January
3, 2004
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| Thazine Cook scored 15 of her game high 20 points in the first half as Bloomfield Tech opened a five point lead by halftime. | |
OAKLAND -- Through its first five games of the season, the Teaneck girls basketball team has shown that it can compete with some of the better teams in Bergen County. On Sunday night the Highwaywomen showed they could compete with one of the state's elite, at least for a half.
Teaneck is an up-tempo team and made no concessions against Bloomfield Tech, which can get up and down the floor as well as anybody. Racing back and forth between free throws during a physical first half, the team's combined for 68 points and BT held just a five-point lead at the break.
But when
the fouls started piling up, there were a combined 19 called against both
teams in the third quarter alone, and depth became the deciding factor, Bloomfield
Tech pulled away for an 85-67 win and the Indian Hills Holiday Tournament
title at Indian Hills High School.
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| Erica Maclin led Teaneck with a team-high 18 points. |
"Honestly I just thought they were a little bit stronger than us, a little bit bigger than us, but I thought we played very hard," said Teaneck head coach Kelly Jacob. "I'll give it to (Bloomfield Tech), they are a very good team, but we are also a very good team and I think we have shown that with the schedule we have played. We are right there."
Teaneck (3-2) was right there in the first quarter when there were four ties and four lead changes and the Highwaywomen were right there through most of the second quarter when they held the lead or were tied for the first 5:53 of the period.
But that
was when BT's Thazine Cook, who was dominant for the whole of the first half,
put back her won miss to give the Spartans the lead for good at 32-30. Cook,
who scored 15 points in the first half, put back another miss with 1:09 to
play in the half to put BT up five, the same spread they had at halftime.
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| Kateema McLean (10 points) was one of four Spartans to finish in double digits. |
Bloomfield Tech's inability to make its free throws kept the game close. The Spartans were 5 of 14 from the line in the first half and just 13 for 31 in the game, but the sheer volume of opportunities they got while Teaneck was turning the ball over started to add up.
Tech opened the second half with a 6-1 run that opened a 10-point lead for the first time at 44-34 and stretched its advantage to as many 13 twice in the third quarter. BT led 62-50 heading into the fourth quarter and pulled away from there.
Cook
finished with a game-high 20 points for Bloomfield Tech, which got contributions
from up and down its bench. The Spartans put four players in double figures
with Ash'lee Smith (13 points), Yahsanna Nicholson (10 points) and Kateema
McLean (10 points) joining Cook. Ashley Crenshaw played well at the point,
finishing with 9 points and six assists while Joynce Hollins and Margietta
Booth each finishing with six points.
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| Ashley Crenshaw (right) made sure BT's offense stayed up tempo between the endless free throws. |
Senior Erica Maclin, who hit three first half three-pointers to keep Teaneck in the game, finished with a team high 18 points with 11 of those coming in the first half. Senior Khadijah Belle and junior Jessica Ruffin added 14 and 11 points respectively for Teaneck, which also uses four freshmen in its rotation.
"I feel like we have a great core of returning veterans and we play four freshmen in our rotation and with the mix of the upper classmen and the under classmen we have really come together as a team," said Jacob, whose team beat Hackensack and host Indian Hills to reach the tourney final. "We have a lot of depth this year, the team chemistry is there and we have good leadership on this team. We did a lot of good things, we have nothing to hang our heads about, and now we go back into the league (schedule)."
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