West Morris Central Girls Basketball Team Wins Sectional Crown (Photos)

As the saying goes, the third time’s the charm.

And that couldn’t be truer for the West Morris Central Lady Highlanders, who took home the North 2, Group 3 title on Monday night against the Cranford Cougars at home by a score of 53-42.

West Morris Central Head Coach Fran Gavin, who was calling the plays in his third title game in five years, was winless in the contest before Monday night.

The way the game opened, it seemed as though Gavin would fall again, as the Lady Highlanders went down 9-2 with three minutes left to play in the first quarter. West Morris’s Shayna Ericksen was assigned to cover Cranford’s Mairead McKeary, considered Cranford’s best player, but couldn’t seem to keep up with her through the opening period.

The number four-seeded Cougars, who beat top-seeded Chatham High School Saturday night in double overtime, took a 13-7 lead into the second quarter but began to unravel after the Lady Highlander defense got into a groove.

“We became patient,” said Gavin. “We started grabbing rebounds and settling in. We put (Carly Shello) on (McKeary) because she can defend anyone. From a post player to a little guard–she can cover anyone.”

The defense Gavin spoke of was the catalyst for the Lady Highlanders to get back into the game and gain the momentum it needed. West Morris would cut the Cougars lead to 23-21 going into halftime, and clearly spoke about the adjustments they needed to make in the locker room.

“We felt more in control as the game went on,” said Ericksen, who scored a game high 31 points, including all of the team’s 11 third quarter points, seven of which came from the free-throw line.

West Morris took a three-point lead into the fourth quarter–its first period-ending lead of the game–and never looked back. Central quickly widened its lead to five after a short jump shot by Ericksen just seconds into the final period, and controlled the tempo of the game from there.

Shello, who seemed to be disrupting passing lanes all night, contributed a few baskets of her own in the fourth quarter to help the team go up by as much as 12 points, to which the Cougars would have no answer.

“It was very rewarding to get a few buckets at the end,” said Shello, who contributed much of the team’s success to Ericksen. “We know Shayna’s a major part of our team’s success–she’s just amazing.”

“I love playing man-to-man,” Ericksen said about the adjustment Cranford’s defense made in the second half. “That’s more our game, and that’s where we excel. We said to ourselves, ‘We didn’t make it all the way to the title game to not win–we’re not losing this game.’”

The West Morris Central Lady Highlanders will play at Ramapo College Wednesday night in the group semifinals. The team is now 22-4.