Junior Charley Quinn scored 20 points for Cresskill, which improved to 3-0 with a 63-51 win over Emerson on Saturday.
EMERSON - Cresskill improved to 3-0 with a 63-51 win over Emerson Saturday morning, utilizing a team composed of two freshmen, two sophomores, two juniors and a senior.
“It’s a new experience,” said Cougars junior Charley Quinn, who scored a team-high 20 points. “Last year we had all these girls who had been playing together since they were kids so it made it harder to get in with everybody. Now that we’re playing together and getting used to each other we’re finding each other - where to pass the ball and everything. Even though we lost a bunch of people [to graduation] we still get out there and play our hardest, doing what we can.”
The Cougars scored the first six points of the game, which got off to a slow start offensively. Senior Kayla Elek got the Cavos on the board with a pair of free throws 4 minutes into the game. After a free throw by Cresskill junior Aya Catran (15 points) and coast-to-coast bucket by Quinn boosted the lead to 9-2 Elek drained a three to trim the lead down to four points.
With less than a minute to go in the opening quarter Quinn canned a three and senior Caitlin McGee (12 points) hit a jumper to give Cresskill a 9-point lead heading into the second quarter.
“Because a lot of people graduated, we're a new team,” said Quinn. “So we had to come together as a team - push the ball, stay calm. We want to have fun out there - we’re all best friends and we see each other every single day.”
The Cougars broke the game open midway through the second quarter when Catran scored on a coast-to-coast basket and McGee hit a jumper to put Cresskill ahead, 30-15.
The Cavos fought back, however, as Elek tallied 8 of her game-high 25 points in the second quarter. Junior Gabriella Micucci drove and scored as the buzzer sounded to end the first half and then she canned a free throw and hit a jumper in the first minute of the third quarter to cut the Cougars’ lead to 33-25.
After Quinn and Elek traded three-pointers to keep the Cresskill lead to 8 points, Emerson went on an 11-7 run to get within 4 points, 43-39. But Quinn, Catran and McGee closed out the third quarter and began the fourth quarter with baskets and Cresskill grabbed a 10-point lead, 49-39.
“I like being under pressure,” said Quinn. “I play better under pressure. Especially having my best friends out there. Caitlin McGee, Aya Catran, [freshman] Zorah Catran (8 points)- we’re best friends. Being able to experience this with them is fun.”
The key to Cresskill’s success this season is bringing the younger players along to fill the gaps created by the seniors who graduated in June.
“We’re teaching [freshman] Hannah Hermann and she is executing,” said Quinn. “She’s made threes in some of our games which kept us going in times when we needed it. [Sophomore] Saisha Varaiya (8 points) has made big threes that we need and [sophomore] Maya Joshi is a big girl in the post. They’re all learning.”
“I pay attention to detail and I want my kids to pay attention to detail,” added coach Mike McCourt. “We work on everything that will be a game simulated experience in practice. They work hard and they play hard. That’s all I can ever ask. If you play hard you got a shot. If you don’t play hard the ball has got to drop your way. So we try to make it happen.”
Emerson is a veteran team led by Elek and juniors Kylie Grompone (6 points) and Micucci (11 points). But they also have a pair of freshmen, Mackenzie Dillon (2 points) and Jillian Canino (6 points).
“They’re good,” said McCourt. “They have some experienced players. They have three or four kids that have three years varsity experience. Kayla Elek has been there four years. She has to be close to 1,000 points. They have some really good players and for us to come to their place and beat them says a lot for our team.”
The teams take a break from league competition to play in holiday tournaments until resuming the regular season after the first of the New Year. Cresskill will play in the Joe Poli Tournament at Pascack Valley while Emerson heads to Hawthorne High School for the Holiday Classic.
“Everybody’s looking at us and saying, ‘well they graduated everybody so they shouldn’t be that good.’ So we gotta go out and prove we’re a serious team,” McCourt said. “Today started that count. The problem is we have to go to the Joe Poli Tournament where we may get our butts kicked. We’re 3-0 now but by the time Poli’s over we could be 3-3. But that’s okay because that’s an experience for these kids to have: play against big schools, get your butt kicked and really work hard when we play our league games.”
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