Cranford Falls To Pascack Valley in State Semifinal (With VIDEO Highlights)

The Cranford girls' varsity basketball team fought to the end before losing to Pascack Valley 40-28 in the Group 3 state semifinal played at Ramapo High School in Franklin Lakes Thursday night.

The Lady Cougars, who captured the state sectional championship when they beat Somerville on Tuesday, took an early 9-7 lead versus Pascack Valley (26-4) and trailed by a bucket at the half.

Cranford was trailing by four entering the final stanza, but Pascack Valley went on a 12-2 run to start the fourth quarter. Fouls quickly became an issue, with the Cougars in the bonus with seven fouls early in the fourth to PV's one foul.

"They played very good defense," said Huber. "It's hard even if you're running your offense, it's hard to get through the screens. We got into some foul trouble. I think getting into foul trouble mentally took us out of the game."

Cranford kept the game close despite a lack of offense early on.

"They're a very good team," said third-year head coach Jackie Huber. "In the beginning our offense just wasn't there, we had a hard time with that. A little nitpick fouls and some other issues, it was kind of hard to bounce back from."

Pascack Valley's Tyler Ely finished with a game-high 17 points, more than half of those coming from the free throw line, helping her team advance to the Group 3 final where they'll face powerful Neptune.

As for Cranford, they go home with a 21-8 record and plenty of great memories.

"I told them, losing does not feel good," said Huber. "It's not something that everyone likes doing, but, they have to understand that they accomplished something that people dream about doing. In high school, I never went to the state sectional finals. Everyone talks about it. The fact that they won it and when they go into the school, they'll see their year on the banner, that's going to be important to them."

The final buzzer also wrapped up the careers of three talented seniors. Huber had nothing but praise for Jamie Webb, Danielle Gross and Taylor D'Antico.

"The seniors meant a lot to me," she said. "They did a really good job bouncing back from losing six seniors and doing so well last year, everyone telling us this was a rebuilding year, you'll be okay in a couple of years. They really did a good job of taking the younger girls underneath their wing and showing that they wanted it this year as seniors. They wanted to win a championship and that's what they did."

"I'm really proud of us," said Webb. "We made the semifinals of counties, which was good. We had a huge letdown there but we stuck through and won the section, so that's great. And our coach said every time we come and watch the young girls play next year, we'll see our '10' up on the banner so that's something to remember."

Indeed, there is a bright future, with freshmen Jess McCoy and Kate McGovern making immediate impacts. Sophomore Morgan Miller is as tough as they come and will be a big perimeter presence next season.

"I'm very excited," Huber said. "I saw some great things from Kaitlyn (McGovern). I'm excited to see how she's going to blossom throughout the years, but our team was very young this year. I think we'll be all right next year."

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