Highlanders Get Some Young Help in Nipping Cranford 37-35 at Home in Girls Varsity Basketball

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Highlanders Get Some Young Help in Nipping Cranford 37-35 at Home in Girls Varsity Basketball
By Edward L. Kensik
12/19/2009

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ - It was her varsity game and it might be one game that she will never forget. Cat Quinn scored the first points, first basket of the game and her varsity career points with six seconds left in Friday’s game at home against Cranford. And it could not come at a better time as the basket gave Governor Livingston a 37-35 victory at home in the tip off of the 2009-10 season.

"I was not expecting it," said Quinn, who was taking it all in in her first varsity game. The rest of night nothing was dropping for the sophomore. "Nothing was going down for me."

Quinn was in the right position after a Cranford defender blocked a Sam Dowling shot. It was also a little bit of a revenge for Governor Livingston which was knocked out of the state playoffs last season by the Lady Cougars, 44-41, in the first round of the Group 2 Central sectional.

Other than the deflected shot, Dowling had a big game from the outside with a dozen points including a game-high four, three-pointers. "She (Dowling) was on fire and pulled us through and really stepped up," said teammate Quinn.

Along with Dowling’s dozen points, Alyssa Polimeni had a dozen points including a pair of three pointers. Both sophomores accounted for 75 percent of the Governor Livingston score. "She (Dowling) has the green light to shoot," said Governor Livingston girls head coach Andy Silvagni, who also added about Polimeni and Dowling, "For them it is lock and load. They both can put the ball in the net."

Rebecca Johnson added nine points for the Lady Highlanders.

Cranford’s Jamie Webb stymied Governor Livingston during the game with her game-high 14 points. After Quinn put up her layup, Cranford had one more chance, but the Lady Highlanders defense would not let Cranford get a shot off to end the game.

Silvagni said winning the season opener is big for the team and the girls. "It’s big because the first three weeks of the season are practices and scrimmages and the girls are ready to start the season," said Silvagni. "It kind of shows all the work has paid off and that the proof is in the pudding."

For the Lady Highlanders, they were down early in the fourth quarter, but caught up to the Lady Cougars in the second quarter with a three pointer from Dowling and Polimeni. In the third quarter, it was a show between Dowling and Webb with physical defense leading the way on both sides since only a dozen points were scored. Governor Livingston was ahead 28-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

Both teams battled back and forth through most of the second half as neither team took more than a two-point lead. But a pair of free throws from Johnson gave the Highlanders a relatively robust four-point lead, 35-31, with three minutes left in the game. Governor Livingston though could not hold back Webb as she scored a pair of buckets on consecutive trips to tie the game at 35 with two minutes remaining in the game.

Neither team could grab the lead in the last two minutes until Quinn grabbed the deflected shot and laid it in.

The Lady Highlanders will host Hillside on Tuesday at 4 p.m. before heading into the Millburn Tourney Holiday Classics starting on December 28 at 2 p.m. at Millburn.