The ball zipped through four sets of hands without touching the ground once, with the eyes of every onlooker in the crowd attempting to track the movement in amazement. Westfield had shifted the entire Roselle Catholic team off its structure, and it was just a few more quick passes until the ball landed in senior tri-captain Darby Hubner’s hands with time and real estate to sink one in this Westfield offense-dominated match.
Ball movement wasn’t the only highlight of the Blue Devils’ 57-43 win over Roselle Catholic; the team looked very comfortable taking shots from everywhere, even outside the paint. Hubner was a viable threat everywhere on this court this game, with multiple corner threes drawing the entire crowd’s attention and awe. The tri-captain gave more insight into how the team dealt with a scrappy Lions defense throughout the game by saying, “I think we did a very good job at adjusting to the different defenses that they threw at us.”
Offense has not been a concern for Westfield heading into the early part of their season. With key players in their conditioned states from previous seasons, like fellow senior tri-captains Megan Logan and Sophie Lane, as well as rising stars like sophomore Kate Cymbor, whose impact could be seen all over the court for the majority of the game. Cymbor said, “I thought we moved the ball very well on offense, and we got each other open. We got open shots, open layups and we were rebounding well.”
Although Westfield put up a strong offensive performance in this game, Roselle Catholic made it through the Blue Devil defense, keeping the game close in the first half. Roselle Catholic had several breakaways in which the Blue Devils could not get back on defense in time. Head coach Liz McKeon said, “Our defense was not there today. We were not where we needed to be and we didn’t make the adjustments we talked about.”
The game had many turnovers on both sides of the court. The aggressive offense from both teams forced some rushed passes, giving the other team the opportunity to step in and gain possession. Lots of these turnovers led to fast breaks, keeping the pace of the game high. The Blue Devils kept their turnovers low in the second half, which gained them many of their own points while leaving Roselle Catholic with rare opportunities to score.
Westfield hopes to improve their defense and keep their energy high as they take on Cranford on Dec. 23 at 4:00 p.m.
