Chatham High School (N.Y.) Girl’s basketball coach Joe Gaba said his players could not have carried out his defensive strategy any better than they did Monday night against Madison (3-2), a 63-42 victory in the final day of the 2024 Cougar Classic at home.
Gaba said that senior Dodger star Charlotte Thuy is a challenging player to contain, and if she did score, it would not be easy for her.
“That was the best execution of a defensive game plan in my history of coaching,” Gaba emphatically said. “Charlotte is an amazing player. She’s so hard to handle, and we just wanted to make her work. We wanted to make her work for every shot, we wanted to make her work for every basket. We wanted her take tough shots, and she did; she took tough shots.”
Chatham proved to be up to the defensive task, as it held Thuy to 19 points, who has averaged 25.5 points per game going into Monday’s contest.
“We knew going into the game that Charlotte was a really good player, so we had to chip in and help play good defense on her,” senior guard Mia Semioli said. “I think we did that tonight.”
Chatham (7-0) dribbled out to a 12-3 lead with 3:00 remaining in the first quarter. The Cougars closed out the first period on a 6-2 run to take a 18-5 advantage, with seniors Arden Alvarez and Ella Kreuzer dropping in eight and seven points, respectively.
Chatham’s defensive held Madison to ten points, while the Cougars added 18 more points to take a 36-15 lead at the break.
Thuy opened up the second half scoring with a bucket. But Chatham Senior McKenna Hogan responded with a three-pointer to push the Cougar advantage to 39-17 with 6:21 to go in the third quarter.
After the Dodgers sank a free throw, Alvarez dropped in back-to-back baskets for 42-18 Chatham lead with a little more than four minutes left in the third period.
The Cougars finished the quarter by outscoring Madison 13-6, to extend their advantage to 55-24.
With Chatham up by a comfortable margin, Gaba inserted his backups midway through the final period. The rest of the game was academic, as the Cougars walked away with another lopsided win.
Kreuzer drained a game-high 20 points, while Alvarez contributed 19 and Semioli added 11 in the Chatham’s triumph.
The Cougars host Manasquan Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
— Jerry Del Priore
NY NJ Sports World/Brooklyn Sports World 