Freshman Jessica McCoy (right) leads the Cranford Cougars downcourt during Tuesday night's win over Somerville as the Union County school captured the North 2, Group 3 state sectional championship. (Photos by Dominick Delli Paoli. For information on ordering photos, log onto www.paoliphoto.com/blog)
Jamie Webb (15, right) helps solidify Cranford's tight defense vs. Somerville
Somerville players get a hand on the ball as Cranford's Jamie Webb makes her move
Cranford's Danielle Gross (13) finds seam in the Somerville defense on way to hoop
Cranford's defense is back and primed to stop Somerville in Tuesday night's game
Jackie Huber (kneeling) and the entire Cranford coaching sideline are into action
Cranford's state sectional champs are one happy group. (Photo by JR Parachini)
Cranford, winners of four straight, will next take on North 1 champion Pascack Valley Thursday night at 7 at Ramapo in a Group 3 semifinal. Thursday night’s other Group 3 semifinal pits Central Jersey champ Neptune vs. South Jersey champion Point Pleasant Boro at Williamstown at 8.
The winners advance to Sunday’s Group 3 state championship game at the Ritacco Center at Toms River North in Toms River.
Somerville , which came back in the fourth quarter to win at top-seeded West Morris 59-46 in Long Valley Friday night, finished a fine season at 19-9.
Last year Cranford – as the 11th seed - went 3-1 in sectional tournament play, winning three road games in five days before falling to Rumson 50-29 in the final.
This year - and with just one returning starter after six seniors (four of them starters) were lost to graduation - the Cougars won three games in five days again and then won again Tuesday night to go 4-0.
More importantly, Cranford has at least one more game to play, with the Cougars now 32 minutes away from playing for a state championship.
Senior starters Danielle Gross, Jamie Webb and Taylor D’Antico combined for 35 points, with Gross and Webb netting 13 each and D’Antico nine. Sophomore Morgan Miller added six points and freshman Jessica McCoy two, while Kaitlin McGovern came off the bench to score three points and garner two steals in the second quarter. Other reserves Jenna Goeller and Sara Gugliuci also provided a lift when called upon.
It was a true team effort, which is what you need when you want to win a championship.
“We had all of our fans supporting us, which was a great help for our confidence,” said Gross, who also grabbed six rebounds and blocked two shots. “It’s our senior year and we really want to be up on that board to remember this year because we played so great together.”
It took some time for the Cougars to achieve any kind of greatness Tuesday night, with three different Somerville players scoring and Cranford committing two turnovers, which prompted a timeout a little more than two minutes in and the Pioneers leading 5-0.
“I thought maybe we came out a little bit nervous,” Cranford third-year head coach Jackie Huber said. “This is our home floor, there are tons of people here watching us, looking and cheering for us, that I think nerves got in the way.
“They composed themselves and had to prove that they wanted it more and they did.”
After D’Antico hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key on Cranford’s sixth shot to finally put the Cougars on the scoreboard exactly three minutes in, sophomore Rachel Jones scored in the lane and then senior Sahara Sumpter added an inside basket to give Somerville a 10-3 lead.
“We all were kind of nervous,” Gross said.
A lefty layup by Webb began to calm Cranford down. Webb followed up that basket by driving the middle of the lane, scoring, and getting fouled. After making the ensuing free throw, Cranford was right back in it at 10-8.
A shot from the left side by D’Antico that was good tied the game for the first time at 10-10. McGovern then made one of two free throws – Cranford made 15-of-16 for the game – and Webb scored on a turnaround shot in the lane to spark the Cougars to a first quarter-ending 10-0 run that gave the home team a 13-10 lead going into the second quarter.
Both teams scored 10 points in the second quarter, with each squad having two leads in the first half in addition to there being two ties. Caroline Barberi began the period with consecutive 3-point field goals that gave Somerville the lead back at 16-13 before Miller’s first basket of the game – off an offensive rebound she grabbed – put Cranford back ahead 17-16.
Still ahead by three at 23-20 as the second half commenced, Cranford quickly found itself behind again after a basket from the left side by Jones and a quick steal and inside hoop by Alexis Appezzato after Cranford was unable to successfully in-bound the ball against Somerville’s full court press.
