Cranford girls' basketball reaches 3rd straight sectional final after wild 53-49 2OT win at top-seeded Chatham Saturday night; Cougars will play at West Morris in Monday night's final
By JR Parachini
Union County Sports Editor
The Cranford girls’ basketball team – which knows how to step up its play come state tournament time – reached a sectional final for the third straight season.
However, this time the Cougars will be playing the championship game on Monday night instead of Tuesday night, which was the case the last two years.
That’s one less day to prepare after the Cougars went to Chatham Saturday night and came back to oust the top-seeded Cougars of Morris County 53-49 in double overtime in a North 2, Group 3 semifinal.
Cranford, the fourth seed, will play at third-seeded West Morris Monday night at 7 in Long Valley in the N2, G3 championship game.
Cranford won North 2, Group 3 last year for its second sectional title and first since the first year of the program in 1973-1974. The Cougars won four games to win N2, G3 last year and were then defeated in the Group 3 semifinals.
Two years ago, Cranford won three road games in five days to reach the Central Jersey, Group 2 final where it fell to nine-time defending champion Rumson-Fair Haven at Bridgewater-Raritan.
The NJSIAA last year moved the sectional finals from neutral sites to the highest-seeded team alive.
Last year fifth-seeded Somerville came back in the fourth quarter to win at top-seeded West Morris in the semifinals, which is why third-seeded Cranford was able to host Somerville in the championship game.
This year Cranford knocked out the top seed on the road in the semifinals, allowing for West Morris to host the title game.
“That is kind of interesting,” said Cranford fourth-year head coach Jackie Dyer.
After playing Monday, Wednesday and Friday the past two years, Cranford had Saturday, Sunday and Monday off before playing their finals on Tuesday.
This time the Cougars, after playing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, had just one day to prepare for a Monday night final, with that day being Sunday.
“Yeah, they opened up the gym so that we could practice today (Sunday),” Dyer said.
Chatham, which finished 26-3 and had only lost previously to Morris Catholic twice in three tries including a very close Morris County Tournament final, looked unbeatable Thursday night at home in dominating ninth-seeded Scotch Plains 61-36. Chatham took a 13-0 lead and never looked back.
There were only 13 points scored total in the first quarter of Saturday night’s Cranford-Chatham semifinal, with the home team Cougars leading the visiting Cougars 7-6 at the end of the first eight minutes.
Cranford, which is now 22-5 and has won four straight, then outscored Chatham 9-6 in the second quarter to take a 15-13 halftime lead.
Chatham won the third quarter 16-10 for a 29-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The home team Cougars then increased their lead to eight in the final period, sparked by fine performances from junior Amanda Berntsen, who led Chatham with 17 points, and senior Kelsey Hart, who finished with 16.
However, Cranford found a way to come back in the fourth quarter and force overtime at 39-39 after winning the period 14-10. The Cougars were sparked by sophomore Jessica McCoy with 14 points, sophomore Jenna Goeller with 13 and junior Morgan Miller with 12.
“We needed to up our defense a little bit after we went into a defensive slump,” Dyer said. “We made a few adjustments to our defense and set screens and were very patient on offense.”
Chatham’s Kelsey Davies made two free throws to even the game at 43-43 and send it to another extra four-minute session. Both teams scored four points in the first overtime
Cranford starter and freshman forward Mairead McKeary connected on a 3-pointer with 24 seconds to go in the second overtime to give the visiting Cougars the lead for good at 51-49.
“In the second overtime we were down by one (49-48) and the players on the (Chatham) high school boys’ team were counting down – five, four, three, two, one to try to distract Mairead and get her to shoot the ball quicker,” Dyer said. “When she made the shot she was thinking the game was over and I had to tell her to get back on defense because there was still 24 seconds to go.”
Dyer then said that Berntsen missed a layup, with Cranford freshman Carly Maucione there to grab a big rebound.
“Carly got the rebound and passed to Jenna (Goeller), who was fouled,” Dyer said. “Jenna made both free throws to put us up by four and then they brought the ball down the floor and tried a 3-pointer that didn’t go in.”
Cranford won the second overtime period 10-6.
Just two weeks ago Cranford, which was the fourth seed, lost to 12th-seeded Dayton 43-42 in the Union County Tournament quarterfinals at Rahway. In retrospect it wasn’t such a bad loss considering Dayton had a fine season and finished 21-6, including a 3-0 UCT mark against Union County Conference-Mountain Division teams. Dayton and Kent Place shared the UCC’s Valley Division championship.
However, Cranford - which finished 10-4 in the Mountain Division and tied for second with Gov. Livingston behind champion New Providence – was favored to beat Dayton that day and then see how it could fare against eventual 3-peat champion Roselle Catholic in the semifinals.
