Lady Millers Blitz Undoes Lancers

Both the Livingston and Millburn girls basketball teams were stuck at one victory heading into Tuesday night's battle in Millburn.  One team got the leap ahead, though: Millburn, who beat the Lancers 50-31 .

Millburn stormed out to 17-6, 27-10, 32-10 and took a 32-12 lead heading into halftime. Lady Millers sophomore Taylor Peretti scored nine of her 15 points in the first half.

Livingston never recovered after the first half, which proved the difference as Millburn moved the ball around and was deadly from the perimeter.  Also, the Millers used a full-court press effectively.

The ball movement on offense benefitted the likes of Peretti, Carly Feit, Jordan Lee and Stefanie Weg.

"We knew that they were going to play a zone," said Bill Drennan, Millburn's head coach, about the offensive movement.

Drennan said that they normally don't use a lot of full-court press in the first half, but do use it after they score and that happened a lot in the first half.

On the Lancer side, both Beck Knopf and Caroline Cole had eight points to lead Livingston. Natalie Cohen contributed six points, too.

Livingston head coach Patty Kaes admitted her team did not handle the full-court press well at all.

"They were putting themselves in a position where they didn't feel comfortable in their game," said Kaes. "When we execute our offense, we get better looks and there is better flow."

In the first half Kaes added that the shots were there, but her kids did not put them in the bucket.

The second half was more evenly matched.  The Lancers actually outscored Millburn, 19-18.

"I wanted them to slow it down," said Kaes about the halftime discussion. "We changed our defense and thought we did a better job."

 And Drennan knew that his team could not keep up the pace in the second half.  

"It was tough to sustain it," he said.

But that didn't matter because the game was pretty much in the bag after the first 16 minutes.

Peretti, who is known more for her soccer exploits, translates very nicely to basketball and had a game-high 15 points.  But she fouled out with less than 30 seconds in the game.

"She's a very good sophomore and as fast as a cat," said Drennan.  But he cautioned that "she needs to work on that (avoid foul trouble) and shoot with her left hand."

Livingston must shake off the loss when the team takes on Newark East Side on Thursday.  The team is now 1-4.

Livingston 2009-10 Girls Basketball Schedule

(Games at 7 p.m. unless noted)

Jan. 7                     Newark East Side

Jan. 9                     at Cedar Grove

Jan. 11                   Madison

Jan. 14                   at Arts, 4 p.m.

Jan. 16                   at West Essex, 1 p.m.

Jan. 19                   West Side

Jan. 21                   at Science Park, 4 p.m.

Jan. 26                   at Belleville, 4 p.m.

Jan. 28                   Barringer, 4 p.m.

Feb. 2                     at Marylawn, 4 p.m.

Feb. 4                     Millburn

Feb. 9                     at East Side, 4 p.m.

Feb. 16                   Cedar Grove

Feb. 18                   at Barringer, 4 p.m.

Feb. 22                   Mendham

Feb. 23                   at West Side, 4 p.m.

Feb. 25                   Science Park, 4 p.m.