SP-F Girls Basketball Beats Westfield in Conference Play

Just seven days ago the Scotch Plains-Fanwood girls’ basketball team was left to wonder what was going wrong following one of its worst performances in program history.

That was last Tuesday.

This Tuesday – Jan. 5, to be exact – the Raiders might have turned in what will be one of their best efforts this season.

After falling behind by nine at the end of the first quarter, Scotch Plains came back to play its best quarter of basketball in the second period to take the lead for good.

Following an almost even third quarter, the Raiders stepped it up both offensively and defensively again in the critical fourth period en route to a convincing 53-42 triumph over arch rival Westfield.

Both teams were seeking their first conference wins and both were uncharacteristically under .500 going into the contest.

Scotch Plains won its second straight to even its record at 2-2 and is now 1-1 in Union County Conference-Watchung Division competition. The Raiders are just three years removed from winning their third Union County Tournament championship in four years before falling in the semifinals the past two seasons.

Westfield lost for the second straight time and fell to 1-5 and 0-2 in UCC-WD play. The Blue Devils are just two years removed from capturing their first UCT championship.

Scotch Plains was totally dominated at eventual repeat champion Dayton 48-19 in the first round of last week’s Pepe/Levee Tournament in Springfield. The Raiders were held to less than 10 points in all four quarters.

Against Westfield, the Raiders held the Blue Devils to under 10 points in each of the last three quarters, a 1-3-1 zone leading the way.

What a difference a week makes for Scotch Plains.

“We kept our defense up and we always put our hands up on defense,” said junior captain Evie Klotz, who was one of four starters to score in double digits, finishing with 10 points on two 3-point field goals in the second quarter and four free throws in four attempts in the fourth.

The only starter to not score in double digits was junior guard Becca Kreyer, who just missed after pouring in eight points, making two field goals in each of the second and fourth quarters.

The most dominating presence was made by junior forward Aysia Peterson. The co-captain grabbed a game-high 20 rebounds – 10 on offense and 10 on defense – and also led the Raiders in scoring with 14 points, despite missing all five of her free throw attempts, which all came in the second half – four in the third quarter and one in the fourth.

As unlucky as she was on the free throw line she was as forceful in grabbing rebounds whether it was on offense to try to put the ball back in or on defense in snuffing out another Westfield scoring attempt.

Peterson, who poured in a career-high 20 points and grabbed 14 boards in Scotch Plains’ first win of the season, which was last week’s 60-31 triumph over North 13th St. Tech in the Pepe/Levee consolation game, hauled in four rebounds in the first quarter (three of them on offense), four in the second (one of them on offense), eight in the third (five of them on offense) and four in the fourth (one more on offense).

Playing rival Westfield in the second conference game for both proved to be the right tonic for Scotch Plains, with the home team Raiders taking advantage.

As is the case with many Scotch Plains-Westfield battles, this was a game of runs. After the game’s first of only two ties at 7-7 midway through the first quarter, Westfield closed the period with a 9-0 run, with senior forward Diana Venezia, Erica Jakub and junior guard Danielle Miller providing the scoring.

Venezia scored more than half of Westfield’s points, with a season-high and perhaps career-high outstanding 26-point performance that included her scoring inside, from outside and at the free throw line.

Venezia hit four 2-point field goals, four 3-point shots and made six-of-10 free throw attempts. She also grabbed five rebounds and blocked three shots.

When the second quarter commenced, Westfield was in charge.

“In the beginning when we got off to the good start, we weren’t getting beat on the boards,” Westfield head coach Joe Marino said. “Once they started controlling the boards we kind of got in trouble.”

In addition to banging the boards successfully, with Scotch Plains junior forward-center Renee Oliver contributing six rebounds in addition to her 11 points, the Raiders almost couldn’t miss a shot when the second quarter began.

After each team scored five points that put the score at 21-12 in favor of the Blue Devils, Scotch Plains went on the biggest run of the game which was a 17-0 spurt that was not halted until 1:36 was left in the first half.

Klotz made the Raiders’ first field goal of the second quarter for her first points of the game. It was a 3-point shot that she hit from the top of the key and her first of two from that range in the period.

“I knew after the first two 3s that we were going to have a good run,” Klotz said. “We just got that momentum and kept it going.”

The shooting of Klotz was contagious as Scotch Plains made eight-of-nine shots to start the second quarter and seven in a row at one point.

Down 21-12 after a basket by Venezia following one of her offensive rebounds, here’s how the Scotch Plains 17-0 run happened:

Peterson scored after one of her offensive rebounds: 21-14.

Peterson scored on a layup: 21-16.

Klotz connected on her second 3-point field goal of the quarter: 21-19.

After a Westfield turnover, Kreyer hit a shot from the right side: 21-21.

Westfield calls a timeout with exactly 5:00 to go in the half.

Freshman guard Taylor Sebolao, the other Scotch Plains starter to score in double digits with 10 points, makes her second 3-point field goal of the game: Scotch Plains takes the lead for good at 24-21.

Not only did Sebolao make the winning basket, but she came back from what looked like could be an ankle injury when she hit the floor in the second half. She also came back from a bloody nose in her team’s season-opener against Plainfield, so Sebolao is proving to be a tough competitor.

Oliver to the hoop, scores and is fouled: 26-21.

Oliver makes the ensuing free throw: 27-21.

After a Westfield turnover and the first Scotch Plains miss in some time, Kreyer makes a layup: 29-21.

Peterson and Kreyer scored four points and Klotz, Sebolao and Oliver three each in the 17-0 run, with all five starters contributing.

