Chatham Girls’ Basketball Dominates Watchung Hills in 1st Day of Cougar Classic

Chatham High School (N.J.) girls’ basketball team arguably played one of its finest games in recent memory, as it raced out to 24-3 lead in the first quarter against Watchung Hills and never looked back.

The Cougars, behind 20 and 16 points from junior guards Ella Kreuzer and Mia Semioli, respectively, routed the Warriors (1-4), 68-40, Tuesday at Chatham in the first day of the Cougar Classic Tournament.

“The first half was as clean of a first half that we played in a long time,” Cougar head coach Joe Gaba explained. “The second half, you’re just trying to manage minutes, manage substitutions. You still want to execute; I thought we got a little sloppy there at the end of the third quarter. They also made six shots in a row, which was kind of crazy. The game kind of stabilized in the fourth quarter and we finished up for the win.”

Semioli drained 11 points in Chatham’s dominant first period, in which the team could not do anything wrong, outshooting and outrebounding the opposition while playing its classic stingy defense.

“We were moving the ball really well, so we had a lot of open shots,” Semioli said. “So, we hit them in the first quarter, especially.”

The Cougars (4-1) built a commanding 44-15 half-time advantage after Kreuzer opened up the second quarter with one from beyond the arc. Kreuzer closed out the half by drilling another from three-point land.

In fact, Chatham banged home nine three pointers in the first half.

Watchung Hills played better in the third period, but the Cougars, with its backups inserted into the tilt, still held a sizable lead by the quarter’s end at 54-33.

Five different players tailed points for Chatham in the final quarter to end the game ahead by 28 points.

Junior McKenna Hogan contributed eight points for the Cougars, while senior forward Olivia Holliday led the Warriors with 11 points and senior guard Emily Grigonis added 10.

Chatham returns to action tomorrow at 6:15 p.m. versus Cranford in Day 2 of the Cougar Classic Tournament.

— Jerry Del Priore