Millburn Girls Basketball Team Can’t Recover from Slow Start; Loses to Cranford 64-34 in Second Round of North 2, Group 3 State Tournament

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Millburn Girls Basketball Team Can’t Recover from Slow Start; Loses to Cranford 64-34 in Second Round of North 2, Group 3 State Tournament

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by

Daniel Eckert

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05:43AM

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Friday, March 04 2011

CRANFORD, NJ – The Millburn Lady Millers gave up 23 points in the first eight minutes of play and were without a field goal in the first quarter.  They were down by 20 heading into the second, and could never really get their offense going, en route to a 64-34 loss in the second round of the North 2, Group 3 State Tournament on Thursday night in Cranford.
The Millers were down by 23 points at the beginning of the second when sophomore Jenny Smith hit a three point field goal at the 5:59 mark.  It was the Millers' first basket of the game.  Their first four points of the contest came off four made free throws.
“We never got anything off the fast break.  We were in too much of a standstill depending on Jenny Smith to hit the three,” Millburn Head Coach Bill Drennan said after the game.  “We didn’t get the ball to the kids that we wanted to.”
Smith’s basket seemed to provide a little momentum for the Millers.  Soon after, they went on a 6-0 run to make the score 13-29.  Emily Justich hit a jump shot, Smith made a layup off a nice steal and Hallie Pickard added a basket during that stretch.
Later in the quarter, the Millers went on another 6-0 run to bring the game to within 13 points a few minutes before halftime.  Smith provided all six of those points on a 3-point field goal, a long jumper and a free throw.  She finished with a team high 15 points.
“I said to the kids at halftime.  If we keep making runs and get it from 18 to 14 and then get it lower (then we have a chance),” Coach Drennan said.
Going into the third quarter the Millers were down by 15.  Smith scored the first basket of the second half on a layup.  About a minute later, junior guard Taylor Peretti forced a Cranford turnover and scored a basket.  Gabby Lee then made a jump shot to keep pace with Cranford; however, the Millers were still down by 15 in the middle of the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for the Millers, Cranford scored the final six points of the third quarter to effectively put the game away.  Millburn had three turnovers during that stretch and were down 52-31 heading into the final quarter of play.
“We didn’t play a good defensive game.  Give them (Cranford) credit.  We didn’t play one of our better games at all, but I think they deserve all the credit,” a frustrated Coach Drennan mentioned.
In the fourth quarter, the Millers only managed to score three points.  Proshat Zarrabikia put in a basket and Sam Abrams made a foul shot.  Cranford scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to take a 29 point lead.
The real problem for the Millers was Cranford's hot shooting in the first quarter.  Jenna Goeller made two three pointers and Morgan Miller hit a shot from long distance.  Jessica McCoy added eight points in the first for Cranford.  The Millers also had problems breaking the Cranford full court press as they turned the ball over four times in the first eight minutes of play.
“They shot the hell out of the ball.  They ran some good stuff and they have overall size,” Coach Drennan said of the Cranford team.  “No matter what we did…they kept (making baskets).”
With the loss, the Millers finished their season with a 20-6 record.  They won a conference title and finished 16-0 in their conference.