Sports
On to the Finals
Chatham girls' basketball defeats Newark Tech; moves on to face West Essex in sectional finals.
It was all about rebounds in the fourth quarter during the Chatham girls' basketball game against Newark Tech Saturday at Chatham High School. And the Lady Cougars capitalized.
Chatham maintained the rebound advantage in the fourth quarter and held on to defeat Newark Tech, 43-33, in the North II Group II semifinal round Saturday at Chatham High School. It advanced to the finals, where it will face West Essex at 7 p.m. in North Caldwell on Monday.
The Chatham gym was teeming with fans anxious to see if the Cougars girls' basketball team would continue on to the finals. They saw sophomore Amanda Berntsen score seven of her 21 points in the first quarter, including three fouls shots after being fouled on an end of the quarter three point attempt. On the defensive end, senior Caroline Murphy and the rest of the Chatham squad frustrated the Terriers by only allowing five points in the first.
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In the second quarter, Newark Tech was able to close the gap slightly but was unable to capitalize on Chatham turnovers. It trailed 18-13 going into the half.
"We came up with a lot of defensive stops but were not able to reward ourselves on the other end," said Head Coach Joe Gaba.
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The Terriers came into the second half with a sectional title in their view. Annarose Pierce tacked on eight of her 15 points in the third quarter to tie the score at 27 going into the last eight minutes of play.
"Going into the fourth [quarter] we needed to step up rebounding and take better looks on offense," said Murphy.
And that is exactly what the Cougars did. At the start of the quarter, Chatham scored six uncontested points and would keep the lead for the remainder of the game.
The scoring drive began less than a minute into the quarter with an in-the-lane jump shot Caroline Murphy has "made her career on," as Gaba put it. Murphy scored six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Newark Tech's Shanice Jors broke up the scoring run by hitting a jump shot, but Amanda Berntsen quickly answered with four points to bring the Chatham lead to eight. It cruised from there on out.
The Cougars will face West Essex in a rematch of last year's sectional championship. It won, 60-44, last year.
"I think they are ready," said Gaba. "I'm looking forward to it."