That’s what a coach likes to see.

“Right now this early in the season I try not to look at the score in the first half,” first-year Scotch Plains head coach Jennifer Ryan said. “I told them this game was all about tempo and getting the momentum. Any team is capable of coming back from any deficit – 25 or 30 – we’ve all seen it in games, so I don’t worry about that. We weren’t doing what we were supposed to be doing. When we started doing it, things started turning around for us.”

Ryan continues to explain:

“Getting to the basket is what I mean" she said. "In the first half we were getting beat on the offense rebounds and not getting them and we were fouling and it took us out of our groove. In the second half we got some big fouls off of boxing out, simple stuff. I keep telling them that simple stuff wins games. Box out, make your foul shots – which we didn’t do today and we have to work on – and fundamentals. Take the shot and get to the basket, simple.”   

To Westfield’s credit, the Blue Devils closed the second quarter on a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to 29-25 at intermission. Scotch Plains won the period 22-9.

An 8-0 run by Westfield brought the Blue Devils to within 34-33 with under a minute left in the third quarter before Oliver, off a pass from Peterson, hit a short jumper on the left side to put Scotch Plains ahead 36-33.

 Venezia made her final free throw to pull Westfield to within 36-34 heading into the fourth quarter as the Blue Devils won the third period 9-7.

Scotch Plains got on a bit of a roll again with its shooting in the fourth quarter and completely shut down Westfield’s offense, preventing Venezia from driving to the basket, while her shots, with the exception of one 3-pointer early and one late, were not falling.

Peterson began the fourth with consecutive inside baskets, the first on an offensive rebound and the second when she drove right to the hoop.

Kreyer then hit a shot from the left and then Oliver followed with an inside basket to give the Raiders an 8-0 start to the fourth and a 44-34 lead.

Venezia’s first of two 3-pointers in the period halted the Scotch Plains run, but it wasn’t enough.

After Klotz made all four of her free throw attempts in the fourth, Scotch Plains led 50-39 with two minutes to go. The Raiders began the period with a 14-3 run.

“In the second half they controlled the boards on us, they were hitting their shots, we got ice cold and we weren’t getting rebounds,” Marino said.

“I just tell them what I want to see them do,” Ryan said of her team’s fourth quarter success. “They have to hit the shots. I told them that I never coached a team that I had to tell to shoot so much. “Get to the basket and drive. I don’t want to be passive, I want to be aggressive – which means going to the basket and looking for our shots. They did that and we hit some open shots and made our shots inside and I think that was the difference.”

When it looked like the roof was caving in after a sub-par performance against Dayton, the Raiders will now take a lot of confidence into their next game.

“Dayton worked hard and was a good team and made all of their 3-pointers, I think they just missed two,” Klotz said. “We learned a lot from that game and came back and played really well in the consolation game.

“We knew what it felt like to do that and we just did it again.”

Ryan said that she felt someone needed to step up and be a leader following the Dayton debacle.

Peterson was that kind of player for the Raiders against Westfield.

“Aysia has had a tough time a couple of games where she has missed some shots inside,” Ryan said. “She’s not used to and this team’s not used to leading. I kept telling Evie and I kept telling Aysia that this team is on their shoulders. We will go as they go.”    

NOTES: Next up for Scotch Plains is non-league foe Bridgewater-Raritan Thursday at home at 4 p.m.

Westfield will continue on the road Saturday at noon vs. conference foe Rahway.

Scotch Plains is scheduled to play at Westfield in conference action on Tuesday, Feb. 2 at 4 p.m., which is four days before the state playoff cutoff date. The Blue Devils are in a bit of a hole right now if they have designs on qualifying again in North 2, Group 4.

In the first half, Westfield shot nine-of-21 from the field and four-of-six from the free throw line. Scotch Plains shot 12-of-26 from the floor and made one-of-five free throw attempts.

In the second half, Westfield shot six-for-27 from the field and made three-of-12 free throw attempts. Scotch Plains shot 9-for-20 from the floor and six-of-13 from the free throw line.

Westfield senior Anne Knisely had two points, grabbed five rebounds, came up with three steals and had two assists.

Westfield junior Katie Ponce scored three points, had two steals, two rebounds and one assist.

Peterson, Oliver and Kreyer had two steals each and Klotz one. Kreyer had two assists in the fourth quarter. 

UNION COUNTY CONFERENCE-WATCHUNG DIVISION GAME

WESTFIELD (1-5)                                            16        9        9        8 - 42

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (2-2)               7       22      7       17 - 53 

WESTFIELD (42): Diana Venezia 4-4-6-26, Katie Ponce 1-0-1-3, Danielle Miller 1-1-0-5, Anne Knisely 1-0-0-2, Gabby Cerami 1-0-0-2, Sara Nelson 1-0-0-2, Erica Jakub 1-0-0-2. Totals: 10-5-7-42.

Starters: Venezia, Knisely, Jakub, Cerami, Miller. Senior tri-captain Amanda Markowski did not play. Venezia and Knisely are the other captains.

SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD (53): Aysia Peterson 7-0-0-14, Renee Oliver 4-0-3-11, Evie Klotz 0-2-4-10, Becca Kreyer 4-0-0-8, Taylor Sebolao 2-2-0-10, Lyndsey Douglas 0-0-0-0, Erin Brown 0-0-0-0, Tara Sweeney 0-0-0-0. Totals: 17-4-7-53.

Starters: Oliver, Peterson, Kreyer, Klotz, Sebolao.