Cranford Advances to County Tournament Final Four

With both teams taking care of business in impressive fashion, fourth-seeded Cranford and No. 1 seed Roselle Catholic will meet one more time. The prize?

A chance to play for the coveted Union County Tournament championship.

Cranford held up their end of the bargain with a 57-44 victory over a stubborn Oak Knoll team Thursday night. Morgan Miller had the hot hand from the perimeter, knocking down a team-high 14 points in the contest.

"I think we all played really well," said Miller. "We all played hard in the beginning. A lot of times we come out lax, but we came out hard and built up a good lead, so we were able to maintain it for most of the game."

"We talked at the beginning of the game, that in my years of coaching, we only went past the quarterfinals once in the five years including junior varsity, so this is something that is important to our team," said head coach Jackie Huber. "We had the goal in the beginning of the year that we wanted to make it to the finals and win the counties. We have the mindset still and I think it's good."

"I feel amazing," said freshman Jessica McCoy. "We played really hard, worked our butts off and we came here to win. They have a lot of good players and they definitely did not want to lose it. I think that's what made it such a great game because we both wanted to win."

Jamie Webb added 11, Taylor D'Antico 10, Jess McCoy nine and Danielle Gross eight points as the Lady Cougars improved to 16-6. That type of balanced scoring attack is what makes the them dangerous every time they take the floor.

"Morgan did a really great job," Huber said. "Everyone in the county knows that Morgan is a shooter, so the second she gets the ball you hear everyone screaming 'shooter, shooter.' But she always keeps her composure and she has a phenomenal shot and you know when she shoots the ball it's going in."

"I just try and shoot the ball the best I can every time I get out there," Miller said. "A lot of it was driving and kicking so I was open. The people penetrating had a big part in that, getting me wide open shots."

Cranford got off to a fast start, which has not always been the case this season. They were ahead 32-16 by halftime and 44-27 at the end of the third quarter before Oak Knoll began to chip away.

"We started off really well in the first half," said Huber. "We made most of our shots, had five three-pointers, driving to the basket. This was maybe the best I've seen us play for awhile. We've been in a little bit of a slump, but today got us out of it."

"Threes definitely give you momentum," said Miller. "You get into a good rhythm when you start making them."

The Cougar defense would not let their opponents get too much momentum before shutting the door. Now it's on to the final four and Roselle Catholic one more time.

"We beat them the first time at their place and then they came and beat us the second time," Huber said. "I think it would be nice. I said when we played them and we lost, it's hard to beat a team three times, so I'd rather have them beat us in the regular season and have us take it in the counties."

"We can definitely take them this time," said McCoy. "We both have our wins against each other. It will be a fair matchup."

"I think we're pretty evenly matched up," Miller said. "One of the big things is that we have to box out and limit their second chance shots, because they get a lot of those. Everybody's so excited and it's on everybody's mind. Everybody just wants to make it there."

Roselle Catholic head coach Joe Skrec had a chance to see part of the first game before his team defeated Linden. He said his Lady Lions are looking forward to a rematch as well, this time on an even bigger stage. The game is set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday night at Roselle Catholic High School.

"Cranford travels very well. They have great fans, it's a great community," he said. "They will bring a lot of people. It will be a great atmosphere for a high school sporting event. They're tall and long and they block shots on us and they bother us and it's going to be a tremendous challenge. I think it will be very hard fought, very intense and a tremendous atmosphere."