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

Schools

Madison Girls Basketball Supports Great Cause

The Madison girls fall to Kinnelon at home, but the Dodgers support breast cancer as part of the Morris County Tournament's "Shoot for a Cure"

The Madison High School girls basketball team took the court against Kinnelon as part of the Morris County tournament's "Shoot for a Cure."  After a down-to-the-wire struggle, the Dodgers fell to the Colts by a score of 45-39.

Kinnelon took it to the Dodgers off the opening whistle.  They established a quick-paced, pass-heavy offense and their size advantage under the hoop. The visitors went on a 10-0 run in the first quarter that was only stopped by Mackenzie Elli's layup less than a minute before the buzzer.

Though the Dodgers got off to a rocky start, they put points on the board in the second quarter as they brought a sense of urgency back to their play.  Another Ellis layup started the scoring for Madison, and she got the ball to Nikki Caruso under the hoop to make it 17-6.

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

In her first action since suffering a head injury against Morris Hills, Chelsea Davies hit Sam Cicconi on a breakaway for 17-9 with 4:35 left to go. Davies hit a jumper on her next possession, and Caruso added a layuip to make it 21-13 Kinnelon.

Ali Foulsham was 1-for-2 from the line at the end of the quarter to send the girls into the half down 23-14.

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

During the half, to support breast cancer awareness as part of the Morris County Tournament, there was a foul shooting contest. Young Madison local Lizzie Tamburro won against a Kinnelon fan in a sudden-death competition, while T-shirts and bracelets were sold near the entrance.

In addition, many coaches, players, and spectators wore pink. All money was donated to breast cancer research.

The Dodgers erased the eight point deficit they stared down at the half when Caruso went on a scoring run: after a Foulsham 3-pointer, Caruso put up six points 30 seconds, and 12 in the third quarter to not only tie, but send the Dodgers into the final quarter with a 1-point lead 31-30.

The stage was set for a hard fourth quarter, and both teams followed through.  Despite points from Foulsham and Caruso, the Colts took a six point lead with 2:00 to go.  The Dodgers fought back to within five, at 44-39, but the Kinnelon attack was relentless.  At the end of regulation, the Dodgers were down 45-39.

"We can't leave girls open," Madison head coach Stephen Finkelstein said of the team's performance. "The third quarter was great, but in the fourth, nothing went right.  In the fourth quarter it was a mix of bad shot selection and leaving girls open.  We put it together in the third, when we needed it, but it didn't come together."

Caruso chalked the loss up to marking problems on defense.

"Our man-to-man defense was weak," she said.

She mentioned that the team will "work on knowing how to break and defend the press," during the week in preparation for their upcoming game against Pequannock.

"Hopefully, we can get a win," Caruso said.

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?