Now down for what would be the third and final time by the score of 24-23, it was an inside basket by Gross off a pass from Webb that put the Cougars ahead to stay at 25-24. Gross was also fouled in the lane while making the basket and added the free throw for a conventional 3-point play and a 26-24 advantage.
“We talked at halftime and said that we had to calm ourselves down,” Gross said. “We came out and we were determined to win and worked together as a team.”
On Cranford’s following possession, Webb got the ball to Gross again and Gross scored inside once more to up the Cougar lead to 28-24.
“Jamie and I have been playing together since elementary school, so we really play great together,” Gross said.
“We’ve been playing together for awhile so I would expect that she knows I’ll be looking for her under the basket,” Webb said. “I really love how she plays and I love her on the team with me.”
Cranford led by six at 32-26 heading into the fourth quarter. Both teams scored just two points in the period until Miller made a lefty layup with 3:32 remaining to put Cranford out in front 36-28.
An inside basket by Gross gave the Cougars their first double-digit lead at 38-28.
Barberi – who led Somerville with 13 points – connected on her third and final 3-pointer to make it 38-31.
“She was very good and a key player for them,” Huber said. “We changed up a bit and put Taylor on No. 21 (Sumpter) and I think Taylor did a phenomenal job shutting her down. Then Jamie covered No. 12 (Barberi) and she did a pretty good job on her, so it was just a little bit of defensive change.”
After four consecutive Webb free throws – she was a perfect 7-for-7 from the line – Sumpter hit her only 3-pointer to pull the Pioneers to within 42-34 with a minute to go.
However, it was too little, too late. Sumpter finished with 11 points and one block and also had two steals in the third quarter. Although Appezzato scored only two points, she grabbed four rebounds and blocked one shot.
“Last year really helped us with the experience,” Gross said. “We knew what to expect when we came out and that we shouldn’t take it lightly.
“We were very prepared as a team. We knew when we got here that we could win this game.”
D’Antico, who helped lead the girls’ soccer team to its first county championship in nine years in the fall, saw the advantage of playing at home in a sectional final this time.
“We didn’t expect the game to be at home, actually, but when we heard it was it really got us pumped,” D’Antico said.
Cranford took advantage of the good fortune brought upon it by the NJSIAA when Shabazz was moved out of North 2, Group 3 the same year the Cougars were put back in the section.
That meant that Cranford did not have to deal with heavyweights Shabazz and Rumson in its section this year.
Then Somerville took out top-seeded West Morris in its semifinal.
Then Cranford found out at the last minute that it was not going to be playing Somerville at a neutral site, but that it was going to host the Pioneers because it was the higher seed. That was another twist decided upon by the NJSIAA some time ago. The organization decided that the public finals would be played at the higher seeds, but that the parochial finals would still be played at neutral sites.
Of course, none of that mattered to the Cougars. Cranford was just happy to be playing at home.
“We told everyone to come out here and to be excited and ready for a good game and that’s what happened,” said D’Antico, who also came up with three steals.
Being down early didn’t seem to matter to D’Antico and the rest of her teammates.
“We’re a very hard-working team and we’ll never quit, so in order to overcome that seven-point lead they had we were going to come out here stronger and we were never going to give up,” D’Antico said. “It was only the first quarter and there was still the whole rest of the game to go.”
Cranford defeated 14 th-seeded Carteret in the first round and then knocked off sixth-seeded Mendham in the quarterfinals, beating both of those teams at home. The Cougars then had to travel to Glen Gardner to knock off second-seeded Voorhees in the semifinals. Cranford came back from a fourth-quarter deficit to do so.
“I’m really confident with my team,” D’Antico said. “We have a strong bond and really trust each other on the court and off the court.
“We worked hard to get here and winning this game is a great feeling.”
Miller is not only part of the present, but also the future of one of the most successful programs in the area now the last five years. Cranford reached 21 wins for the initial time since the first-time Union County Tournament championship squad of 2005-2006 finished 21-8. That Cougar team lost at Shabazz 48-18 in a North 2, Group 3 quarterfinal.
