Chatham High School (N.J.) Girl’s basketball team struggled to contain Madison junior forward Charlotte Tuhy, who enjoyed a fantastic game, draining a contest-best 29 points.
But the cream rose to the top in the end, as Chatham banded together to upend their rivals, the Dodgers, 44-40, in the final day of the Cougar Classic Friday night in front of a raucous home crowd.
“When you have a player the caliber of Charlotte Tuhy, they’re (Madison) not just going to go away,” Chatham head coach Joe Gaba explained. “She just garners so much attention that we kind of lost track of the (Devon) Johnson girl, who had a couple of huge put backs for them that kind of kept them in it.”
Junior Arden Alvarez scored six points of 14 points and junior Ella Kreuzer added five of 18 points in the first quarter to help Chatham (7-1) claim a 13-9 advantage.
The Cougars extended their lead to 23-14, as Alvarez dropped in five more points in the second period.
Chatham held their largest advantage at 25-14 early in the third quarter, but the team almost let it slip away. Not quite, though, pleasing Gaba.
“But what I’m really proud about is against Pope John, we gave up an 11-point lead, and we still came out and won,” he said. “And tonight, we gave up an 11-point lead, and they would hit a big shot, and we responded, and then we hit a big shot.”
The Cougars proved to be a complete, cohesive unit tonight, surmounting obstacles when it mattered most.
“It wasn’t just our two stars, Ella and Mia (Semioli),” Gaba said. “Addison Barrett hit a big shot. Arden hit another big three for us in the corner. McKenna (Hogan) came up with a really big steal for us. It just shows that it’s just a good sign that this team can face adversity, and we have kids out there that can go out and respond. It’s not only Ella and Mia. It’s coming from everyone. And that’s good sign for us for the future.”
Down by double digits, Tuhy caught fire, drilling 14 points to bring Madison (6-2) to within three points at 32-29 in the third quarter.
But Chatham clapped down on Tuhy, limiting her to just four points in the fourth period.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers did manage to slice the deficit to a point on two separate occasions. Alavarez, however, gave the Cougars a 42-37 advantage with 4:38 remaining in the affair.
Madison junior Mallory Dineen closed the gap at 42-39 and junior guard Gabby Mariani sank a free throw to make it a two-point game with 2:36 remaining in the tilt.
But Kreuzer proved her undeniable worth by nailing two from the charity stripe with 25.9 seconds to go in the contest. Next, the Chatham defense did its job, slamming the door shut on the Dodger offense the rest of the way.
Semioli contributed seven points, while Barrett added five in the win.
Chatham won all three of its games in the annual tournament, beating Cranford and Watchung Hills.
— Jerry Del Priore
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 