Cranford Girls Section Finals

For one quarter of Monday night’s section final it looked Cranford might complete a second consecutive unlikely run to a section title but unlike last year when the Cougars had the comfort of a home crowd to push them to victory the road and unstoppable Shayna Ericksen proved too much to overcome and Cranford’s season ended with 53-42 loss to West Morris in Long Valley. The game came just 48 hours after Cranford had won one of the most thrilling games in its history, knocking out top seed Chatham 53-49 in double overtime in the semifinal round of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 tournament in Chatham

“The Chatham game definitely ranks up there in one of the most exciting games I've coached,” said Coach Jackie Dyer.

With the score tied in the second overtime, Mairead McKeary hit a long three point shot for the lead with 24 seconds remaining. After Chatham made a foul shot, Jenna
Goeller was fouled and calmly made two free throws in the closing seconds to make it a two possession game and clinch an improbable comeback. Cranford overcame an eight-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime and held a two point lead late in the first overtime only to see Chatham tie it on two foul shots at the end of the first extra period. Sophomore Jessica McCoy led the Cougars with 14 points, Goeller scored 13 and Morgan Miller added 12 points for Cranford. Despite the formidable odds, McCoy never lost faith in Cranford’s ability to come back.

“We fought hard all game and I think we knew that we really had a shot to win it if we buckled down, played tough defense, and picked up our offense,” said McCoy.

McCoy, who played a key role in a great Cranford road victory over second seed Voorhees last year, believes that Cranford’s road success can be traced to the oldest basketball adage that defense travels better than offense.

"Defense has always been our strong point. Because of that we've been willing to take more risks offensively which gets us more points on the board,” said McCoy, whose thoughts were echoed by Dyer.

“Strong defense is something we pride ourselves in and work very hard at. Home or away if we are playing our defense it is going to be very hard for our opponent to win,” said Dyer.

After the great victory at Chatham, Dyer underscored her team’s attitude, which may have seemed cocky but was a great rallying point.

“We spoke during the whole state tournament that we are still the state sectional champs and will remain that way until we hand it over to someone else, something the girls aren't going to easily give up,” said Dyer.