Offensive drought spoils stellar defensive effort
By: Rudy Brandl
MARTINSVILLE Imagine holding the area’s best basketball team under 30 points for an entire game and still losing.
Despite making that superb defensive statement, the Hillsborough High girls still came up three points short of Immaculata in last Thursday night’s Somerset County championship game at Bridgewater-Raritan Middle School.
The second-seeded Lady Raiders lost another heartbreaking title game to No. 1 Immaculata, which won its third straight county crown at Hillsborough’s expense. Even more than last year’s 39-38 loss, Thursday’s 29-26 decision was there for the taking.
Hillsborough led virtually the entire game but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch. Turnovers and poor offensive execution in the second half prevented the Lady Raiders from winning this game.
While many observers will say the HHS girls didn’t execute in the final minute of the game, head coach Jim Reese was much more frustrated by his team’s inability to put the game away late in the third quarter.
The Lady Raiders scored six straight points to take a 23-18 lead with 5:27 remaining in the third quarter. Immaculata didn’t score for over six minutes and missed nine straight shots, but Hillsborough couldn’t add to its advantage.
"That was our opportunity," Reese said after his team dropped its fourth SCT final in the last six years. "We were up by five and held them scoreless for a while. We never took advantage of that. People look at the last minute, but we didn’t execute when we had a chance to take a big lead."
"If we even scored one basket, it would’ve been such a big confidence-booster," added HHS junior point guard Jenn Geigert, who was held to four points. "That could have carried us the rest of the game."
While the Spartans were struggling on offense, at least they were getting shots. Hillsborough only managed two shots but turned the ball over 10 times in the fourth quarter. The HHS girls committed 17 of their 24 turnovers in the second half.
"They stepped up their defense and we didn’t respond," Reese said. "We played excellent defense, but they made everything extremely hard for us to execute."
"They were forcing us to take bad shots," Geigert added. "We weren’t helping each other by getting open. We just got too sloppy. If we played like we did in the first half, we would’ve done better."
No matter what the Lady Raiders did, they couldn’t stop Immaculata star Jen Hilgenberg from ultimately deciding this game. Hilgenberg scored 20 of her team’s points and was the only player from either school to reach double figures.
Hilgenberg scored the last three points of the game from the foul line, hitting one to break a 26-26 tie with 1:02 left and knocking down both ends of a 1-and-1 with 17 seconds to play in regulation.
"That was a tough one," Hilgenberg said moments after leading her team to the title for the third straight time. "They played a good game and they were very aggressive on every loose ball, but we were more aggressive in the second half and that made the difference. We knew we weren’t playing a great game in the beginning but we were still in the game."
Hilgenberg scored her team’s first 11 points to keep Immaculata from getting blown out early. Hillsborough raced to a 6-0 lead behind a big opening outburst by Barrie Quick but Hilgenberg made sure things didn’t get away from the defending champs.
No other Immaculata player scored until Kristen Piscadlo hit a jumper from the middle of the lane with 1:16 left in the first half. Piscadlo then beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from the right wing to cut Hillsborough’s lead to 17-16 at the half.
Hilgenberg gave the Spartans their first lead of the night when she went the length of the floor for a layup to open the scoring in the second half. She later stopped Hillsborough’s run with a driving basket in the final minute of the third quarter. Hilgenberg capped her fabulous performance by hitting 5-of-6 free throws in a pressure-packed final quarter.
"She’s a special player," Reese said. "To me, she’s been the difference the last three years. She’s such an aggressive player and she does whatever you need. She finds so many ways to score. I thought we did a nice job on her, but she still got 20 in a game where there weren’t a lot of points."
Despite their offensive woes, the Hillsborough girls still had a chance to win the game in the fourth quarter. Erin Fuller, who led HHS with nine points, buried a three from the top of the key with 3:45 remaining in regulation. Fuller’s basket was Hillsborough’s first field goal in 10:55 and broke a scoring drought of 9:42. Yet, it gave the Lady Raiders a 26-24 lead.
Unfortunately, they didn’t score again.
"I think a lot of us got too excited," Geigert said. "We saw we had the lead and we didn’t play the same way we did at the beginning."
Immaculata tied the game when Piscadlo drove along the right baseline and tossed in a wild running one-hander. She was fouled by Quick but missed the free throw, which resulted in a scramble and jump ball.
Hillsborough was awarded possession but couldn’t get the ball inbounds. Hilgenberg stole the pass, was fouled and hit a free throw to break the tie.
After another HHS turnover, Hilgenberg was fouled and made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 17 seconds left to build a 29-26 lead. The Lady Raiders still had a chance, but couldn’t even get another shot.
Tiara Simpkins broke free on the right wing and tried to take a 3-pointer, but she was bottled up and the jump ball possession arrow favored the Spartans with 11 seconds to play. Lauren Wang recovered the rebound of Kristen Sanderson’s missed free throw and HHS called time out again with seven seconds left.
Immaculata’s defensive prowess prevented Hillsborough from attempting a shot. It was fitting that the game ended on another Hillsborough turnover.
"We just played intense man up on them," said Hilgenberg, who also became her school’s all-time leading scorer during the game. "We figured we’d have the advantage if we could put pressure on their guards."
"Give them credit. They make the plays that allow them to win these games," Reese said. "I’m proud of our effort and I congratulate them."