Summit girls' basketball reaches first sectional final in 10 years; Third-seeded Hilltoppers will play at top-seeded Shabazz Monday at 5 p.m. in the Central Jersey, Group 2 final

By JR Parachini

Union County Sports Editor

SUMMIT - How will the Summit girls’ basketball team be rewarded for holding on to beat Willingboro to reach its first sectional championship game in 10 years?

The Hilltoppers will next play at the No. 1 team in the state – 28-1 Shabazz – in Monday’s scheduled final in Newark.

The game is scheduled for Monday according to www.njsiaa.org, with a starting time of 5 p.m.

“We’re just going to go in there and do what we can and hope for the best,” said Summit senior forward Cassie Hall, who scored seven points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots in helping lead the
third-seeded Hilltoppers past a young and pesky 10^th-seeded
Willingboro squad 44-37 Saturday night in a Central Jersey, Group 2 semifinal.

“Cassie has well over 200 rebounds and I think is No. 3 all-time for us now,” Summit fifth-year head coach Brian Erickson said. “I’ve said this to everybody - Cassie is the backbone of this organization.”

Hall will attend Northeastern, but her playing days will come to an end at the conclusion of the season.

“She’s the heart and soul of this team,” Erickson said. “She’s the passion. She’s the deal. She is Summit basketball.”

Summit won its fifth straight to improve to 23-2. The Union County Conference-Watchung Division champions are in a sectional final for the first time since reaching the North 2, Group 3 championship game in
back-to-back years in 1999 and 2000. Both of those Summit squads were defeated by mighty Mendham teams in
sectional finals played at Rahway.

Willingboro, which started three freshmen, one sophomore and one junior, finished a fine season at 17-8. Freshman forward Micahya Owens helped keep the Chimeras in the game and finished with a stellar, game-high, 25-point
performance.

Shabazz defeated Columbia 47-44 on Jan. 21 in South Orange, winning the fourth quarter 14-11 to improve to 13-0. Columbia had a 13-game winning streak snapped with the setback after opening the season with a 58-46 loss at Shabazz on Dec. 18.

Then two days later on Jan. 23 in the John F. Kennedy Challenge in the Bronx, Shabazz was defeated by a 19-4 Potter House Christian, Fla. team 60-52.

Since then the top-seeded Bulldogs have won 15 straight, including Saturday’s 65-39 convincing sectional semifinal victory at home over fourth-seeded Delaware Valley. Sophomore guard Aliyyah Handford paced Shabazz with
20 points, while Alyesha Lovett added 12 points and eight rebounds.

The Bulldogs are also sparked by the senior Simmons twins – Desiree and Ka-Diedre – who both netted eight points.

Although it was publicized, most basketball fans around the state – in addition to many coaches – are just now learning of the state’s decision to have the higher
seeded teams host the public school sectional finals this coming week.

The Central Jersey, Group 2 final was played at Bridgewater-Raritan the past several seasons.

“I’ll play them (Shabazz) in my backyard, it doesn’t make a difference,” Erickson said. “We’re just happy to be playing them wherever we’re playing them.”

For the first time since 2000, this section will have a new champion. Rumson-Fair Haven won it nine years in a row from 2001-2009. Shabazz defeated eighth-seeded
Rumson 51-45 at home in the quarterfinals after beating the Monmouth County
school 41-24 at home in the regular season back on Jan. 9.

Shabazz owned North 2, Group 3 before coming into Central Jersey, Group 2 this season for the first time.

“They’re the best team in the state and they’re probably one of the best teams in the country,” Erickson said. “We’re going to compete as hard as we can.

“From the opening tap to the final buzzer we’re going to represent this town, this community and Summit basketball as best as we can.

“What’s the worst thing that can happen? We lose? Everyone else has. If we beat them we’ll be front page of the Ledger. If we don’t, then we’re supposed to. They’re
a great team and I have so much respect for them and their coaches. They do a
great job.”

Although Summit had to play a large margin of Saturday’s game with leading scorer Emily Cristaldi on the bench in foul trouble, other players stepped up such as
starters Kate Martino, Kelly Osmulski, Hall and Michelle Burian and bench
players Olivia Galuppo and Amanda Murphy.

