Cicconi Leads Short-handed Dodgers Against Chatham

It's tough enough to play your arch-rival when they're state-ranked, on a tear, in front of a hostile crown, on Senior Night. It's doubly tough when you have to do so with injuries and a short bench.

But the , playing on guts and guile—and led by the scoring of Samantha Cicconi—turned in a respectable effort Monday in falling to the Chatham Cougars, 47-30, in Chatham.

Missing the play of team scoring leader Nikki Caruso and the inside presence of Margie Taylor, Madison had all they could handle against the Cougars (23-1), ranked 11th in the Star-Ledger Top 20.

“We were shorthanded tonight and Chatham is a very good team,” said head coach Stephen Finkelstein.

Megan Conners hit two three-pointers a minute apart to open the scoring and by the end of the first quarter Chatham had outscored Madison, 10-3.

A frustrating yet aggressive defensive scheme held Madison (9-12) to only five points in the first half. Chatham's Amanda Berntsen added 12 of her 18 points in the second quarter alone.

“The last time we played them [Madison] we struggled,” said Chatham captain Kelsey Hart. “Its nice that we can show that we can play—especially because they are our rivals and neighbors.”

In the second half Madison turned up the offensive tempo up behind the scoring of Cicconi. The Dodgers outscored the Cougars 14-8 in the third quarter, with Cicconi contributing nine of her 18 points.

“Sami really stepped up,” said Finkelstein. “She is asked to do so much for this team and I don’t know how she does it.”

Cicconi’s efforts cut the Chatham lead to 15 heading into the final quarter of play.

“We were coming into the game not expecting to do very well because we were missing so many people,” said Cicconi. “I think we hung in there despite being down.”

But Chatham would not disappoint in front of its home crowd and poured in a series of jump shots and free throws to pull away for the victory.

“They [the Dodgers] had to play so hard for so long without a break,” said Finkelstein. “We just couldn’t run with them at times.”