The original article can be found here:
http://cranford.patch.com/articles/lady-hoopsters-capture-winter-championship
Lady Hoopsters Capture Winter Championship
Webb, McCoy lead way with 17 points each.
By Mike Curci
With the combination of senior leadership and a talented trio of freshmen, the Lady Cougars captured the Lancer Tournament in Livingston this week, defeating Kearny in a blowout before edging West Orange 43-42 in the championship game.
"I am extremely pleased with the way the girls played in the holiday tournament," said Huber. "They played hard as a team and never stopped working. There were times when our shots weren't falling, but we hustled back on defense and were able to get the ball back and make our offense work."
Jamie Webb hit the front end of a one-and-one to break a 43-43 tie with 1:35 remaining in the final. The senior leader also chipped in with six rebounds and a pair of steals in the victory.
A big part of the Cougar offense in the final also came from freshman standout Jessica McCoy, who tossed in 17 points to help fuel the offense. It was her best game ever in a varsity uniform.
"Jess played very well," said Huber. "She is a very skilled, talented player who works hard and will do what it takes to succeed and help our team win."
Cranford owned a 27-20 halftime lead before West Orange cut the deficit to one point at the end of three. Both units tightened their defense in the fourth quarter, with the Cougars diving for loose balls and fighting for every rebound.
"West Orange was a very good team," said Huber. "Our defense and hustle won the final game for us. We made sure that we were in the right spots, helping our teammates and hustling to every loose ball. The girls wanted to win and didn't back down until we did. It was nice that both junior varsity and varsity could win both holiday tournaments this year."
After an opening game loss to Governor Livingston, the girls have beaten Johnson, Kearny and West Orange to improve to 3-1 on the season.
"I'm not surprised with how quickly the team has come together," said Huber. "We have great senior leaders and girls that want to work hard and do whatever it takes to be a winning basketball team. After our loss in our first game to GL, we talked about what changes needed to be made, what we did well and what we needed to improve on. They came in the next day and had their best practice all season."
The Cougars will have a big week coming up, beginning with Hillside on Tuesday, with a 4 p.m. home game. They will then host Union Catholic at 7 p.m. Thursday night before hitting the road Friday to face Roselle at 4 p.m.
"We have three tough games next week," said Huber. "All three teams are very talented. We need to continue to do the things that we have been doing and win with our defense."
Additional tournament stats: Sara Gugliuci had a pair of three-pointers, finishing with six points vs. West Orange. She had 8 points vs. Kearny. Danielle Gross led the Cougars with 11 points vs. Kearny in the first round.
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