New Egypt High School seniors Emily Bausher, HaleyAnderson and Morgan Knigge have been dreaming about this season since they were freshmen on the Warriors’ basketball team.
It was a magical ride with a best-ever 20-9 record, the Burlington County Scholastic League Freedom Division title and the school’s first NJSIAA Central Jersey Group I state sectional championship.
The Warriors were four points away from reaching the Group I state championship game, losing in the semifinals to Haddon Township, 47-43, on March 9 at Williamstown.
“Haddon Township was a heavy favorite and played a New tremendous game, but our girls felt nobody could beat us with the confidence they had. They were not intimidated,” New Egypt coach Matt Brogan said.
Bausher, the school’s all-time scoring leader, poured in 27 points against Haddon Township, including 13 in a fiercely contested fourth quarter.
“We knew going into the season that we had big expectations for ourselves,” said Bausher. “We had a drive during the season that people don’t always see in players. We were losing in games and never gave up.”
Just like in the sectional championship game when New Egypt rallied from a 10- point deficit to beat Highland Park, 47-38, behind Haley Anderson’s 25 points and Bausher’s 17, New Egypt battled back into the game against Haddon Township from a five-point halftime deficit.
Haddon Township, which improved to 30-1 with the victory, opened up a two-point lead with an 8-0 run before New Egypt again closed to three points, but the Warriors got no closer.
“I was really proud of everyone. We knew what we wanted to accomplish. We all were working for the same goal and never gave up,” Anderson said. “We were always pulling for each other.”
Julie Ciak, a junior, sank a three-point field goal to pull New Egypt to within 43- 40, but Haddon Township answered by hitting 3-4 free throws to go up by six points, 46-40. Bausher drained a three-point field goal to pull New Egypt to 46-43 before Haddon Township sealed the victory with a free throw in the closing seconds.
“We started playing great defense in the second half and had confidence,” Brogan said. “Morgan Knigge was strong off the boards. I saw in their eyes that they had no doubt, they felt they would win the game.
“Haddon Township was a very strong outside shooting team, and to get outside on their three-point shooters, we struggled with players] were amazing from the outside,” the Warriors’ coach said. New Egypt was holding Haddon Township to one shot and getting the rebounds off misses and then scoring on the other end of the floor in the second-half comeback.
“They [Haddon Township] were able to exploit us with their size inside, and they shot well,” Brogan said. “They were one of the better high school teams I have seen.”
Haddon Township lost in the
Group I championship game to
New Providence High School of
Union County, 50-40.
The New Egypt players credited their level of confidence to an extension of their coach.
“That means a lot,” Brogan said of their comments. “I try to create Egypt a relationship with my players and, with only nine girls on the team, I put a lot of work in it, and they are dedicated.
“I am really proud of them. They wore the badge of New Egypt basketball proudly and were a force to be reckoned with. It was special to get to this point.”
The Warriors will have a big void to fill next winter. Bausher, the school’s first
1,000-point scorer in girls basketball, who ended her career with just over 1,300 points, averaged 16 points per game this season.
Knigge averaged 10 points and nearly that many rebounds a game, and Anderson scored 8 points per game.
“Being a senior, I knew I would never play after this season and I put everything out on the court for the game,” Anderson said .
Without those players, Brogan said, “it will absolutely be a much different look to the team next season. We are losing size and strength with Morgan and Haley, but we’ll bring in the same intensity and fundamentals. They will give what they have to, but we have a tremendous amount of work ahead for next year.”
Ciak, a 5-5 junior, is 5 inches shorter than Knigge, but she rebounds well for her size, said Brogan. Ciak dropped in a layup in the closing seconds of a 38-37 victory over Pemberton, New Egypt’s biggest victory of the season.
Junior Cortney Natalicchio will be expected to run the point.
New Egypt stuck to a six-player rotation this winter with freshman guard Bridget
Buckalew coming off the bench.
The rest of the roster included junior
Kassandra Stillwell and sophomores Alexa
Magnotta and Shelby Goff. All three were starters on a competitive junior varsity team and will get the opportunity to push for starting positions in 2011-12.
“We have a lot of hard workers. I know they’ll be fine in the end,” Anderson said.