“For some reason we don’t play well in the county tournament,” Dyer said.
Cranford lost decisively at Roselle Catholic in last year’s UCT semifinals after beating RC on its home court - a layup at the buzzer by Jamie Webb - during the regular season for the third year in a row. RC came back to edge Cranford by one point in the 2009 UCT quarterfinals at Rahway.
A third straight year where Cranford and RC were to face each other in the UCT was not in the cards this season.
“Against Dayton we were totally out of it and had no clue what we were doing offensively and defensively,” Dyer said. “We take every game that we lose and try to build on it. We try to strengthen ourselves and improve for our next game.”
West Morris and Somerville met again in the semifinals Saturday night, this time at Somerville, with the home team being the second seed.
Once again, West Morris allowed Somerville to come back in the fourth quarter, with the home team winning the period 9-7 to force overtime.
However, this time West Morris was not going to be denied as the visitors won overtime 12-3 – scoring all of their points from the free throw line – en route to a 55-46 triumph.
According to nj.com, West Morris was sparked by 5-11 junior forward Shayna Erickson, who produced 23 points, 21 rebounds, four blocks and four steals.
“They have decent outside shooters and some post players that can go to the basket,” Dyer said. “If we continue to play defense the way we’ve been in the tournament so far we’ll be fine.”
Cranford previously ousted 13th-seeded Mendham 43-31 at home Tuesday in a first round game and then knocked out fifth-seeded Millburn 64-34 at home Thursday in the quarterfinals.
NOTES: Cranford is now 10-2 in state tournament games the past three seasons, including 3-1 two years ago, 4-1 last year and 3-0 so far this year.
Dyer, who is expecting her first child on April 19, said that a friend of hers told her about the story of the high school basketball coach in Texas that gave birth during the season and came back to coach right away.
From the Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News, Amber Branson, the coach of the girls’ basketball team in Lipan, Texas, gave birth to a daughter after a game on Feb. 25 at 10:18 p.m. and then coached her team to a state tournament berth at 2 p.m. the next day.
That’s 15 hours and 42 minutes after giving birth to an 8-pound, 7-ounce and 19-inch-long human being without the aid of any painkillers.
Coaches are organized and know schedules. It’s what they do. Branson was no exception, saying she pondered this scenario for months.
“My friend said that would also be me, coaching right away after giving birth,” Dyer said. “I would as soon as I could.”
Union County Sports Editor
The Cranford girls’ basketball team – which knows how to step up its play come state tournament time – reached a sectional final for the third straight season.
However, this time the Cougars will be playing the championship game on Monday night instead of Tuesday night, which was the case the last two years.
That’s one less day to prepare after the Cougars went to Chatham Saturday night and came back to oust the top-seeded Cougars of Morris County 53-49 in double overtime in a North 2, Group 3 semifinal.
Cranford, the fourth seed, will play at third-seeded West Morris Monday night at 7 in Long Valley in the N2, G3 championship game.
Cranford won North 2, Group 3 last year for its second sectional title and first since the first year of the program in 1973-1974. The Cougars won four games to win N2, G3 last year and were then defeated in the Group 3 semifinals.
Two years ago, Cranford won three road games in five days to reach the Central Jersey, Group 2 final where it fell to nine-time defending champion Rumson-Fair Haven at Bridgewater-Raritan.
The NJSIAA last year moved the sectional finals from neutral sites to the highest-seeded team alive.
Last year fifth-seeded Somerville came back in the fourth quarter to win at top-seeded West Morris in the semifinals, which is why third-seeded Cranford was able to host Somerville in the championship game.
This year Cranford knocked out the top seed on the road in the semifinals, allowing for West Morris to host the title game.
“That is kind of interesting,” said Cranford fourth-year head coach Jackie Dyer.
After playing Monday, Wednesday and Friday the past two years, Cranford had Saturday, Sunday and Monday off before playing their finals on Tuesday.
This time the Cougars, after playing on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, had just one day to prepare for a Monday night final, with that day being Sunday.
“Yeah, they opened up the gym so that we could practice today (Sunday),” Dyer said.
Chatham, which finished 26-3 and had only lost previously to Morris Catholic twice in three tries including a very close Morris County Tournament final, looked unbeatable Thursday night at home in dominating ninth-seeded Scotch Plains 61-36. Chatham took a 13-0 lead and never looked back.
There were only 13 points scored total in the first quarter of Saturday night’s Cranford-Chatham semifinal, with the home team Cougars leading the visiting Cougars 7-6 at the end of the first eight minutes.
Cranford, which is now 22-5 and has won four straight, then outscored Chatham 9-6 in the second quarter to take a 15-13 halftime lead.
