DENVILLE—Strong man-to-man defense and the sharpshooting of sophomore Amanda Berntsen boosted Chatham to a 39-26 victory over Whippany Park in the quarterfinal round of the Morris County Tournament Saturday at Morris Knolls High School.
Nearly 45 minutes after the game's scheduled start time, a contest between Jefferson and Pequannock High Schools came to a close and Chatham senior captain Caroline Murphy led her team onto the court to get loose for Chatham's game against Whippany Park.
Murphy greeted the Wildcat captains with friendly salutations, but Murphy's inside presence was anything but friendly for the Wildcats.
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The first quarter was marked by a strong defensive effort on both sides of the ball. No. 7 Whippany Park was able to hold the Cougars from scoring for nearly a minute and a half before Berntsen sank the game's first basket.
Whippany Park senior Sarah LaFerrara quickly answered with a basket of her own. But with less than half of the quarter left to play, Chatham junior Kelsey Davies sank a three-pointer to put the Cougars back on top.
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With 50 seconds left in the quarter, LaFerrara stole the ball from Chatham and went in for a layup. With that, Whippany Park took a 9-7 lead. That would lead would be its last. With one second on the clock, Chatham junior Kelsey Hart sank a dramatic basket in traffic to tie the quarter at nine.
Coach Joe Gaba knew that he had a strong game plan and at the break between quarters he encouraged his players to stick to it.
"I implored the players to stick to the game plan of tough man-to-man defense and try to frustrate them on offense" Gaba said.
His messages got through to his players, who defensively where able to hold Whippany Park to six points or less in each remaining quarter.
The second quarter was tied at eleven when Hart tipped in a rebound off of a Davies shot. Chatham scored six uncontested points, and Chatham led 20-15 at the half.
The second half started with a bang as Davies sank a three-pointer to bring Chatham's lead to eight. Davies finished the game with six points.
Berntsen started the fourth quarter with a three-point shot to boost Chatham's lead to 11 points. Bernsten tacked an extra two points in the quarter and finished with 15 points. All six of Whippany Park's points in the quarter were scored on three-point shots by Lauren O'Connor.
The Cougars will advance to the semi-final round at FDU Florham, but this team is no stranger to the prestige of the tournament's semifinal round. This will be Murphy's fourth straight semifinal appearance.
In her last career Morris County Tournament, Murphy said she "didn't want to take it for granted" and said she is "really excited to make it to FDU again"
The second-seeded Cougars move on to play No. 6 Hanover Park in the semi-final round of tournament play at Farleigh Dickenson University's Florham Campus on Friday.
