Chatham Girl’s Hoops Stays Undefeated as They Dominate Cranford in Day 2 of Cougar Classic

The senior tandem of Ella Kreuzer (22 points) and Mia  Semioli  (13 points) combined to score 35 points in Chatham High School (N.J.) Girl’s basketball team’s 66-31 victory over Cranford Saturday night in Day 2 of the 2024 Cougar Classic at home.

While the dynamic duo gets well deserved attention, they are not doing it alone this season, Chatham head coach Joe Gaba noted, making the 6-0 Cougars a formidable offensive machine.

“We have to be able to show that we can diversify ourselves offensively because teams would start trying to take away Mia and Ella,” Gaba explained. “And it’s important for the McKennas (Hogan) of the world, and Grace (Cloud) and Arden (Alvarez) to show what they can do offensively, because then we become a really hard defensive matchup. They can’t just key on one player.

“That’s what happened tonight,” he continued. “McKenna hit two threes pretty early, Arden hit a big three; we had it rolling there in that first half. It’s just good for us moving forward. It just makes us harder to defend.”

Both squads battled to an early 9-9 stalemate. But Chatham went on an unprecedented 15-4 run to take a 24-12 lead in the first quarter.

Kreuzer opened the second period scoring by nailing a three-pointer, followed by buckets from Semioli, senior Ella VonDussa, and another from Semioli, for a 33-12 advantage with 4:38 left in the first half.

The Cougars went on a 9-4 run to close out the second quarter ahead by a score of 42-16.

Both teams played to a 11-11 draw in the third period, with Chatham leading Cranford (0-4), 53-27.

With backups inserted into the contest, the fourth period spelled much of the same result throughout most of the game, as the Cougars were able to secure the lopsided triumph in the end.

Alvarez dropped in nine points, while Hogan contributed eight points and senior Ryan Bolger added six in the win.

Junior Lily Costello scored a team-high 10 points, and senior Bella Curanovic added seven for Cranford.

Chatham squares off against Madison High School Monday at 5:15 p.m. in the final day of the Cougar Classic.

— Jerry Del Priore