Sports
Lady Pioneers Make Strong Opening Statement
Sophomore guard Cassandra Squeri scores 12 points in basketball home opener to key 62-33 victory over Elizabeth.
The New Providence girls basketball team picked up right where it left off a year ago – and then some.
New Providence began the season in fine fashion, earning a 62-33 victory over visiting Elizabeth Friday night in New Providence.
The Pioneers started the game – and the season – by shutting out Elizabeth, 22-0, in the first quarter.
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Sophomore guard Cassandra Squeri, who had a team-high 12 points, five steals and four rebounds, scored eight in the first stanza to key New Providence's fast start.
"We came out, got our press going early and made our shots," said sixth-year New Providence coach Cap Pazdera. "It's great having a player like Cassandra around. She's grown by leaps and bounds."
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New Providence was playing its first game since its terrific 22-5 campaign last year, which culminated with the Pioneers winning its first Group 1 state crown.
"We lost three key seniors from last year and that's not easy to replace," said Pazdera. "But my job is to get the rest of them to buy into the program."
The three seniors that graduated – Nan Tucker (7.0 ppg., 4.0 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 2.0 assists), Connie Haggerty (5.0 ppg., 2.0 steals) and Alexa Lesnewich (4.5 ppg.) – were instrumental parts of last year's squad that upset Bloomfield Tech in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 1 final, and then defeated Cresskill and Florence in succession to earn its first group championship.
New Providence's season concluded in the first round of the Tournament of Champions with a loss to St. John Vianney, the eventual T of C runner-up that finished No. 2 in The Star-Ledger Top 20.
"For me, as soon as last year was over, I was thinking about this season," said Pazdera, who now owns a career record of 98-30. "It's nice to look at the banner and see what we accomplished last year, but it's my job to remind the team to focus on this year."
On Friday night, senior Kaitlyn Cresencia added 11 points, four steals and two assists, junior Lauren Cronin tossed in nine points and juniors Sara Lowenstein and Laura Gregory each added seven points. After a 19-8 third quarter showing, New Providence took a 48-18 lead into the fourth.
Jatirah Diggs led Elizabeth with a game-high 17 points.
New Providence will next play on Tuesday when it hosts Cranford at 7 p.m.
