This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Chatham Girls Begin New Win Streak

Team defeats Hanover Park after two straight losses.

After dropping two straight losses at home during the Chatham Cougar Classic Holiday Tournament last week, the Chatham girls basketball team got back on track as it knocked off Hanover Park High School 53-35 on Tuesday at Chatham High School.

"Coming off those losses in the Christmas tournament, we came out strong," Chatham senior captain Caroline Murphy said. "It was pretty awesome to get back in the swing of winning."

The Cougars took an 11-6 lead into the second quarter before going on a 5-0 run to go up 16-6. They led 29-11 at the half.

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Murphy led the scoring attack for the Cougars with a game-high 17 points. She scored 13 of those points in the first half.

"It feels good when you're on—you're not on every game," Murphy said. "We just really played together tonight. When your teammates screen well for you, that's how I got open, so I owe it to them."

Find out what's happening in Chathamwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Chatham junior forward Kelsey Hart also reached double-digits for the Cougars as she picked up a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

She said the team's preparation coming into the game helped in getting the win.

"We've just been going over their [plays]," Hart said. "Our coach knows what they run. We've just been talking about playing more as a team, passing and being positive, which really made a difference this game."

She said the team's energy contributed to forcing turnovers and helped make the Hornets take bad shots.

"We came out strong and just went for it," Hart said. "That helps a lot—to be aggressive and have a lot of energy."

The Cougars did not allow a single Hornet to reach double-digits in scoring, holding their leading scorer, Annie Esposito, to only nine points.

The win improved the Cougars' record to 4-2 overall on the year, and in their first conference game of the season, they take a 1-0 conference record in their inaugural season in the New Jersey Athletic Conference-Independence division.

While the Cougars will have to travel to Hanover Park on Feb. 2 for another meeting with the Hornets, they have a full schedule ahead of them before that. Chatham begins a two-game road trip Friday as it takes on Pequannock High School at 7pm.

As for the Cougars next game against the Hornets, Murphy said it is all up to execution.

"[Head Coach Joe] Gaba scouted them well," Murphy said. "We knew their plays, they know our plays. We're rivals, so we both knew what we were doing, but we just executed a little better tonight."

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Chatham