Miller grabbed six of her eight rebounds in the first half.
“We had to stay composed on offense and keep up the intensity on defense,” Miller said. “I think we picked it up on defense and got a lot of points in transition and then our offense just started to flow from there.”
McCoy was in 8 th grade this time last year when Cranford left Somerset County one win short of a sectional crown.
Her outstanding performance on both offense and defense has been a big reason why the Cougars are still playing. She scored 17 points in her first state tournament game, which was Cranford’s win over Carteret.
“It’s so exciting, we’re all jumping for joy right now,” McCoy said. “I think we played well on defense each game in order to win and we worked together as a team, counting on each other.”
Webb was the lone returning starter this year. She also started on Cranford’s junior varsity team that won its county championship in 2007 when Webb was a freshman.
This victory was even sweeter.
“We wanted to do so well playing at home,” Webb said. “We had to pull together after we were down and were able to take the lead by three.
“Our rebounding got a lot better and we were able to get a lot of steals.
“When we won the semifinal game I didn’t have the chills like I had last year because I didn’t expect us to get that far last year. This year I felt that we were going to do this, especially after what happened in the counties.”
Cranford ’s last loss was its 75-50 setback to eventual repeat champion Roselle Catholic in the Union County Tournament semifinals Feb. 24 at RC.
Although they lost that game to the home team Lions, the Cougars can say that they were only one of three teams to beat RC this year.
Now they can also say that they are sectional champions.
“I knew coming in that all these girls were hard workers and if they want something they’re going to go out and get it and they show that every day in practice,” Huber said.
NOTES: Union County rebounded to go 2-0 Tuesday night after a 0-2 mark Monday when Summit fell at Shabazz in the Central Jersey, Group 2 final and Roselle Catholic was downed at home by Immaculate Heart Academy in a Non-Public, North A semifinal.
Tuesday night’s other Union County winner was New Providence capturing North 2, Group 1 for the second time in three years and for the fifth time overall. The third-seeded Pioneers defeated ninth-seeded University 48-45 at home.
New Providence , which is now 20-4 and has won four straight, will face North 1 champion Cresskill (25-4) in a Group 1 semifinal Thursday at 5 p.m. at Ramapo.
So, both Union County teams still alive will have to beat 25-4 Bergen County teams in Bergen County in the same gym Thursday night in order to advance to state championship games.
New Providence , which captured the Union County Conference’s first Valley Division title after winning the final Mountain Valley Conference-Valley Division crowns, was sparked by a 17-point performance from junior forward Laura Gregory.
Cranford and New Providence have freshmen on the women’s basketball team at Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, Pa. – those players being Elizabeth Snyder of Cranford and Michelle Montagna of New Providence, who are both 2009 high school graduates.
Union County had three teams reach sectional finals this year, just missed having a fourth in RC and had two champions in Cranford and New Providence. This has been the county’s best showing in state tournament competition in some time.
Huber’s record at the helm of the Cougars is now 54-26 (.675), including 18-11 last year and 15-8 two years ago. Cranford is 7-2 in the state playoffs so far the past three seasons – with four of the wins on the road.
In an article written about Blazejowski being a trailblazer that was published in New Jersey Monthly and dated Feb. 11, 2009 – it can be read on the internet - author Jessica Kitchin reported that, “it was during Blazejowski’s senior year at Cranford that the school first outfitted a girls’ varsity basketball team. That debut squad went 13-0 in the regular season and won six playoff games to make it to the state championship in 1974.
“In those twenty games, the 5-foot-10-inch forward with a killer jump shot scored 638 points – an average of 32 per game. Because the team was so dominant, former coach Sally Morel says, Blazejowski would sit out significant minutes to avoid running up the score too much. ‘If we had said, ‘Stay in and score as much as you want,’ there’s no doubt she would have scored 1,000 points alone.’”
