Cardiac Kids: Kreuzer Puts Team on Back to Propel Chatham Girl’s Basketball in Come-From-Behind Win Over Immaculate Heart

In a matter of 16.9 electrifying seconds, junior Ella Kreuzer caught fire and single-handedly staged a late game comeback, scoring six points down the stretch to help Chatham High School Girl’s basketball surge past Immaculate Heart Academy, 47-44, Tuesday Night at home.

It was the Cougars’ 16th straight victory.

After two periods of play, Chatham (17-1) trailed Immaculate Heart Academy by 12 points. The Cougars did not fare much better in the third quarter, falling behind even further by 14 points.

But longtime Chatham head coach Joe Gaba lit a fire underneath them in the locker room that seemed to ignite a never-say-die attitude.

“I was challenging them at half time, of like, “Hey, are you going to get run on your own home floor or are you going to fight back?” Gaba said to his team at the break. “But there is something special about this group. There’s just a lot of resolve in these kids. And they just refused to lose, and just continued to stay at it the entire game.”

Down by 14 points heading into the fourth quarter, the Bucknell University commit started it off by nailing one from behind the arc. Senior Addison Barrett and sophomore Ava Paone sandwiched three pointers around a Cougar bucket, and Barrett sank two free throws to cap a 13-2 run over 6:24 to slice the deficit to 41-38 with 1:34 remaining in the contest.

After a Blue Eagle player hit a free throw, junior Mia Semioli banged home one from behind the arc to make it 42-41 in favor of Immaculate Heart Academy with 49.8 seconds to go in the game.

The Blue Eagles (9-7) dropped in two more from the charity stripe to run the score to 44-41 with 41.6 left in the tilt.

But that is when Kreuzer took control of the game. And, as they say, the rest is history.

Barrett, a team leader and excellent athlete, took it upon on herself to keep injecting confidence into her teammates, truly believing that they were destined to take home the W.

“I knew going into the half — obviously, we were down by 14; that’s a pretty big deficit — I just said in the locker room that there was no way we were going to lose that game,” she said. “I just felt we were going to win it. So, I just kept telling the girls, we were going to win. When we got up by one, (I felt) that was just it.”

Kreuzer led all scorers with 16 points, while Semiloi and Barrett contributed 14 and eight points, respectively.

Senior Selena Cieszko poured in 15 points and junior Sofia Valente dropped in 12 for Immaculate Heart in the defeat.

— Jerry Del Priore