Lady Knights Cruise to First Round Victory In States

All season the Lady Knights had been waiting for this, a chance to play for a shot at a state title.  It showed in the first round against 13th seeded Kinnelon, as 4th seeded New Milford used poise and determination to win 61-47 to advance to the second round.

The game had the feel of a playoff contest right from the outset, as coach Mike Kilgalen’s team took their usual high energy, always-hustling play and brought it to a new level.  If there was a loose ball, like clockwork, a New Milford player would be right there to fight for it.

The Lady Knights got out to a 20-5 lead after the first quarter as they were able to take advantage of some early misses by Kinnelon and turn them into points in transition. 

Sam DeFreese knows that at this point her illustrious career is down to only one more loss and the 1,000 point scorer responded with a tremendous effort.   The talented senior pumped in 24 points to go with several rebounds and blocks.

“The whole game we were fighting inside, but after a few minutes we realized that these girls were having a hard time keeping up, so we said lets run,” said DeFreese. “You’ve got to keep pounding it and I think we pounded it a little harder than they did and that’s why we came out on top.”

Senior Vanessa Vargas had one of the finest games of her career as well. She chipped in 12 points and 4 steals to go along with stellar on-the-ball defense.

“We knew coming into the game that we would have to push the ball because they have two good bigs and our way to get points back would be in transition and we definitely did that well today,” said Vargas.

Kinnelon went on a run in the second half, but the smallest the lead ever shrunk to was at 47-35 to start the fourth quarter. 

Center Andrea Dunchus led the Lady Colts with 21 points on the day, but it was not enough. 

“One of the things we preach all year is having no regrets,” said Head Coach Mike Kilgalen. Whether its in practice or in a game, if there’s a loose ball, we want kids who are going to dive for the loose ball,”

New Milford showed tremendous poise and hustle, not getting caught up in the importance of the game. 

Victoria Astillero chipped in with 9 points and Deanne Millo added 6 points for the Lady Knights. 

“The remarkable thing is that there’s only one returning letter winner from last year but before the game they were loose, they were shooting around and laughing,” said Kilgalen.  “They understood the urgency of the game but they didn’t feel a sense of pressure.”

Up next for the Lady Knights will be the 5^th seeded Glen Rock Panthers who will travel to New Milford at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. 

If New Milford hopes to advance they’ll need to come out with the same calm and collected, yet tenacious effort that helped defeat Kinnelon by 14 points.

“I know that the season is slowly coming to an end and any of these games could be our last,” said Vargas.

With that attitude, the Lady Knights are sure to leave it all on the floor again on Wednesday.