“When we graduated Danielle Scott (in 2007), everybody said, who’s going to score for us? Somebody had to step up. Emily went on the bench and they all stepped up,”
Erickson said.

Erickson explained that he received an e-mail from an out of town friend referring to Summit’s starters as the sequal to Lethal Weapon 3, which is Lethal Weapon 4 – Cassie, Kelly, Emily and Kate.

“I can’t say enough about them. Kate (diminutive point guard who plays much taller than she is) is one of the best players in the county. From a defensive
standpoint she gets a lot of rebounds. She got more than three assists tonight
and has over 100 for the season. She has well over 200 points now.

“The kid’s a solid basketball player. She just proves it on a daily basis for us. This kid is tremendous. She shoots 300 jumpers every day after practice.”

Summit led 30-17 with 4:20to go in the third quarter before a 16-4 run by Willingboro brought the Chimeras to within one at 34-33 with 5:02 remaining in the fourth.

“They went on a run and we were terrified, but we kept at it, pulled it off and we just played our game and it worked out,” Hall said.

A 3-point basket by Cristaldi from the right side – with her going 1-on-1 against man coverage from Willingboro freshman Imani Stepny – was huge as it gave Summit a 37-33 advantage with 3:48 left.

Although Willingboro scored the next basket to get it to 37-35, two free throws by Osmulski brought the lead back up to 39-35 with 2:48 to go.

Summit ended up outscoring Willingboro 10-4 after its lead was cut to one.

“This was our sectional final,” Erickson said of his team’s victory in its home-finale. The Hilltoppers finished a perfect 12-0 overall at home, including 6-0 at home against fellow UCC-Watchung Division foes, with a
conference home game against Westfield not to be made up.

“The reason why we were late coming out of the lockerroom following our loss to Westfield (in the Union County Tournament quarterfinals at Roselle Catholic) was because we made a pact,” Erickson said. “We said that we
have to win the rest of the games from here on out and we needed to end on a
five-game winning streak and that’s what this was all about.”

The fifth straight win – Saturday’s triumph – did not come easy.

Cristaldi picked up her second foul with 3:20 left in the first quarter. Sophomore Olivia Galuppo went in for her and did a good job, grabbing three rebounds, dishing out one assist and coming up with one steal.

Although Cristaldi was not out on the floor, Summit managed to end the first quarter on a 7-0 run, 5-0 with Cristaldi on the bench, to take a 9-4 lead.

Cristaldi picked up her third foul with 2:22 remaining in the second quarter after she missed a shot and thought she was fouled.

Summit still closed the first half strong and led 20-11 at intermission, with only two players scoring for Willingboro in the first 16 minutes.

After scoring just four points on 2-of-7 field goals in the first half, Cristaldi started the second half on the bench with her three fouls. She then came back in to score five points in the third quarter and six
in the fourth.

“Nobody had to look for one person and everybody just kind of played and relaxed and did their thing,” Erickson said. “It wasn’t easy playing without Emily and it
was a tough choice whether to start her or not start her in the third quarter,
but the team just came together, hung tough and played well.”

Cristaldi never picked up a fourth foul.

“Obviously, she’s our leading scorer, so we knew we had to step it up without her,” Hall said. “We all pulled our own weight.

“Olivia was amazing tonight and Kate and Kelly as usual and Amanda.”

“They all played great without her,” Erickson said. “That’s what I’ve been saying all year long to everyone. Everybody thought we were just Emily – maybe from a
scoring standpoint, I’m not going to argue with that –but we’re a team and we
trust everybody that puts on this uniform to get the job done.

“No bigger moment than tonight for us.”

With 33.2 seconds left, Martino was Summit’s leading scorer with 13 points, while Cristaldi had 12. Cristaldi scored Summit’s final three points on her only free throws of the
game to finish with a team-high 15.

Now with 1,183 career points and a school-record 572 this season in 26 games for an even 22 average, Cristaldi has still led Summit in scoring in every game so far this year and has also scored in double digits in all 26.

