Lady Raiders halfway to division title

Team rocks Immaculata in East showdown

By: Rudy Brandl
   
   SOMERVILLE — The Hillsborough High girls picked the appropriate time to play their best defensive basketball game of the season in last Friday night’s showdown at Immaculata.
   Hillsborough, which has fallen to Immaculata in five Somerset County finals in the past decade, entered enemy territory with something different at stake. The Lady Raiders ended their first run through the Delaware East Division unbeaten after posting a solid 48-39 victory.
   Defense propelled Immaculata to all of those gut-wrenching county victories over Hillsborough. The Lady Raiders gave their rivals a bitter taste of their own medicine and made the Spartans look inept offensively in their first divisional encounter.
   "We defended very well tonight," HHS head coach Jim Reese said afterward. "We came in with a game plan and we executed. We had real good recognition of the plays they were running. They did a nice job with that. We had a great defensive first half."
   The victory also was sweet for the entire Hillsborough basketball family, which has suffered many agonizing losses to the Spartans over the years. HHS sophomore Kelsey Kutch, whose sister Allison was a member of some of those teams that fell short in county championship games, understood the significance of this triumph.
   "It’s Immaculata, we haven’t beaten them in so long," Kutch said. "It was kind of like a grudge thing for me because Immaculata hurt my sister."
   Kutch led the Hillsborough girls with 16 points, including a perfect 10-for-10 performance at the free throw line. She also contributed several steals in a monster defensive effort by the entire team.
   Immaculata managed only three field goals and four free throws in the first half and trailed 22-10 at the break. The Lady Raiders scrapped and trapped all over the court, forcing 14 turnovers in the first half. Hillsborough defenders got a hand on many passes and forced a bunch of ugly offensive sequences.
   The Lady Raiders actually played a subpar offensive half but held a double-digit lead because of their stellar defense. Finally, Reese was happy with his team’s defensive performance.
   "Our trap was very effective," Reese said. "We’re obviously defending so much better. Our offense is up and down, but we’re starting to play very good defense."
   Immaculata didn’t convert a field goal until nearly six minutes had elapsed. The Lady Raiders answered with the last four points of the quarter to open up a 14-6 lead. Immaculata hit two shots in the second quarter but Hillsborough’s 6-0 surge in the middle of the frame increased the lead going into the intermission. Ali DeLuca scored eight of her 11 points in the first half and outplayed Immaculata point guard Lindsay Melone, who didn’t hit a field goal until the closing moments of the game.
   As expected, Immaculata made a surge in the third quarter. The Lady Raiders increased their lead to 28-14 on two Kutch free throws and baskets by senior forwards Christine Rash and Ashley Coheleach, but Immaculata went on an 8-0 run to close the gap.
   Kaitlyn Fiorino, who led all scorers with 20 points, netted seven in the third quarter and helped Immaculata claw back to within six at 28-22. Hillsborough sophomore Ebony Jones answered with a huge jumper from the foul line and Kutch drained two free throws to bump the lead back up to 10 at the end of the third quarter. Kutch also blocked two shots in the quarter, including a 3-point attempt by Fiorino that could have made the game uncomfortably close.
   "Kelsey has come a long way on the defensive end of the floor," Reese said. "Ali and Ebony are quick enough to put pressure on and get steals."
   Immaculata scored the first basket of the fourth quarter but HHS responded with an 8-0 burst that put the game away. Kutch nailed a jumper from the foul line, Rash hit two free throws, Jones put back a rebound and Coheleach rebounded a missed transition shot to make it 40-24 with just over four minutes left.
   "We really wanted to win this game," Kutch said. "We wanted to prove ourselves. We want to be No. 1 in the conference."
   Friday’s victory left the Lady Raiders perfect at 5-0 after one trip through the divisional schedule. The second round was set to begin Tuesday night at home vs. Watchung Hills. HHS travels to Franklin Friday night and faces Montgomery, Bridgewater-Raritan and Immaculata in February.
   "One thing about this division is every game is a rivalry," Reese said. "Things are real close. Everyone’s a border town."
   Immaculata entered the week sharing the East lead with HHS at 3-0, but Montgomery forged a two-way tie for second with a home victory over the Spartans on Tuesday. That left the Lady Raiders as the lone remaining unbeaten team and they weren’t about to let Immaculata change that.
   "It’s Immaculata’s first year in the conference and we want to show them this is a tough conference," Kutch said. "We had to put all those games in December behind us. Those games we lost don’t matter. We want to win the conference."