Lady Pioneers Fall Short of Third Sectional Basketball Title

Top-seeded Whippany Park (24-5) rode a 22-5 second half run en route to a 49-44 victory over New Providence (16-11) in the North 2, Group 1 championship game. Despite being the eleventh seed in the bracket, and

Trailing 24-22 at the half, the Wildcats came out of the locker room with a renewed aggression on the offensive end. The home team outscored their opponent 17-5 in the third quarter and took a 34-29 lead into the final period, the biggest margin for either team at that point in the game. 

The first minute of the fourth quarter featured much of the same as the Wildcats scored the period's first five points on the way to a 39-29 lead with 7:11 to play. 

Like any great champion, the Pioneers refused to give up their title without a fight and were able to pull within five at 46-41 on a Sara Lowenstein (five points, six rebounds, five assists) three pointer with 0:52.5 to play. Unfortunately there would be no more last minute magic as the Wildcats were able to settle down and hold on for the 49-44 victory.

led the way for New Providence with 19 points, including 12 from downtown.

The Pioneers offense was most successful when they played an inside-out game, feeding the ball in the paint to center Casey de Voogd (six points) as a pivot to create scoring opportunities for herself or others. The Whippany Park defense collapsed toward her every time the ball was sent in, creating chaos inside the paint.  

Olivia Dudley, the Wildcats' all-time leading scorer, was the focus of the New Providence defense but was still able to score 17 points to go along with five rebounds. Olivia's younger sister, Alana, poured in 13 points and hit several key corner three-pointers in the second half outburst.

Lauren O'Connor recorded 17 points, six assists and five steals for the Wildcats.

The elder Dudley appeared headed for a big scoring night after registering nine points in the opening quarter as the Wildcats pulled out to a 14-12 lead. New Providence settled in defensively in the second period and held Dudley scoreless as they took a 24-22 advantage into the intermission. 

finished the game with 10 points and for most of the game and was assigned the difficult task of covering Dudley on the defensive end.

The Wildcats move on to Thursday's Group 1 semifinals against the winner of Cresskill/Emerson Boro on Thursday at 5 p.m. at Ramapo. 

While the Pioneers fell just short of a three-peat in North 2 Group 1, the group turned in another great season that saw them play their best basketball of the season in the state tournament, when the stakes were highest. 

New Providence- Squeri-19, Culleton-10, de Voogd-6, Lowenstein-5, Cronin-2, Balog-2

Whippany Park- O. Dudley-17, O'Connor-17, A. Dudley-13, Simon-2