This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Girls Basketball Dream Season Continues with Semifinal Win

Hilltoppers beat Willingboro 44-37 to advance to NJSIAA sectional finals.

SUMMIT–Saturday night was a big night for the Summit girls basketball team. With a 44-37 win over Willingboro in the NJSIAA sectional semifinals, the Hilltoppers captured their 23rd victory of the season to advance to the finals. The win also represented Summit head coach Brian Erickson's 100th win as the team's coach, and the final time that seniors Michelle Burian, Emily Cristaldi, and Cassie Hall would play in their home gymnasium.

"I'm sad that this was my final game here, but I'm more excited that we get to move on to the finals," Cristaldi said.

"We couldn't have done it without the crowd's support," Hall said, describing the gym's standing-room-only crowd. "This was the first game where we've had a crowd like that. Things could have gone the other way if they hadn't been there cheering for us."

Find out what's happening in Summitwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Summit got off to a great start despite their leading scorer, Emily Cristaldi, being resigned to the bench for much of the first half with foul trouble. Early in the first quarter, Hall threw a long outlet pass to Kelly Osmulski for the fast break basket. The two teamed up again a few minutes later when Hall left a crisp backdoor bounce pass to Osmulski for another layup. After the first quarter, Summit led 9-4.

In the second quarter, point guard Kate Martino ignited a Hilltopper run. After a low crossover dribble, the sophomore slashed into the lane and hit a floater to give Summit a 16-6 lead. Two minutes later, she penetrated Willingboro's defense and laid off a bounce pass to Hall for the layup. At the half, Summit led 20-11.

Find out what's happening in Summitwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"As a team, we clicked tonight; it just came naturally," Martino said.

Things continued to click for the Hilltoppers in the second half as Martino scored another driving layup and Cristaldi hit an 18 footer to give Summit an 11 point lead in the third quarter; however, a Martino three-pointer and another Hall-Osmulski connection was not enough to hold off Willingboro freshman Micaiah Owens, who gave her team a spark as the Chimeras cut the Hilltopper lead to 32-26 entering the final quarter.

Another Willingboro freshman, Imani Stephey, scored two early baskets for her team to help cut Summit's lead to just one point, 34-33, with five minutes remaining in the game. But Cristaldi got the Summit crowd on their feet when she hit a step-back three-pointer with 3:50 left on the clock to put Summit up 37-33. A minute later, Hall hit a layup off an Amanda Murphy inbound to add to their lead, 41-35.

The Hilltoppers held possession, and in the final 30 seconds of the game, Cristaldi went 3 of 4 from the foul line to make the final score 44-37, Summit.

"I'm really exited," Cristaldi said. "We didn't know if we'd make it this far, and to do it my senior year is great."

"Kate, Kelly, Emily, and Cassie were tremendous from start to finish, in front of the biggest crowd we've probably ever played in front of," Summit head coach Brian Erickson said. "And Olivia Galuppo and Amanda Murphy both played outstanding tonight. Everything we've done up to this point–all of the hard work–has paid off and I couldn't be happier for the girls."

Cristaldi led her team with 15 points. Martino added 13 points and four assists. Osmulski scored nine points, and Hall had seven points, nine rebounds, and four assists for the Hilltoppers.

No. 3 Summit (23-3) will travel to No. 1 seed Malcolm X Shabazz High School in Newark for the Central, Group II finals on Monday. Shabazz is currently ranked No. 18 in the nation according to the Massey Top 25. Monday's game time TBD. Stay tuned to Patch for updates.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?