Millburn Girls Basketball Advances

Jenny Smith was nearly unstoppable for the Millers on Tuesday night at Millburn High School in a 56-49 win over Nutley in the opening round of the North II Group 3 state sectional playoffs.

The sophomore guard exploded for a season and career high 26 points to lead Millburn in a very feisty game that had a total of 55 free throws, a fan ejected from the stands, a double technical and a lot of chatter back and forth.

“I thought we played well. I thought we kept our composure. I think there was a lot of banging going on out there and a lot of talking,” said Miller head coach Bill Drennan. “The other key and the thing we’ve been asking is Jenny Smith to please take it to the basket … She’s one of the best sophomores around and she’s getting better.”

After the first eight minutes of play the Millers and Maroon Raiders were tied up at 14. But in the second quarter Millburn turned up the defense and held Nutley without a field goal and to just three points. Millburn took a 28-17 lead into the break and never trailed again.

Smith scored nine points in the second while junior Taylor Perretti scored five of her 13 points in that quarter, accounting for all of Millburn’s points in the second period.

“Defense, it has always been defense. From the beginning we said it was defense and we did it today,” Smith said. “We listened to what our coach told us to do from the beginning and it all worked.”

“I thought Perretti, again, she did it the last she game she played, and she missed two games, she just keeps battling on the boards, battling on the boards and battling, battling, battling,” Drennan said.

Nutley hung around and got the lead down to five points midway through the third quarter. But with Millburn up 33-28, the Millers mounted a 12-3 run to go up by 14 and just held off the Raiders from there. During that stretch, where they really sapped any chance of a Nutley comeback, the Millers drained 50 percent of their shots from the floor while holding the visitors to 14.2 percent.

“We played defense the way we play it,” Drennan said. “We denied the ball in two or three times and we played them all over the court like we can ... With us, when we win, we’re playing good defense.”

With 2:08 remaining an already physical game got a little more chippy when a Nutley player and a Miller player crossed paths, resulting in the Miller girls being pushed in between free throw shots. A double technical was issued. A minute later, a rowdy Nutley fan also had to be escorted out of the game for heckling the refs.

The fourth quarter dragged on and became a foul fest with both teams taking a total of 26 trips to the line in the final quarter. Eight fouls were issued n the final two minutes alone.

“We were banging around. It was like we had five Carly Feits out there, which was good; we were looking for that.” Drennan joked.

Freshman Courtney Brosnan also played a big part in the victory for the Millers, scoring seven of her nine points in the second half, including knocking down five-of-six from the free throw line.

“What composure for a kid,” Drennan said of Brosnan. “She took it down four or five times when they pressed us. We broke the press and she dribbled the length of the court and put the ball where it should’ve gone. She’s going to be a heck of a player.”

Another significant side note is that Tuesday night’s victory was the 20th of the season for the girls, giving them a 20-5 record. Nutley fell to 13-12 in the loss.

Millburn’s playoff run continues on Thursday night. Whether the game will be at home or away will be determined by the outcome of the Cranford and Mendham match. Should Cranford win, Millburn would be on the road. If Mendham pulls off the upset, then the Miller girls will be home for a second playoff game.

“You never know,” Drennan said of his team’s chances of continuing to move on. “I had teams that weren’t supposed to get past the first round and then we got to a sectional game. I had teams when we were 23-5 and we lost in the first round.”