The Columbia girls basketball season came to a shocking end on Saturday afternoon when the team lost 34-33 to the third-seeded North Hunterdon Lions at South Orange Middle School. The loss eliminated them from the North II Group 4 state sectional playoffs and ended their chances at a three-peat in the section.
"We were saying that it was surreal. We were stunned. But you have to show up for every game. You can't take any one for granted," said Columbia girls head coach Johanna Wright. "It's very difficult when you have that amount of seniors because there's no tomorrow for them. This is it."
North Hunterdon came in with a game plan of not turning over the ball, beating the Columbia press and forcing the Cougars into a half court offense, and it worked to perfection.
"You have to bring your A-game at this time of the year. Your A-game has to be there every night, and they didn't really play until the fourth quarter," Wright said.
As has been their style all season, the Cougars immediately implemented the half court trap in the first quarter and the Lions were ready for it. Columbia never led in this game, with North Hunterdon taking control early on, ending the first quarter on a buzzer-beating jumper from Kelly Loughney to cap a 14-2 run, taking a 16-4 lead into the second quarter. The Cougars trailed after the first quarter just four times this season prior to Saturday's game.
Columbia was simply never able to recover from the big first quarter lead.
In the closing minutes of regulation, the Cougars had drawn within two points on a pair of free throws from junior Gabby Jackson. But both teams' offenses disappeared over the final three minutes of the game.
Senior Cougar guard Brianna Thomas had a chance to close the lead to within a point or even tie the game, but missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:10 left to play, keeping the girls down by two.
Columbia had the final possession of the game with 47.3 seconds left. The Cougars ran the clock down and tried to draw contact at the basket and succeeded. Marcelyn Williams was sent to the line with 0.4 seconds left to play and had a chance to tie the game, but missed the first, effectively ending the game.
North Hunterdon did to the Cougars what few teams had been able to this season: survive the trap. Columbia generally feasts off of turnovers and turning them into scores. Columbia picked up six steals (only one in the first half), much lower than usual, and turned them into just two points. Conversely, the Lions forced nine steals and 17 turnovers overall, converting them into 10 points.
"We didn't run the press the way we were supposed to run the press," Wright said. "The kids just weren't in their assignments. I really think that they took this team for granted."
Something else the local girls will look back at as a reason for the loss was free throw shooting. The girls hit just 5-of-11 from the charity stripe, while holding the opposition to just one free throw attempt. The Cougars certainly could've exploited that more.
"You can't take anything away from North Hunterdon, because they came in here with a game plan, they executed and whipped us up right here in our own gym," Wright said.
Loughney led all scorers with 16 points and six rebounds. Thomas paced the Cougars with 12 points.
Coach Wright said that the loss was disappointing because the girls had hopes of winning Group 4 and competing in the Tournament of Champions. Columbia's season ended at 24-4. North Hunterdon, which advanced to the section final, improved to 23-2.
