Jefferson outlasts Pequannock, defends girls basketball sectional title

JEFFERSON – Amanda Nwankwo still remembers stepping on the court at Jefferson High School against Newton as a freshman, trying to shoot a layup and getting pushed. She tore her anterior cruciate ligament, and missed her entire sophomore season.

With Nwankwo back in the lineup last winter, the Falcons reached the NJSIAA Group 2 final. When the 6-foot-3 center hurt her right knee early in Tuesday's NJSIAA North 1, Group 2 final, Nwankwo was very clear.

"It cannot happen again," said Nwankwo, who missed much of the second and third quarters of Jefferson's nail-biter 66-61 victory over Pequannock.

"I could not give up on my team. I pushed my butt off. My team did not give up on me."

Comeback cats?

With Nwankwo getting treatment on her right knee, Pequannock was able to crank up its inside game. The seventh-seeded Golden Panthers opened the third quarter on a 10-0 run that lasted nearly five minutes.

Pequannock (11-7) was within three points when Jefferson junior Emily Poulas responded. She scored 10 of the top-seeded Falcons' 13 points in the third quarter, stretching the lead back out to eight.

"Amanda went down, and we did what we had to do," said Poulas, who finished with a game-high 23 points.

"I didn't really think about it beforehand. It just sort of happened. ... I don't think any of us are ready for it to end yet."

But the rejuvenated Golden Panthers never backed down again.

They took the lead on senior Nicole Klimek's 3-pointer from the right corner with 50 seconds left. Poulas responded with a three of her own from almost the exact same spot at the other end of the court 16 seconds later.

Jefferson coach James MacDermid called timeout, then Poulas got fouled and made both free throws to build the lead to three points. Pequannock coach Jennifer Baggott called a timeout of her own. But after Klimek missed another 3, the Golden Panthers were forced to foul.

Sophomore Kiley Shatzel sank one, waited out another Pequannock time out, and coolly made the second to start Jefferson's celebration.

Golden Panthers junior Chloe Vasquez scored 22 points. Senior Faith Tucker added half of her 16 points in the fourth quarter. Klimek had 15 for Pequannock.

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"Our girls felt a little more comfortable in the moment," Baggott said. "We're definitely an outside threat: a driving threat and a 3-point shooting threat. Our weakness is our size, and that's one of their strengths."

Countdown to the final

The Falcons (22-7) will play Secaucus in a Group 2 semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Bloomfield High School. Secaucus, the top seed in North 2, Group 2, toppled defending sectional champion Madison.

Jefferson had beaten the Dodgers in last year's Group semi, falling to Manasquan in the final.

Not long after that disappointment, the Falcons started building toward this year's title. They played in a Paterson summer league, then a challenging regular-season schedule including many larger schools like Montville (twice), Morristown and Paterson Eastside.

"We got the competition we needed for games like this," Poulas said, shortly before climbing a ladder to help cut down the net.

"We knew we would need moments like that for moments like this."

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ girls basketball: Jefferson beats Pequannock in section final