LANE LED PTS; LOGAN RB, ASST, BLK; ROONEY 3-PTS
Replacing four starters from last year’s stellar team was one thing but losing the only returning starter prior to the beginning of the season due to injury forced Head Coach Liz McKeon and the Westfield High School girls basketball team to seek the right combination on the court. After constant juggling of the lineup and a very lumpy first half of the season, the Blue Devils began to work out a formula that would show promise for next year.
The Blue Devils lost 10 of their first 13 games, beginning with losses to Cranford, Roselle Catholic and the Scotch Plains-Fanwood Raiders. Their first win was over the Oak Knoll Royals. Their next win was over the Franklin Warriors, 46-37, in the Falcon Holiday Tournament in late December and their third win was 61-24 over Highland Park.
“While this season looked different from the last couple of years, I could not be more proud of a group of young women. It’s not easy to stay hungry when you start the season 310 but these ladies worked hard every single day and got better because of their determination,” Coach McKeon said.
The Blue Devil girls began to level out a bit with a 49-38 victory over Sparta then after a 44-33 setback to the Oak Knoll Royals, the Blue Devils recorded one of their best wins of the season with a 49-38 startling of the Elizabeth Minutemen, who would later claim the Union County Tournament (UCT) crown. After a very close, 3532, loss to Morristown and another to the New Providence Pioneers, the Blue Devils began to find their groove.
A 36-34 win over the Dayton Bulldogs was followed with a 43-20 win over the Governor Livingston Highlanders. Next, the Blue Devil girls thrashed the Somerville Pioneers, 6836, then added a 43-38 win over the AL Johnson Crusaders in the UCT first round. A loss to top-seeded New Providence in the second round was followed with a 51-43 win over Cresskill. The Blue Devils dropped a 40-38 nailbiter to Ramapo then lost another close won to Elizabeth, 5855, in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 first round.
Coach McKeon recalled, “I had multiple coaches tell me they did not want to see Westfield in the postseason because they knew how far the team had come from the beginning of the year.”
Seniors Sara Rooney, Makenna Reed and Erin Doherty played major roles in developing the learning process of the younger Blue Devils. Rooney, who scored 188 points and pulled 120 rebounds, led the team with 33 3-pointers, while adding 44 assists, 31 steals and four blocks. Although Reed and Doherty had limited court time, they were quite effective defensively. Doherty did contribute 20 points, 20 rebounds, 11 assists and three steals, while Reed had 19 points (5 3-pointers), 11 rebounds, seven assists, six steals and a block.
The Blue Devils got a lot of mileage from a pair of sophomores (Sophie Lane and Megan Logan) and a freshman (Mairin Fowler). Lane led the team with 250 points, which included 11 3-pointers and 34 free throws, was second in rebounds with 162 and blocks with 41, and added 24 steals and 17 assists. Logan led the team in rebounds (171), blocks (75), steals (40) and assists (51), while scoring 159 points. Fowler also scored 159 points, including 20 3-pointers, and added 43 assists (3rd on team), 65 rebounds, 28 steals and two blocks.
Freshmen Catherine Oliveira and Lucy Burke also matured quite well as the season progressed. Oliveira pulled 142 rebounds, led the team with 43 steals, scored 133 points and added 34 assists and four blocks. Burke grabbed 101 rebounds and added 80 points, 24 steals, 20 assists and 14 blocks.
Several underclassmen also contributed to the progress. Sophomore Darby Hubner finished with 58 points, 26 rebounds, nine steals, nine assists and a block. Junior Laura Oliveira finished with 43 rebounds, 31 points, six steals, five assists and four blocks. Sophomore Andie Janota had nine assists, eight rebounds, six points and four steals. Junior Priscilla Dayon had six points, four rebounds, an assist and a steal. Junior Keira Deignan pulled 12 rebounds, and added two points, four assists, a block and a steal.
The fine finish to the season plus the return of the four starters, along with a healthy Catie Carayannopoulos, should have a positive outlook next year for the Blue Devils.
“We went 5-3 to finish the season and that included a five-game winning streak. None of this would’ve been possible without the leadership of our three seniors and Catie Carayannopoulos. We are going to miss our seniors greatly but they left a great path for the girls coming back next year. The future is bright,” Coach McKeon expressed.
