Webb buzzer-beating layup stuns undefeated and state-ranked Roselle Catholic; Her shot, off a pass from freshman standout McCoy, propels the Cougars to a wild, comeback 49-47 league triumph -
By JR Parachini
Union County Sports Editor
ROSELLE – Jamie Webb began the fourth quarter driving to the lane for two and ended the period doing the same.
What made the second of those layups special was that it went in right at the buzzer to propel the Cougars past undefeated and state-ranked Roselle Catholic 49-47 Saturday afternoon in a thrilling Union County Conference-Mountain Division girls’ basketball contest at Roselle Catholic’s Lions Den.
Cranford came to Roselle Catholic and handed the Lions their first loss after an 8-0 start, limiting the Lions to their second-lowest offensive output of the season. Last year the Cougars defeated a 9-0 Lion squad here at Roselle Catholic 44-33, holding the home team to its lowest output of the season up to that point.
It was déjà vu all over again.
“We always give them their first loss and we even did so two years ago,” said the right-handed No. 15 Webb, the senior finishing with 15 points after banking in a lefty layup from the left side off a pass from freshman Jessica McCoy for the winning points. “We seemed all calm, cool and collected when they were up by 11, but we just came into the fourth quarter and we know that’s our best quarter.”
Cranford won its second straight to improve to 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the UCC’s Mountain Division. Roselle Catholic fell to 8-1 overall and is now 6-1 in the Mountain Division.
After Roselle Catholic senior Allison Skrec scored the final two points of a career-tying 31 with her 18th and 19th free throws in 23 attempts – the Lions made 27 of 39 for 72 percent, but made only nine field goals off six assists – Cranford came down with the ball with nine seconds left.
“I didn’t want to call a timeout there because I didn’t want to disrupt our rhythm,” third-year Cranford head coach Jackie Huber said.
Freshman Jessica McCoy, with the ball past half court, got it to Webb at the left side of the lane. Webb took the pass, dribbled and then put it up right away, the ball hitting squarely inside the box on the glass and falling in – “Hoosiers” style.
“I was thinking that it had to go in,” said Webb, who is clearly Cranford’s go-to player and was her team’s leading scorer Saturday.
One day McCoy, who also had three steals in the fourth quarter and totaled three blocks and five rebounds, may become that player. She stepped up big-time for a freshman on the court of a team that had not lost yet, is the defending Union County Tournament champion, returns four starters and is ranked among the elite teams in the state.
Roselle Catholic finished 22-4 last year, winning its second UCT crown, while Cranford went 18-11, won three straight road playoff games and did quite well to reach the Central Jersey, Group 2 championship game.
“I was so tired because I’ve been sick for our last three games and have had to come out a lot,” Webb said. “I really wanted to win it right there and it felt really good.”
There was just enough space for Webb to drive and put the ball up once she received the game-winning assist from McCoy. Webb disclosed that it was her first buzzer-beater basket – a sports moment she will remember for a long time.
“I always feel lucky going with my left hand, even though I’m right-handed,” Webb said. “I feel more confident with my left hand, so I just went to the left.”
Roselle Catholic led by four or five points for most of the way until going on the game’s first real run at the end of the third quarter, finishing the period 7-0 to take its biggest lead at 42-31.
Cranford scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 42-36 after Webb’s layup and a lefty layup and free throw by sophomore Morgan Miller.
In between Webb’s basket and the points by Miller, Roselle Catholic took a minute off the clock by completing 16 straight passes before McCoy came up with a big steal.
“I don’t think we slowed it down in the sense of we thought the game was over or we had enough points,” Roselle Catholic 14th-year head coach Joe Skrec said. “We slowed it down first and they came out of their zone. Maybe we should have attacked the zone a bit.”
The Cougars continued to chip away at the lead and pulled to within four at 45-41 on two McCoy free throws.
Roselle Catholic junior forward Melissa Tobie then missed two free throws after she was fouled by Webb, which was her fourth with 2:54 remaining.
After a Cranford turnover, Tobie missed a layup that was rebounded by Webb, who also finished with nine boards and one steal.
Then Cranford senior Taylor D’Antico came up big, nailing her second 3-point basket of the game – this one from the right side - to make it 45-44. At that point, Roselle Catholic took a timeout with 2:13 left.
A heads-up play by Morgan, with her assisting a Roselle Catholic player in touching the ball and turning it over – RC’s fifth turnover of the fourth quarter – gave Cranford back the ball with 1:51 left.
Webb was then fouled by Tobie, which was her fourth. Tobie played aggressive for the Lions and finished with 10 points.
Webb made her first free throw to tie the game for only the second of three times and first time since 2-2, making the score 45-45. She then made her second to give Cranford only its second lead at 46-45 and first since a 2-0 advantage when McCoy began the game with a layup on the left side of the basket.
Roselle Catholic quickly committed its sixth turnover on a backcourt violation with 1:39 to go. At that point, Cranford was 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the fourth and Roselle Catholic only 3-for-8.
Now on a 15-3 run after trailing by 11 at 42-31 when the fourth quarter commenced, Cranford passed the ball around 15 times before the 16th went out of bounds for a critical turnover.
Roselle Catholic senior point guard Jenny Malone then passed to senior shooter Meghan Faughnan, who had an outstanding look for a 3-pointer on the left side of the basket. Faughnan let go and it looked like the shot might go in.
However, it bounced off the rim, with Miller grabbing the huge rebound and immediately getting fouled by Skrec - her third – with just 19 seconds remaining.