NOTES: Cristaldi, who will continue at Muhlenberg, is 37 points away from second place on the school’s all-time scoring list, which is occupied by 1995 grad Renee Green, who finished with 1,220. Fellow 1995 graduate Lindsay Burns
has the record at 1,382.

Green had the single season record of 538 points in 1995, which has been eclipsed by Cristaldi.

Summit went 12-1 to win the first UCC-Watchung Division championship. Its lone league loss was at Linden. Summit’s other two losses both came at Roselle Catholic, including a non-league loss to
UCC-Mountain Division champion Roselle Catholic and the UCT setback to Westfield.

With Summit splitting games against Linden and Westfield, the only team it played this year that it didn’t defeat was Roselle Catholic, which is not bad. The Lions are 23-2, have won 12
in a row and will host Immaculate Heart Monday night at 7 in a Non-Public,
North A semifinal in Roselle.

Two other Union County squads that reached sectional finals will be playing home Tuesday night. In North 2, Group 3, third-seeded Cranford will host fifth-seeded Somerville and in North 2, Group 1, third-seeded New Providence will host ninth-seeded University.

If Roselle Catholic wins Monday, then four Union County teams will have reached sectional finals, which is a big boost for the county as far as going up against the best squads in state
tournament competition.

CENTRAL JERSEY, GROUP 2 SEMIFINAL AT SUMMIT

10-WILLINGBORO (17-8) 4 7 15 9 - 37

3-SUMMIT (23-3, 5 in a row) 9 11 12 12 - 44

WILLINGBORO (37): Micahya Owens 8-1-6-25, Imani Stepny 3-0-1-7, Gabrielle Bennett 1-0-0-2, Aaliya Saud-Lewis 0-1-0-3. Simone Danzey 0-0-0-0. Taylor Lewis 0-0-0-0. Totals:
12-2-7-37.

Starters:Bennett, Stepney, Danzey, Taylor Lewis, Owens.

SUMMIT (44):Emily Cristaldi 3-2-3-15, Kate Martino 5-1-0-13, Cassie Hall 3-0-1-7, Kelly Osmulski 3-0-3-9, Michelle Burian 0-0-0-0, Olivia Galuppo 0-0-0-0, Amanda
Murphy 0-0-0-0. Totals: 14-3-7-44.

Starters:Cristaldi, Osmulski, Burian, Hall, Martino.

CENTRAL JERSEY, GROUP 2 PLAYOFFS

SEEDS:1-Shabazz. 2-Spotswoood. 3-Summit. 4-Delaware Valley.

5-Cinnaminson. 6-Snyder. 7-Middlesex. 8-Rumson-Fair Haven.

9-Roselle. 10-Willingboro. 11-Bordentown. 12-Shore Regional.

13-North Plainfield. 14-Delran. 15-Governor Livingston.

16-Johnson. 17-Weequahic.

PRELIMINARY ROUND:

Saturday, Feb. 27

Johnson 64, Weequahic 44 – at Johnson

FIRST ROUND:

Tuesday, March 2

Shabazz 65, Johnson 35 – at Shabazz

Rumson-Fair Haven 66, Roselle 56 – at Rumson

Cinnaminson 56, Shore Regional 40 – at Cinnaminson

Delaware Valley 50, North Plainfield 31 – at Delaware Valley

Summit 43, Delran 38 – at Summit

Bordentown 54, Snyder 53 – at Snyder

Willingboro 45, Middlesex 30 – at Middlesex

Spotswood 40, Gov. Livingston 23 – at Spotswood

QUARTERFINALS:

Thursday, March 4

Shabazz 51, Rumson-Fair Haven 45 – at Shabazz

Delaware Valley 39, Cinnaminson 36 – at Delaware Valley

Summit 46, Bordentown 31 – at Summit

Willingboro 51, Spotswood 39 – at Spotswood

SEMIFINALS:

Saturday, March 6

Shabazz 65, Delaware Valley 39 – at Shabazz

Summit 44, Willingboro 37 – at Summit

FINAL:

Monday, March 8

3-Summit at 1-Shabazz, 5 p.m.