NORTH 2, GROUP 3 TITLE GAME AT MARTIN GYMNASIUM
5-SOMERVILLE (19-9) 10 10 6 8 - 34
3-CRANFORD (21-7, 4 in row) 13 10 9 14 - 46
SOMERVILLE (34): Sahara Sumpter 3-1-2-11, Caroline Barberi 2-3-0-13, Amanda McHenry 1-0-0-2, Alexis Appezzato 1-0-0-2, Rachel Jones 3-0-0-6, Abby Cohn 0-0-0-0, Jasmine Lichtman 0-0-0-0, Katie Bender 0-0-0-0. Totals: 10-4-2-34.
Starters: Sumpter, Jones, Bender, Barberi, Appezzato.
CRANFORD (46): Taylor D’Antico 2-1-2-9, Danielle Gross 4-0-5-13, Jamie Webb 3-0-7-13, Morgan Miller 3-0-0-6, Jessica McCoy 1-0-0-2, Kaitlin McGovern 1-0-1-3, Jenna Goeller 0-0-0-0, Sara Gugliuci 0-0-0-0. Totals: 14-1-15-46.
Starters: Miller, D’Antico, Webb, McCoy, Gross.
FIRST QUARTER:Somerville – Sumpter 1-0-2-4, Jones 2-0-0-4, Barberi 1-0-0-2. Field goals: 4-12. Free throws: 2-4. Cranford – Webb 3-0-1-7, D’Antico 1-1-0-5, McGovern 0-0-1-1. Field goals: 5-18. Free throws: 2-3.
SECOND QUARTER: Somerville – Barberi 1-2-0-8, Sumpter 1-0-0-2. Field goals: 4-10. Free throws: 0-0. Cranford – Gross 1-0-2-4, Miller 1-0-0-2, McGovern 1-0-0-2, Webb 0-0-2-2. Field goals: 3-9. Free throws: 4-4.
THIRD QUARTER: Somerville – Jones 1-0-0-2, Sumpter 1-0-0-2, Appezzato 1-0-0-2. Field goals: 3-7. Free throws: 0-4. Cranford – Gross 2-0-1-5, McCoy 1-0-0-2, Miller 1-0-0-2. Field goals: 4-15. Free throws: 1-1.
FOURTH QUARTER: Somerville – Barberi 0-1-0-3, Sumpter 0-1-0-3, McHenry 1-0-0-2. Field goals: 3-15. Free throws: 0-5. Cranford – D’Antico 1-0-2-4, Gross 1-0-2-4, Webb 0-0-4-4. Field goals: 3-5. Free throws: 8-8.
GAME TOTALS:
Field goals: Somerville 14-for-44, Cranford 15-for-47.
Free throws: Somerville 2-for-13, Cranford 15-for-16.
Somerville missed its last nine free throws, while Cranford made
its last 13. Somerville was 0-for-9 in the second half and Cranford 9-for-9.
NORTH 2, GROUP 3 PLAYOFFS
CRANFORD COUGARS ARE THE CHAMPIONS!
SEEDS: 1-West Morris. 2-Voorhees. 3-Cranford. 4-Millburn.
5-Somerville. 6-Mendham. 7-New Brunswick. 8-Warren Hills.
9-Belleville. 10-Irvington. 11-Colonia. 12-Nutley.
13-Scotch Plains. 14-Carteret. 15-South Plainfield. 16-Iselin Kennedy.
FIRST ROUND:
Monday, March 1
West Morris 69, Iselin Kennedy 29
Warren Hills 59, Belleville 42
Somerville 46, Nutley 34
Millburn 51, Scotch Plains 37
Cranford 59, Carteret 46
Mendham 50, Colonia 36
New Brunswick 46, Irvington 42
Voorhees 64, South Plainfield 28
QUARTERFINALS:
Wednesday, March 3
West Morris 44, Warren Hills 37
Somerville 42, Millburn 29
Cranford 55, Mendham 50
Voorhees 41, New Brunswick 26
SEMIFINALS:
Friday, March 5
Somerville 59, West Morris 46
Cranford 44, Voorhees 40
FINAL:
Tuesday, March 9
Cranford 46, Somerville 34
Cranford wins its first sectional title
since the program’s first year – 1973-1974.
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