It was the perfect storm. Cranford's present and future teamed up as they've done all season.
Senior Jamie Webb and freshman Jessica McCoy scored 17 points apiece Monday to help lead third-seeded Cranford to a 59-46 first round victory over 14th-seeded Carteret in the NJSIAA North Jersey, Group 3, Section 2 state tournament in Cranford.
"The two of us are just going hard, playing our hardest, especially Jamie," said McCoy. "All of her shots came at big times."
Sophomore Morgan Miller chipped in with eight points, while seniors Danielle Gross and Taylor D'Antico each netted seven. Webb said they wanted to make sure it wouldn't be the last game for the seniors.
"We're going to be sad whatever game we end," said Webb. "Even if we keep winning our games, we're still going to be upset when basketball's over for us, because we have fun together."
The Cougars outscored Carteret 25-15 in the fourth quarter to seal the game, but not before Carteret took a brief lead after coming back from 12 points down. They were facing one of the top players in Middlesex County, Ivettelis Castro, who turned in a game-high 28-point effort.
"She wasn't really on in the first half, but I kind of had a feeling she was going to get her shot on," said Webb. "Usually that happens when you take that many shots. We just got our confidence back. Them getting up on us in the fourth quarter made us realize that we couldn't lose that game, that it could be our last game. We should have beaten them by more, but we just weren't consistent."
"(Castro) can do whatever she wants with the ball, she can pull it back," said McCoy. "Most of her shots are hard to block. She was definitely a challenge."
"We came into this game knowing that Castro was a very good player, offensively and defensively," said Cranford head coach Jackie Huber. "It didn't go as well as we had planned, because we had lapses on defense and allowed her to freely go to the basket. But as usual, in the end, our girls picked it up and did what they're supposed to do."
Webb hit a game-changing three-pointer to thwart the Carteret comeback, and McCoy finished a lay-up on a well-run transition on the next possession, putting the Lady Cougars ahead to stay.
"I was open," Webb said. "I just felt I needed to make it. Usually when I'm wide open, I do make them."
"We needed something to get us going," said Huber. "Jamie's shot really did that for us. It just seemed like everyone's intensity level just picked up. That was key."
McCoy, meanwhile, is enjoying the experience of playing in the bright tournament lights. Win and you keep playing, lose and the season is over.
"It was definitely different," McCoy said. "Everything's on the line. It's either your last game or it can continue to push you further, so you have to give it your all."
The Lady Cougars will be home Wednesday to West Morris-Mendham in second round action. Mendham beat Colonia 50-36 to advance.
"I think we need to work together better and get our intensity up because we kind of fell flat and we started pushing things," said McCoy.
"We need to play 10 times better," Webb said. "The team we're playing next is definitely going to be more challenging."
"We learned today that we need to work on some things," Huber said. "We need to be more consistent on defense. We need to make sure we're boxing out. We need to get the ball more inside more. We are a team that constantly looks to shoot the three, and when they're falling, great, but when they're not, we have to have something else to look for."
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