Dayton Girls Hoops Winning Streak Comes to an End

As is always the case when two streaking basketball teams meet, something has to give. 

Thursday night in New Providence, it was Dayton’s 13-game winning streak that came to an end as New Providence earned a 59-44 victory to extend its own winning skein to six.

The Lady Pioneers were paced by Cassandra Squeri, who had a team-high 15 points, Laura Gregory, who totaled 13 points, 10 rebounds, three blocks, three assists and a steal and Emma Culleton, who added 12 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Kaitlyn Cresencia was also instrumental in the victory with a 10-point, seven-rebound, five-assist and three-steal effort.

“(Coach Cap) Pazdera told us, this game wasn’t for the conference, or the countys, it was about our pride,” said Cresencia. “And that meant more to us. We wanted to go out and play a good game.

“Since our loss to Oak Knoll (on Jan. 29) we’ve been playing really well. We want to keep doing that heading into the county and state tournaments.”

Dayton, which last loss on Jan. 4 (48-36 to Roselle Catholic), was keyed by Anna Lies, who had a team-high 15 points.

Cresencia had six points and Squeri added five as New Providence raced to a 15-5 first quarter lead. Dayton played much better in the second period as five different players got into the scoring column led by Emily MacDonnell, who had five points. Culleton led New Providence with six  of her team’s 19 points as the home team took a 34-19 leadinto intermission.

Dayton came out fast in the third quarter as Lies hit a jumper and Jen Kuczynski buried a 3-pointer to pull the Springfield school within, 34-24. That would be as close as Dayton would get however as New Providence stepped up its effort defensively and controlled the boards, limiting its opponents’ second-chance shots.

Cresencia made a great play to close the third quarter, stealing the ball in the Dayton backcourt, turning and making a foul-line jumper as the buzzer sounded to give New Providence a 43-28 lead.

“We struggled to put the ball in the basket,” said Dayton head coach Dave Rennie. “And when that happens, its going to be an uphill battle. New Providence is a really good team and played like it tonight." 

As far as the winning streak goes, Rennie said it was never acknowledged. 

“We really didn’t ever talk about it,” said Rennie. “We just work on going out every day and getting better.”