Cranford Girls State Tournament ends

West Morris High School in Long Valley is quickly becoming known as the place where Cranford Girls Basketball seasons come to die. For the second straight season the Cougars’ state tournament dreams came to an end against their Morris County rivals, with the 2012 34-32 loss far tougher to take than 2011’s 53-42 defeat. Although she would not blame the referees for the loss, Cranford Coach Jackie Dyer was still shaking her head over the final two calls of the game-each of which went against Cranford and decided the game. With the score tied in the final ten seconds, a missed West Morris shot was rebounded by a player clearly jumping on a Cranford player’s back but the play was allowed to continue and the basket turned out to be the decisive points. A final Cranford attempt appeared to draw a foul and when it wasn’t called the crowd rushed the court even though there were 1.9 seconds left. The referees decided to leave the court instead of playing out the final 1.9 seconds. “There was nothing we could do about the end of the game. That is what happens when you play an away game in front of a large, loud crowd. You don’t expect to get the calls,” said Dyer, who in the previous round’s victory over Nutley won her 100th game at Cranford, which averages out to 20 wins per year. “I was not aware that I was so close to the milestone when somebody mentioned it to me in February. I am really glad I was able to get to 100 this year and it was nice to see Morgan get 1000 points, too. I wish I hadn’t stopped at 100,” said Dyer. It speaks to the success of the program when a 24-5 record is greeted with yawns and a general disappointment that none of the team’s three major goals were attained. Cranford was edged by Governor Livingston for the conference crown, lost to the Highlanders in the Union County title game and finished two games from winning the section title, after losing in the finals in 2011 and winning the title in 2010. Despite their regular season success the Cougars have not been seeded higher than third in the section and Dyer knows how important it is to play the final games at home. In 2010, Cranford hosted Somerville in the section finals after Somerville had upset the top seed in the semis, giving Cranford a surprise home game. Four of Cranford’s five losses this year came by a total of eight points and a two point loss at Linden when Cranford lost a five point lead in the final minute was a loss that could have made Cranford the top seed had it been reversed. “The Linden and Dayton losses early in January were tough to take. We didn’t finish those games well,” said Dyer, who will lose only one starter, Morgan Miller. “We should be very good next year. Morgan will be very hard to replace, but we have two four year starters (Jessica McCoy and Kaitlin McGovern) and two three starters (Jenna Goeller and Mairead McKearey) returning and a talented freshman class to add depth,” said Dyer. Miller was the team’s leading scorer and became the second Cranford player to top 1000 points for her career. A supporting player to Jamie Webb on the 2010 section champions, Miller blossomed into a tremendous all around player who thrived on taking important shots in the fourth quarter. “We had a good year but we missed a lot of our goals and that leaves us feeling we did not accomplish what we wanted this year,” said Miller. “They should be very good next year. There are four really good starters and Carly (Maucione) should be real good,” said Miller. As is always the case with Dyer’s teams, Cranford was extremely stingy on defense, leading the county in least points allowed. McGovern led the team in blocked shots, McCoy was a tremendous rebounder and an excellent second option on offense. McKearey was the team’s best ball defender and according to Dyer is the best she has ever coached. “This team committed itself to playing defense and we played very well defensively all year. Most of the games we lost were not from lack of defense or effort,” said Dyer. “This team has nothing to be ashamed of. They played hard every game and had a lot of success. We have built something very successful here and we hope to keep it going next year.”