Madison High School Girls Basketball Gets Win at Livingston

The Madison High School girls basketball team has a lot of great attributes– organization, discipline, and great outside shooting to name a few of the easiest to see.  What is equally important and harder to recognize, though, is what carries the Dodgers to wins when all of those qualities start to break down: heart.

In the first eight minutes, of the Dodgers' 38-18 victory over Livingston on Monday night, sharpshooter Nikki Caruso drained one of her trademark 3-pointers, stepping up from the left side and releasing to the swish sound that Madison spectators are getting used to.  Both Caruso and Chelsea Davies were forces on offense and defense, trading passes and points to put the Dodgers up 11-5 when the first buzzer sounded.

A six point lead in high school basketball is nice, but it isn't a luxury.  Oftentimes, Caruso's shot, Davies' hustle, and Ali Foulsham's reliability get the Dodgers' momentum rolling when the team looks hesitant, but last night it was Sam Cicconi that stoked the Madison fire.  She was subbed in to start the second quarter, and immediately made her presence felt.

Livingston began to rebound well, taking a Madison shot back the other way, but Cicconi picked off a pass and dished it to Foulsham on a breakaway for 15-5.  On the next two possessions, she stripped the visiting Lancers from the guard position, barely allowing them to cross half-court.

Cicconi's scrappy play was infectious–Caruso registered a steal, as did Davies. By the end of the second quarter, Tori Ellis, Rachel Misko, and Mackenzie Ellis joined in on the scoring to make it 23-7.  Still more impressive was the Dodgers holding the Lancers to just two points in the quarter.

In the third, it looked like Livingston was off to the races, as it scored off the opening whistle and it played strong defense. It was only a matter of time before the Dodgers began to heat up again, though.  Foulsham sank a jumper just shy of the 3-point line, and in a gritty eight minutes, the Dodgers took a 30-15 lead into the fourth quarter.

On offense, the Dodgers were relatively quiet in the final minutes of play except for a deep 3-pointer from Cicconi, and though they put up 38 points on the evening, head coach Stephen Finkelstein knows the team is capable of better.

"We got the win," Finkelstein said, "but everyone struggled.  It was an ugly, gut-out win.  We were 9-for-29 from the floor in the first half and 5-for-23 in the second half."

The Dodgers' coach believes more urgency in taking the ball to the hoop will help in the future, but at the end of the day, the win is important.

"We were very good in our transitions, but we're not a 'walk-up' team.  We're a transition team, but when push comes to shove, they did it," Finkelstein said.     "Sam Cicconi is a game changer. She makes things happen: she's a spark, and she's so aggressive.  In the second quarter, she was the spark that turned the game around."

After the game, Cicconi was proud of her teammates' overall performance, as well as her own.

"I got a lot of steals and I was agressive," Cicconi said. "I started shooting more.  As a team, we tried to keep up well, and we picked it up.  It was one of our off days."

Even on one of their off days, the Madison girls managed to get a win, and they hope to step their game up even more when they take on Hanover Park on Tuesday.