CLARK, NJ- The Summit High School Hilltoppers found themselves trailing the Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders by a score of 8-0 in the first minutes of Tuesday night’s game.
With a quick, explosive offense, they scored nine straight shots to close the quarter and dominated the rest of the game, defeating the Crusaders by a final score of 51-35 Tuesday night in Clark.
Johnson senior Danielle Hartzler drained a three-point shot, junior Bailey Rosenmeier got a shot off and senior Tina Palella scored following a steal and transition to take an short-lived lead.
In the final three minutes of the quarter Summit slowly came back despite the early deficit. Summit senior Christina Richson led the charge in the comeback later in the first quarter. She added seven points in the quarter; including a buzzer-beater that gave her team a 9-8 lead after the first eight minutes of action.
“Johnson is a big rival for us, so even being down by eight [points] and we knew that if we started doing what we were supposed to do, with making shots, we’d get back in it,” Richson said.
Summit’s defense created pressure that lead to Johnson turnovers and points. Summit went into halftime leading 29-16.
“Our kids found the confidence to find the gaps and play defense,” Summit head coach Tom Kenny said. “Defense has actually carried us most of the year. We play good defense. We’ve been offensively poor, except in certain pockets. We finally got back on track tonight.”
Full Coverage of Summit-Johnson Girls Varsity Basketball Here
