Chatham HS Girl’s Basketball Falls Short to Madison in 2025 Cougar Classic

Chatham High School (N.J.) Girl’s basketball team played an uneven game against Madison Tuesday night.

But the Cougars (3-5), trailing by a point, managed to stay in the contest down to the very last shot. That is when sophomore guard Lucy Arps hoisted up a valiant attempt that flew through the air and clanged off the rim, ending the game at 44-43, in favor of the Dodgers (3-1) at Chatham in the final day of the Cougar Classic Tournament.

According to head coach Gaba, there were key basketball elements missing from the Cougars’ game that led to their ultimate demise, despite coming close.

“Our help side defense was late, especially in the third quarter, and we got to rebound better, that’s for sure,” Gaba explained. “We just got to stop fouling; there were a couple really dumb fouls that we committed.

Plus, “our offense was stagnant. We just stood and watched,” he added. “It was like watching a NBA basketball in isolation play. There are a couple of rules of offense, and that is: one is to find the split, and two, get a clean touch, And we weren’t doing a job of that.”

Things began well for Chatham, as it led, 13-4, at the end of the first period, with senior guard Ava Paone dropping in seven points.

Behind its height advantage, Madison was able to chip away at the Cougars’ lead, shirking the margin to 22-16 at the break.

After Chatham led by three points (36-33), Dodger 6-foot-1 freshman center/forward Eva Bolstad scored four points to help them surge ahead, 37-36, with 6:01 to go in the third quarter.

Next, Arps hit one of two foul shots to tie the contest at 37-37 with 5:42 to go in the third period. But Bolstad broke the deadlock less than a minute later for a 39-37 advantage.

Then, junior Ashley Nowicki knotted the game at 39 with 4:13 remaining in the third period.

Much to Cougars’ chagrin, Bolstad used her body to draw the foul again, and proceeded to bury two shots to give Madison a two-point lead with a little more than three minutes left in the third.

The Dodgers extended their advantage to three points before Paone cut the deficit to 42-41 with 1:53 to go in the contest. She wound up fouling out not too long after that, though.

Madison sank a free throw to extend its margin to 43-41 with 49.7 remaining in the contest. But Arps made good on two from the charity stripe to tie the game again.

However, the Dodgers dropped in one of two foul shots to pull ahead by a point. And it stayed that way after the faithful waning minutes of the affair.

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