The fourth quarter emerged and Westfield’s energy erupted. The aggressive gameplay from the Blue Devils allowed the gap to close with under two minutes left in the game. Junior Catherine Oliveira hit a three-point shot making the game 38-32, inching towards the lead. This only ignited the fire as senior Catie Carayannopoulos responded with a layup marking the scoreboard 38-34. Just after Oliveira secured a layup, and left a one-point score differential with just 20 seconds left on the clock.
However this blazing gameplay was not enough for the Blue Devils to out-score the Pioneers, closing out the Union County Finals 40-37 New Providence. It was not the first time this rivalry went head-to-head this season. On Jan. 4 Westfield fell short, losing to New Providence 58-44. Going into this matchup, Oliveira said, “We were really excited for this game, we felt really prepared because we have played them before. We knew how they played and what we needed to do.”
The game started out tight as the ball bounced back-and-forth between the two teams, ending the first quarter 9-8 New Providence. The Pioneers began to break away deep into the second quarter, shattering the tied game and ending the first half up 21-13.
The second half began and New Providence did not back down. Although Westfield had the offensive opportunities, their shots just would not hit, allowing the Pioneers to further gain their lead. Carayannopoulos said, “One of the New Providence players stepped up that we left open on purpose to help on their more aggressive players. We shut down those aggressive players, but that one player stepped up a little more than we hoped.”
Throughout the game, the Blue Devils defense is what really seemed to shine. Head coach Liz McKeon said, “We missed a lot of shots and shots did not work but I am really proud of our defensive efforts throughout the entire game.” Adding to that Carayannopoulos said, “I think we played really well defensively. We had some really good defensive scrambles and we had some good steals.”
Ultimately, Westfield was unable to secure the win after a tough fight. Moving forward, Carayannopoulos said, “Mentally the team needs to put four quarters together. We had a little bit of a valley during the second and third quarter and we cannot really let that happen if we want to win our games especially against better teams. Going into the state tournament we are going to have to be more competitive against the teams winning their counties and sections”
The Blue Devils are back in action as they enter the North Jersey Section 2 Group 4 Tournament. Westfield, No. 2 seed will face No. 15 seed Perth Amboy home at 5:30. McKeon said, “We are going to do the same thing we always do, learn from every game and move onto the next.”
