Hillsborough girls rally but lose in county finals

Rainey leads frantic surge in final quarter

By: Rudy Brandl
   The Hillsborough High girls’ basketball team probably lost Thursday night’s Somerset County championship game in the first half. By the time the Lady Raiders found some rhythm, they felt more like potential winners who simply ran out of time.
   Hillsborough (13-10) fell behind by as many as 17 points late in the third quarter before staging an electrifying rally in the final eight minutes that came up short. Defending top-ranked champion Immaculata (22-2) defeated HHS for the fifth straight time in the county finals by holding on for a 45-38 victory.
   "I’m proud of the effort and I’m proud of what it took for them to get here," Hillsborough head coach Jim Reese said afterward. "To get to the county final with such a young team is quite an accomplishment."
   Hillsborough dominated the first quarter and took a 7-4 lead that could have been much larger with better execution near the basket. The Lady Raiders missed 17 layups, most of them in the first half, and Immaculata eventually took advantage.
   "I’m sure the adrenaline was pumping and they were psyched to play," Reese said. "They missed some easy shots."
   The Spartans scored the final seven points of the first half, holding Hillsborough scoreless for the final 4:55 of the second quarter. The Lady Raiders managed only four points in the quarter despite pulling down 13 rebounds.
    "We were boxing out really well but we missed all those layups," said junior Jess Rainey, a member of Hillsborough’s last three county finalist teams. "It might have been jitters since it was the first time a lot of these girls played in a county final."
   Rainey led the spirited rally by scoring all 12 of her points in the final 8:01, including a 3-pointer just before the third quarter buzzer. The HHS girls pressured Immaculata into seven turnovers in the final quarter and scored 10 straight points in a two-minute span to make things very interesting.
   Rainey led all scorers with 12 points, while Sara Lavell and Allison Kutch each added seven. Freshman Ali DeLuca fired in seven points off the bench in the fourth quarter.
    "I’m proud of our team," Rainey said. "We played hard. Next year, we’ll be a lot better."
   Check the March 6 issue of the Hillsborough Beacon for a complete game story with photos.