SHS 31, HADDONFIELD 29 IN OVERTIME N A DEFENSIVE "DAWGFIGHT." LADY KNIGHTS ARE 18-3. Yet another big game tomorrow...SHS vs. Williamstown in the semis of the SJBIT 6pm at Williamstown High School!!
No. 6 Sterling tops No. 5 Haddonfield
Courier-Post staff • February 19, 2010
The Sterling High School girls' basketball team,
ranked No. 6 by the Courier-Post, worked overtime
to slip past No. 5 Haddonfield 31-29 in the Colonial
Conference.
The two teams sit atop the Liberty Division
standings, with Haddonfield 12-1 and Sterling 12-1
splitting this season's two meetings. Both teams
have three conference games to play.
Monica Burch hit two free throws with 1.6 seconds
left to finish with 11 points and provide the Silver
Knights (18-3 overall) with the winning margin.
Haddonfield (16-3 overall) was led by Emily
Grabiak's 13 points.
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Haddonfield 4 7 8 6 4 - 29
Sterling 8 5 7 5 6 - 31
S: Monica Burch 11
Kylie O'Donnell 5
Tyra Satchell 2
Jessica Egan 2
Anyssa Sanchez 7
Tanjae Lewis 4.
POSTED: February 18, 2010
Marc Narducci: Little separates traditional rivals
By Marc Narducci
Inquirer Columnist
Two games, one overtime and one point. That is what separates the Haddonfield and Sterling girls' basketball teams this season.
The two have been staging one of the better rivalries in girls' basketball over the years, and this season both have done their best to maintain the tradition. That is why so little separates them.
One point to be exact.
Sterling got back in the Colonial Conference Liberty Division race with last night's 31-29 overtime victory over the Bulldogs, who have had a week full of extra basketball.
On Tuesday, Haddonfield survived a 61-57 double-overtime struggle over Haddon Township.
Earlier this season, Haddonfield beat Sterling, 47-44. The Bulldogs overcame an 18-point halftime deficit in that game.
It's a game that could have deflated Sterling but instead it only fueled the hunger for the rematch.
"We thought we owed them one," said junior point guard Monica Burch, whose two free throws with 1.6 seconds left in overtime broke a 29-29 tie.
Ranked No. 5 in South Jersey by The Inquirer, Haddonfield is 16-3 overall, 12-1 in the Colonial. No. 10 Sterling is 18-3, 12-1. Unless a major upset occurs, they should be co-champs with the chance to settle the difference in the postseason. Haddonfield is the No. 2 seed in South Jersey Group 2, and Sterling is seeded No. 3.
The score was low last night for a reason. Both teams played tight defense, in which open shots were few and made ones fewer.
It seems forever that these two have been playing this tug-of-war for Colonial and Group 2 supremacy.
"It doesn't get any better than Haddonfield-Sterling," Sterling coach Kate McDonald said. "It's like Duke and North Carolina."
McDonald should know. She's a 1994 graduate of Sterling who hit a game-winner against Haddonfield her senior year that clinched the Colonial Conference title.
Known as Kate Schmid, she scored 2,090 career points at Sterling, but those two are among the most memorable because they came against Haddonfield with so much at stake.
Last night also featured a rivalry within the rivalry between Haddonfield senior point guard Emily Grabiak, who had 13 points, and Sterling's Burch, a junior who scored 11.
"Both those players make their teammates better, and it's great seeing them go head-to-head," said McDonald, who received seven crucial points from freshman Anyssa Sanchez, a player who gets to experience three more years of this frenzied atmosphere.
Burch said she was calm in converting the game-winning free throws.
"Freshman year in that situation I would be nervous, and sophomore year I had more confidence," Burch said. "Junior year I knew I had to make them."
And she had nothing but respect for Grabiak.
"I'm a junior, and I have learned from her," Burch said.
For her part, despite the disappointment of losing, Grabiak could appreciate the rivalry with Sterling and with Burch.
"For three years we have been going back and forth," Grabiak said of Burch. "I give her a lot of credit, making those two big free throws."
One of the memories that Grabiak will take from her high school career is being part of this rivalry.
"Nobody likes losing, but these games are so much fun," she said.
There is no guarantee the two will meet in the postseason because both are in a difficult bracket that includes, among others, a dangerous Camden team.
Yet the players and coaches are hoping there can be one more game between two teams separated by a single point and very little else.