Chatham won the third quarter 16-10 for a 29-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The home team Cougars then increased their lead to eight in the final period, sparked by fine performances from junior Amanda Berntsen, who led Chatham with 17 points, and senior Kelsey Hart, who finished with 16.
However, Cranford found a way to come back in the fourth quarter and force overtime at 39-39 after winning the period 14-10. The Cougars were sparked by sophomore Jessica McCoy with 14 points, sophomore Jenna Goeller with 13 and junior Morgan Miller with 12.
“We needed to up our defense a little bit after we went into a defensive slump,” Dyer said. “We made a few adjustments to our defense and set screens and were very patient on offense.”
Chatham’s Kelsey Davies made two free throws to even the game at 43-43 and send it to another extra four-minute session. Both teams scored four points in the first overtime
Cranford starter and freshman forward Mairead McKeary connected on a 3-pointer with 24 seconds to go in the second overtime to give the visiting Cougars the lead for good at 51-49.
“In the second overtime we were down by one (49-48) and the players on the (Chatham) high school boys’ team were counting down – five, four, three, two, one to try to distract Mairead and get her to shoot the ball quicker,” Dyer said. “When she made the shot she was thinking the game was over and I had to tell her to get back on defense because there was still 24 seconds to go.”
Dyer then said that Berntsen missed a layup, with Cranford freshman Carly Maucione there to grab a big rebound.
“Carly got the rebound and passed to Jenna (Goeller), who was fouled,” Dyer said. “Jenna made both free throws to put us up by four and then they brought the ball down the floor and tried a 3-pointer that didn’t go in.”
Cranford won the second overtime period 10-6.
Just two weeks ago Cranford, which was the fourth seed, lost to 12th-seeded Dayton 43-42 in the Union County Tournament quarterfinals at Rahway. In retrospect it wasn’t such a bad loss considering Dayton had a fine season and finished 21-6, including a 3-0 UCT mark against Union County Conference-Mountain Division teams. Dayton and Kent Place shared the UCC’s Valley Division championship.
However, Cranford - which finished 10-4 in the Mountain Division and tied for second with Gov. Livingston behind champion New Providence – was favored to beat Dayton that day and then see how it could fare against eventual 3-peat champion Roselle Catholic in the semifinals.
“For some reason we don’t play well in the county tournament,” Dyer said.
Cranford lost decisively at Roselle Catholic in last year’s UCT semifinals after beating RC on its home court - a layup at the buzzer by Jamie Webb - during the regular season for the third year in a row. RC came back to edge Cranford by one point in the 2009 UCT quarterfinals at Rahway.
A third straight year where Cranford and RC were to face each other in the UCT was not in the cards this season.
“Against Dayton we were totally out of it and had no clue what we were doing offensively and defensively,” Dyer said. “We take every game that we lose and try to build on it. We try to strengthen ourselves and improve for our next game.”
West Morris and Somerville met again in the semifinals Saturday night, this time at Somerville, with the home team being the second seed.
Once again, West Morris allowed Somerville to come back in the fourth quarter, with the home team winning the period 9-7 to force overtime.
However, this time West Morris was not going to be denied as the visitors won overtime 12-3 – scoring all of their points from the free throw line – en route to a 55-46 triumph.
According to nj.com, West Morris was sparked by 5-11 junior forward Shayna Erickson, who produced 23 points, 21 rebounds, four blocks and four steals.
“They have decent outside shooters and some post players that can go to the basket,” Dyer said. “If we continue to play defense the way we’ve been in the tournament so far we’ll be fine.”
Cranford previously ousted 13th-seeded Mendham 43-31 at home Tuesday in a first round game and then knocked out fifth-seeded Millburn 64-34 at home Thursday in the quarterfinals.
NOTES: Cranford is now 10-2 in state tournament games the past three seasons, including 3-1 two years ago, 4-1 last year and 3-0 so far this year.
Dyer, who is expecting her first child on April 19, said that a friend of hers told her about the story of the high school basketball coach in Texas that gave birth during the season and came back to coach right away.
From the Abilene (Texas) Reporter-News, Amber Branson, the coach of the girls’ basketball team in Lipan, Texas, gave birth to a daughter after a game on Feb. 25 at 10:18 p.m. and then coached her team to a state tournament berth at 2 p.m. the next day.
That’s 15 hours and 42 minutes after giving birth to an 8-pound, 7-ounce and 19-inch-long human being without the aid of any painkillers.
Coaches are organized and know schedules. It’s what they do. Branson was no exception, saying she pondered this scenario for months.
“My friend said that would also be me, coaching right away after giving birth,” Dyer said. “I would as soon as I could.”
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