Despite a second half comeback, the 10-4 Cougars fell to the 11-3 Jefferson Falcons, 54-47, in a Tuesday night girls' varsity basketball matchup in Chatham.
Chatham, seeded second in the upcoming Morris County tournament, fell to a team that will be the tournament's fourth seed.
"I think we could have been a lot smarter, especially on offense," said junior Kelsey Hart, "We just made some bad decisions and didn't move the ball around well enough."
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After a strong Chatham start in the first quarter, Jefferson, led by junior Cassie Flaherty, went on two nine-point runs in first half. Flaherty hit all three of her three-pointers during this stretch, and the Falcons went on to take a 27-21 lead by halftime.
"It's a real confidence booster for us," said Flaherty, "They are a great team. We may have lost focus throughout a couple of stretches, but we gathered together collectively as a team."
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Both teams played tight defense during the third quarter, as Jefferson senior Kim An scored the first points of the quarter two minutes into the period. Evenly matched, each squad notched 10 points throughout the third.
Going into the fourth quarter, the Falcons maintained a six-point advantage but gave up five straight points shortly thereafter. Senior Caroline Murphy brought the Cougars to within one point after being fouled while making a quick underhanded layup.
But Chatham couldn't finish. The game remained close until Jefferson went on a 6-2 run toward the end of the game. In total, the Falcons made 11 of 11 free throws in the fourth quarter.
"We did the things that we had to do," said Jefferson head coach, Jim O'Connor, "We made our free throws at the end and we played pretty good defense in trying to limit the three-point shots by Chatham."
Flaherty led the Falcons with 17 points, while junior Sarah Finnerty notched 16 and An had 12.
"This is one of the first times we actually beat them, so it is sort of like sweet revenge for us," An said.
On the other side of the ball, sophomore Amanda Bernsten led the team's scoring at 15. Hart contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Murphy scored 11 points on the night.
"We played hard," Chatham Head Coach Joe Gaba said. "We just need to start making better decisions against better teams."
The Cougars next matchup is Thursday at Dover at 7 p.m.