Faughnan made only one shot, which was her first 3-point attempt that gave Roselle Catholic a 7-2 lead in the first quarter. Averaging more than 10 points, she was held to a season-low three points.
Miller made her first free throw to increase Cranford’s lead to 47-45, but missed her second, with Faughnan coming down with the rebound.
Once Roselle Catholic got the ball past half court, coach Skrec called his last timeout with just 12 seconds remaining.
Malone then got the ball to Tobie, who drove to the right side of the basket. Tobie then passed to Skrec, who tried to score underneath from the left side, but was fouled by Cranford senior Danielle Gross.
Skrec then made both of her free throws to tie the game at 47-47.
Then McCoy got the ball to Webb and Cranford was able to come away with one of its biggest wins in some time.
Cranford outscored Roselle Catholic 18-5 on its home court in the crucial fourth quarter after being outscored 14-11, 10-9 and 18-11 in the first three quarters.
“It was a great win for Cranford, a great performance,” Skrec said. “We didn’t want to stop shooting, but that’s what we did. We’re a pretty balanced team and have a lot of threats on the court.
“Today, we might have been looking to just one person often or stopped looking to score in general. That came back to haunt us a bit.”
“Cranford played a very strong game and had a very, very good fourth quarter. They made a lot of shots and we didn’t.
“We had too many empty possessions in the fourth quarter. Cranford had something to do with that and, unfortunately, so did we.”
Roselle Catholic did not make a field goal in the fourth quarter – which happened for the first time this year – and scored all five of its points on free throws by Skrec (2), Tobie (2) and Malone.
D’Antico, who will play soccer in college at Western Carolina and who helped lead the Cranford girls’ soccer team to this season’s UCT championship, finished with eight points and four rebounds.
“We knew that they were undefeated and that gave us motivation and everything we needed to come out here and play hard in order to beat them,” D’Antico said. “When they were holding the ball we had to find a way to get it and had to man mark them in order to get it back.
“It’s a really good feeling knowing that they were an undefeated team and we were capable of coming back from being down and beating them.”
Like with Roselle Catholic, Huber preaches defense first with her Cougars.
“What makes us a good team, from the beginning we do not back down,” Huber said. “We do not stop and we play with heart every second on the floor.
“We do have our lapses sometimes, like every team does, but they kept fighting and kept pressuring the ball and forced them to turn the ball over and then on offense we just did the right thing.
“We are more of a second half team. Against Roselle, we were down by 17 and then went on a 20-5 fourth quarter run and ended up losing by two (52-50).
“In the fourth quarter when the girls know that they are down, they also know that they have to really fight for it.”
NOTES: It seems like Roselle Catholic has Roselle’s number – 2-0 vs. the Rams this year, while Roselle has Cranford’s number – 2-0 vs. the Cougars last year and one win already this year, while Cranford has Roselle Catholic’s number to some extent – 2-1 vs. the Lions in conference play last year and this year so far.
Skrec first scored 31 in a game earler this year, which was Roselle Catholic’s 61-52 home win over Roselle Dec. 30 in the Roselle Catholic Holiday Tournament championship contest.
Skrec also scored a game-high 21 points to reach 1,000 on the nose in Roselle Catholic’s convincing 50-26 conference home triumph over Governor Livingston Thursday night.
“I give Webb credit for her play and Allison also made two clutch free throws at the end,” coach Skrec said. “Instead of becoming aggressive after the third quarter we became passive and we’re not usually like that.
“We have to tip our hat to Cranford.”
Cranford’s 44-33 win at Roselle Catholic last year saw the Cougars ahead for most of the game. Saturday’s 49-47 win at Roselle Catholic was the opposite, with the Cougars trailing for most of the contest.
“I thought we executed well at the end and we can take some positives from that,” coach Skrec said. “Meghan had a good look on her 3 (near the end) and that was a shot that she makes many times.”
Roselle Catholic will next battle North 2, Group 4 foe Piscataway Sunday at 4 p.m. at Kean University in Union and will then face non-league foe Summit Tuesday night at home at 7. The UCC-Watchung Division-leading Hilltoppers began the weekend at 7-0.
Cranford will next play at Watchung Division rival Linden Tuesday at 4 p.m. and then face UCC-Valley Division foe Brearley Thursday night at 7 in Kenilworth.
When Cranford beat Roselle Catholic last year it was the third of four consecutive road games for the Cougars. This year it was third of five straight.
Cranford has both of its losses by two points - games at Governor Livingston and Roselle - and now Roselle Catholic has its only loss by two points - at home to Cranford.
UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-MOUNTAIN DIVISION GAME
CRANFORD (7-2, 4-2) 11 9 11 18 - 49
ROSELLE CATHOLIC (8-1, 6-1) 14 10 18 5 - 47
CRANFORD (49): Jamie Webb 5-0-5-15, Jessica McCoy 3-0-5-11, Taylor D’Antico 0-2-2-8, Danielle Gross 1-0-0-2, Morgan Miller 2-1-1-8, Jenna Goeller 0-0-0-0, Sara Gugliuci 0-1-0-3, Kaitlin McGovern 0-0-1-1. Totals: 11-4-15-49.
Starters: Webb, McCoy, D’Antico, Miller, Gross.
ROSELLE CATHOLIC (47): Jenny Malone 0-0-1-1, Allison Skrec 6-0-19-31, Meghan Faughnan 0-1-0-3, Melissa Tobie 2-0-6-10, Anthonia Ajumobi 0-0-2-2, Betina Petit 0-0-0-0. Totals: 8-1-28-47.
Starters: Skrec, Malone, Faughnan, Tobie, Ajumobi.
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