January 8, 2012

Secaucus' Julia McClure (right) tries to knock the ball away from Fair Lawn's Meagan Tuchler. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Secaucus at Fair Lawn Girls Basketball Photo Gallery

FAIR LAWN – John Sterling could have easily reached for an excuse following his Secaucus team lost a 50-44 overtime game to Fair Lawn.  He could have pointed to a lack of depth and size, two issues all the more critical with the late scratch of forward Ariana Simon and foul trouble to Julia McClure.

Instead, the message the fifth-year head coach directed to his team was simple, they were outplayed.

"They outworked us and I told our girls they deserved to win the game because they outplayed us in overtime and for many stretches they worked a little harder than we did," Sterling said.

For a while, it seemed Sterling and the visiting Patriots (7-2) would be able to overcome those deficiencies in size and depth.

Trailing by as much as seven in the fourth quarter and with their leading scorer McClure out, Secaucus took advantage of a pair of missed Fair Lawn (3-4) free throws with 7.9 seconds left as Kendall Caruso snagged the rebound and dished it to Andie Lennon. Lennon then found an open Lauren Guillen on the wing, who banked a 3-pointer off the glass as the buzzer sounded to tie the game at 40 and force overtime.

"We had one timeout left and I was going to take it if I didn't see anyone open as we brought the ball up. But Lauren was spotted up right away so I didn't call the timeout," said Sterling about the sequence. "Andie got it to her right away and she banked it in. We were lucky to get into overtime."

Secaucus' luck would run out in the extra frame as the host Cutters scored the first six points and eight of the first nine to pull away.

"I give the girls credit. They came right out of the chute in overtime, scored the first six points of the overtime and that gave us the cushion," Fair Lawn head coach Chris Lovermi said. "Maybe we broke through the wall with being able to be a good team (with this win)."

Stephanie Johnson's basket off a pick-and-roll put the Cutters on top and point guard Regina Tillar (13 points, seven rebounds, five assists) took over from there, scoring six points in the overtime.

Despite the absence of Simon, who was removed during pregame warm-ups due to a reoccurrence of post-concussion symptoms, and McClure, who played just five-and-a-half minutes due to foul trouble in the first half, Secaucus took a 21-16 lead into the intermission.

Fair Lawn would storm back in the third, scoring 12 unanswered points and holding the Patriots scoreless for more than eight minutes, a drought which stretched into the fourth quarter.

"In the third quarter we had a really bad quarter," Sterling said. "They executed much better than we did. They switched to a zone and we didn't attack it very well. We made almost no perimeter shots, we didn't get the ball inside. The third quarter was really where the game changed momentum from our favor to theirs."

Johnson led the way in the run with six points for Fair Lawn, which was hosting the Fourth Annual Breast Cancer Challenge.

Alex Kerr had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Meagan Tuchler added eight points and 15 rebounds. The Cutters used their size advantage to punish Secaucus on the glass, out they out-rebounded the Patriots 47-27.

McClure, who was limited to just 19 minutes, had 14 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out in the final seconds of regulation. Six of those points came in a 10-3 fourth quarter run, where the freshman tied the game at 35-all with a pair of free throws. Fellow freshman Lennon, led all scorers with 16 points before fouling out in the last minute of overtime.

"They have a lot of basketball experience," said Sterling of his two leading scorers on the season. "Even though they're freshmen, they've played a long time."

"They are tremendous players," Lovermi said. "And they play way beyond their years."

Andie Lennon (left) scored a game-high 16 points for Secaucus in defeat. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Secaucus at Fair Lawn Girls Basketball Photo Gallery