Behind 29 points from senior Ella Kreuzer, Chatham High School (N.J.) girls’ basketball team blew past Montville, 68-38, Tuesday night in its home opener.
Longtime Cougar head coach Joe Gaba did recognize the Mustangs solid first half play, but did not deny that Chatham has some work to do going forward.
“We got to give Montville (0-1) a lot of credit. They out worked us in the first half,” Gaba said. We have to do a better job of rebounding. I thought our shot selection (in the first half) was poor.
“It’s only the second game of the season. We won by 30, but our ceiling is higher,” he added. “We have to clean up some things. Eventually, the better team came out on top in the end. It always helps to have Ella on our side.”
While the Cougars (2-0) did not play its best brand of hoops in the first half, it managed to lead the Mustangs by nine points going into the locker room.
Then came the third quarter, where Chatham began to establish itself as a force. Kreuzer, who is committed to Bucknell University basketball, began the period by scoring four points for a 30-19 advantage with 6:16 left in quarter.
Next, senior guard Mia Semioli added a bucket, and the Cougars took a 32-19 lead early in the third quarter.
The Mustangs, however, sliced the deficit to 34-26 with 3:20 left in the period before Semioli dropped in another basket to make it a ten-point game with 2:45 remaining in the quarter.
In clutch fashion, Semioli drained a three-pointer to push the advantage to 41-30 with 1:18 to go in the third period. Subsequently, Chatham closed out the quarter up by 16 points.
From there, the Cougars went on an 8-0 run to swell their lead to 54-30 with 5:56 left in the contest, and never looked back, as they secured the home victory.
Semioli contributed 13 points, while senior Arden Alvarez added eight points and junior Ava Paone had six in the win.
Juliana O’Dowd led Montville with 20 points.
Chatham travels to Randolph Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
— Jerry Del Priore
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 