Jackson girls continue to roll in holiday tournament
Lakewood girls bow out in semifinal round
The Jackson High School girls’ basketball team is in a position in which it has never found itself. The Lady Jaguars had an opportunity to win their own holiday tournament.
Jackson advanced to the championship game of the Jaguar Classic with a narrow 62-57 semifinal victory over Hamilton East High School Thursday afternoon.
"We’ve never won this tournament," second-year Jackson coach Rachel Goodale said. "It is something that we would like to accomplish."
Jackson squared off against Ocean Township High School, which defeated Lakewood 63-51 in the other semifinal matchup last Saturday.
With the win over Hamilton East, Jackson improved to 5-0.
Nicole Ferro paced the Lady Jaguars with a team high 14 points. Both junior Jenn Murray and senior Casey Bartolf chipped in with 13 points apiece. Danielle Gressey had 11 points, including sinking seven of nine from the free-throw line.
Jackson converted 25 of 31 foul shots.
Jackson led 8-6 after one period and built a 26-23 lead by the half. The Lady Jags outscored Hamilton East, 19-11, in the third quarter to take a 45-34 cushion into the final eight minutes.
Lakewood falls in semis
The Lady Piners’ (4-1) run through the Jaguar Classic came to a halt with a setback against Ocean Township.
Monique Randolph led Lakewood with a team high 18 points. Nicole Huderwitz contributed 14, including three three-pointers. Shakeema Martin chipped in with seven points and 10 rebounds.
Lakewood fell behind early. Ocean jumped out to a 14-4 first-quarter advantage and never looked back to hand Lakewood its first loss of the season.
Heather George led Ocean with a game-high 22 points, including nine in the final eight minutes of the game.
"They were a pretty big club and they hurt us on the boards," Lakewood coach Dennis Adams said. "We were playing catch-up right from the very start. They got off to an early lead, and we spent the rest of the game chasing them."
Ocean opened the game up in the third quarter. At one point, Ocean led by 14 points.
"I think that was the pivotal point in the game," Adams said.
In the quarterfinals, Lakewood stopped Wall Township, 41-37, to win its fourth consecutive game.
The Lady Piners, the third seed in the tournament, overcame foul trouble and a 21-16 halftime deficit. Lakewood rallied in the second half by using full court pressure. The Lady Piners went on an 8-0 tear to get back in the game late in the third quarter. Lakewood outscored Wall 13-8 in the fourth quarter.
Martin led Lakewood with 18 points. Randolph netted 12 and Huderwitz had six. The Lady Piners connected on 15 of 19 free throws to nail down the victory.
"They took a lead on us but we were able to make adjustments at halftime," Adams said. "Randolph and Martin really stepped up in the second half for us. We applied a lot of defensive pressure and got a few easy baskets from it."