Looney's 3-Pointer With 2:53 Remaining Clinches It For Cougars
By Mike Ready
COLTS NECK – In 2008-09, the Colts Neck girls won the NJSIAA Group IV title before losing to Saint John Vianney in the finals of the Tournament of Champions. A year later, they won the Central Jersey Group IV title before losing to Eastern in the Group IV semifinals.
Find out what's happening in Marlboro-Coltsneckfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Watching those games and dreaming of the day she’d be putting up 3-pointers for the Cougars was a young guard about to enter her freshman year of high school at Colts Neck; her name was Jenna Looney.
“I used to watch those teams play and think how much I wanted to be like them,” Looney said. “I never thought I’d be able to do it and here I am; it’s a dream come true.”
Find out what's happening in Marlboro-Coltsneckfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Looney was more than able to do it, as she scored a game-high 22 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and had four steals to lead No.3 seeded Colts Neck to a 41-28 win over fifth-seeded Hunterdon Central in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group IV final Monday at Colts Neck.
“Jenna’s been doing this for us all season long,” first-year coach Glenn Jansen said. “They say she’s too little or that she can’t handle well enough but she’s got the biggest heart, she’s fearless and I don’t care if she’s playing a girl three-foot tall or seven-foot tall she’ll stare them eye-to-eye; she’s been our beat defensive player all year long.”
Colts Neck had a 16-point lead and was sailing along after a Looney rebound and full-court drive to the hoop made it 32-16 at the 4:20 mark of the third quarter.
From there the Cougars went ice cold, and Hunterdon Central reeled off 10-straight points behind Carli Wilson and Kristina Benton to pull to within six, 32-26 at 4:44 of the fourth quarter.
The Devils had gone to a 1-3-1 press to start the fourth quarter and the Cougars, with Looney on the bench, were having problems breaking it. Looney picked up her fourth foul at the start of the fourth quarter, and was still on the bench watching the once seemingly insurmountable lead evaporate before her eyes.
“I wanted nothing more than to be on the court,” Lonney said. “I kept thinking if we can just keep our cool and do what we normally do, we can get through this.”
“I told them to be patient and take care of the ball,” Jansen said. “It’s not going to be one person breaking the press we have to work together and open up some passing lanes.”
Elissa Moody grabbed a rebound off a Wilson miss and was fouled on the put-back, hitting one-of-two foul shots to give the Cougars a 33-26 lead at 4:26. That was the first point in over seven minutes for the Cougars, spanning the third and fourth quarters.
The Red Devils then drove down court and immediately scored on a Benton layup and the Cougar lead was now down to five, 33-28, with 4:10 showing on the clock.
With the Cougars desperately needing a lift, Looney re-entered the game around the four-minute mark and delivered the game’s biggest play of the night, hitting a 3-pointer from just beyond the arc for the Cougars first field goal in over 8 minutes pushing the lead to eight, 36-28, with 2:53 left in the game.
“Jenna has hit the two biggest 3-pointers of the season for us,” Jansen said. “That’s just Jenna being Jenna; she just steps back and hits the three, that shot was huge.”
“I was going to drive, but when I saw No.34 (Wilson) and No.4 (Tess Richardson) clogging the middle I realized no one was in front of me so I just shot it. I was looking for something to get my team going; I just didn’t know what it was.”
Looney wasn’t finished as she stepped into the passing lane for a steal before going coast-to-coast for an easy lay-in, extending the Cougar lead to 38-28 with 1:25 remaining.
Junior point guard Kaitlyn Healy hit one-of-two free throws after she stole the ball and was fouled and senior forward Elissa Moody closed out the Cougars game ending 8-0 run with a layup with 45 seconds remaining.
The Cougars ball handling and four-corner passing was exceptional all game but their four seniors and junior point guard worked it to perfection running valuable time off the clock in the crucial closing minutes.
“When it was crunch time the last few minutes of the game we took care of the ball,” Jansen said. “We didn’t have to run anything; the girls have played together so long. They’re such a close knit group that, not to be corny, it’s because it’s coming from within their heart; everything they have goes into that pass.”
Bosland finished with nine points, three rebounds, two steals and a block, while Lauren Zborovancik added five points, six boards, three steals and Elisa Moody had four points and five rebounds.
Wilson led Hunterdon Central with seven points, 10 rebounds and two steals, while Benton also had seven points with six boards. Richardson chipped in five points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
