It was deep in the second quarter when the Governor Livingston contingent finally roared. The Highlander bench rose to its feet. A protracted round of applause rang out for a corner 3-pointer.
The shot shaved the GL deficit. To 25 points.
By the time the shot sank mercifully through the net, the game was all but over. The second-seeded Blue Devils suffocated the seventh-seeded Highlanders, 62–30, in the Union County Tournament quarterfinals at Rahway High School, effectively ending the game with a 21–0 first-half run.
The win pushed Westfield into Wednesday’s UCT semifinals, where the Blue Devils will collide with sixth-seeded Elizabeth. The Minutemen ousted third-seeded Cranford in overtime of a hectic game that preceded Westfield’s matchup with GL.
At its best, Westfield was a well-oiled machine plowing down its opposition. At its worst, Westfield was synchronized and capable of navigating the few rough patches it encountered.
Westfield’s defense proved impenetrable, a persistent press squeezing GL into backcourt turnovers that the Blue Devils transformed into easy layups. The Highlanders scored 14 first-half points and managed only 5 in the first quarter.
“We forced them to the left and put the pressure on them,” Sutton Factor said. “They couldn’t do much so I think they were just flustered overall.”
Westfield also overpowered the Highlanders offensively, led by Catie Carayannopoulos’s 20 points and 13 rebounds. Carayannopoulos feasted on the glass, plucking rebounds out of the sky as helpless GL players watched.
“Just jumping higher than them overall and having longer arms,” she said, with good humor. She also noted that an important weapon in her rebounding arsenal—a spin move that eludes defensive box outs—helped her snag offensive rebounds.
Some of Carayannopoulos’s buckets arrived off feeds from Paige Gorczyca, who tallied 5 assists and 9 points, and received copious praise from head coach Liz McKeon postgame for her adroitness in manufacturing open looks for other players. Factor did a bit of everything, with 6 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 blocks and 3 steals. And Annie Ryan, who, during Westfield’s last game, broke the school’s career 3-point record, scored 18 points to bring her career points total to 968, just 32 shy of the 1,000-point milestone.
Governor Livingston’s Ava Feinberg scored 10 points to lead her team.
Westfield did lapse in the third quarter, GL outscoring the Blue Devils by 4 points. That left McKeon fuming and the players a bit abashed, despite knowing the lead was unassailable.
“I think we were just a little cocky,” Carayannopoulos said, citing the gaping margin between the teams.
Cockiness is perhaps understandable for a team that has won its first two county tournament games by a combined 80 points. Elizabeth, though, will pose a different challenge.
The Minutemen (22-1, 11-1 UCC Mountain) jolted Cranford in a cacophonous overtime victory Friday night. Elizabeth fans ringed the Rahway gym, stomping the bleachers, howling in support, raising a din. Controversial officiating erased a buzzer-beating midrange jumper that sparked a joyous on-court pileup, but the Minutemen surged to victory in overtime.
“I expect high intensity,” McKeon said. “They’re going to look to create chaos, and they’re going to look to try and make a statement.”
Freshman guard Jah’nae Lembrick leads Elizabeth in scoring, and junior Dynasty Chandler leads in rebounds and steals. Westfield has won its last seven meetings with Elizabeth.
The UCT comprises four rounds (and, for some teams, a play-in game), but, really, all the attention has already gravitated to the final stage. Westfield and New Providence are suspected shoo-ins for the championship game. Basketball tournaments, though, are synonymous with upsets. Elizabeth is a fiery young squad. The specter of a tight game hovers in view.
But, still. “We’ve seen everything this year,” McKeon said. “So we’re prepared for everything.”
