Sports
Berntsen's 33 Points Power Chatham to Title
Chatham High girls basketball team dominated the court against West Morris Central.
Senior Amanda Berntsen was unstoppable Tuesday, leading all scoring with a 33-point performance as the Cougars ran over West Morris Central 54-43.
The Cougars led 14-10 after the first quarter and increasing their lead to 27-19 at halftime. The third quarter was all Chatham, up by 19 at one point, as Berntsen poured in 12 of the 19 points scored by the Cougars. West Morris made a gallant comeback in the fourth, getting as close as 9 points with just under a minute and a half to play but Chatham never lost control of the game.
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COUGAR OF THE GAME
Amanda Berntsen — the senior guard took charge of the game
early, scoring almost all her points on hard drives to the basket, sometimes
going the length of the court. West Morris had no answer for her speed or her
ball handling.
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OTHER KEY PERFORMANCES
The Cougars defense — according to coach Joe Gaba his players “stuck to the defensive game plan, no matter who was on the floor.”
THEY SAID IT
“I didn’t want this to be my last game. I went out there with confidence and I went out there to win.” -Amanda Berntsen
“Amanda was amazing tonight. The game plan is always to stay within the confines of the team offense but we try to get the ball to Amanda around the foul line so she can drive to the basket.” -Coach Gaba
The Cougars play Teaneck Thursday at Ramapo High School at 7 p.m. in the NJSIAA Group III semifinal game.
Editor's note: A former version of this article stated Amanda Berntsen scored 32 points during the game against West Morris Central. Berntsen actually scored 33 points. Chatham Patch has corrected the error and apologizes to our readers.
