 points, including a big three-pointer in the extra frame, while Taylor D'Antico also nailed a key three spot which shut the home team down for the rest of the game.
"I asked them, 'do you girls want to win' and they all answered 'yes'," said head coach Jackie Huber. "I said that you have to go out there and you have to do what you can to make sure that we do win. That's hustling, defense, causing them to turn the ball over and protecting the ball on offense. And I reminded them that what separates us from being a good team to being a great team is that we don't back down and we don't give up."
It's been the same old story for the Cougars. Come out slow, give up the lead and then fight back. This time, Linden held a 12-6 lead after the first quarter, were up 18-15 at halftime and actually had a 12-point advantage in the second half before the blue-and-gold took their game up a notch.
"Sometimes it gets a little nerve-wracking," said Huber. "You know their potential and what they're able to accomplish. We're going to continue to work on setting the pace and the tone of the game from the beginning so we don't have to play the catch-up ball."
"We started off again really rough," said McCoy. "We came out and fought, we wanted to win."
As a freshman, McCoy has taken the rare step of making an impact despite this being her first year of varsity play. She's not afraid of the big shot. She craves it.
"Actually, I used to be kind of afraid to (take the big shot), but I've come into it now," said McCoy. "It feels good when you make the shot. It's definitely been a great experience. All the players are excited and intense. They really want you to do well. They help you to do well."
There are others who love to have the ball in key spots, including seniors Jamie Webb (nine points), Taylor D'Antico (10 points) and Morgan Miller (eight points), who continue to hit the crucial buckets when the chips are down.
"We're just a very hard working team," said D'Antico. "We'll do whatever we need to do in order to come back and win it."
Cranford improved their overall record to 8-2, jumping from eighth to fourth in the county rankings this week thanks to their big win over Roselle Catholic.
"Well that motivated us, we didn't think about that at all," said D'Antico. "It doesn't matter to us where we're placed in the county. No matter what, we just go out and try to win."
"At the rate that we're improving, we can go really far," said McCoy. "We just need to keep pushing each other and working hard."
The Cougars will tip off against Brearley on Thursday, another team who will no doubt be looking for the big upset.
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