By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
MULLICA HILL — Unfinished business.
It’s more than just a slogan on a warmup T-shirt for the Moorestown High girls basketball team. It’s a mantra that has driven these players the entire offseason, and a reminder that theses players can’t take their foot off the gas pedal if they want to achieve things the Quakers failed to a year ago — when they felt they had one of the best teams in South Jersey.
The Quakers got blown out by Paul VI in the championship game of the South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament, and fell by seven points to Lenape in the Burlington County Tournament’s title game. But the toughest pill to swallow was blowing a 19-7 halftime lead in the South Jersey Group 3 semifinals and watching Absegami rally for a 51-49 overtime victory.
Moorestown had 25 victories a year ago, but little to show for it.
This year, the Quakers have gotten off to a hot start, and that continued on Saturday morning as Moorestown fought off a tough challenge from Cinnaminson — one of the top Group 2 teams in South Jersey — beating the Pirates 44-40 in the South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament Holiday Showcase event at Clearview High.
The win was the third straight for Moorestown, which on Friday got past Cherokee, 51-43. So far, only Cherry Hill West has been able to beat Moorestown this year.
“Our slogan for the year is ‘unfinished business’ for a reason. We didn’t feel like we made it as far as we should have (last year) and we’re returning so many girls,” said Moorestown senior Mae Murphy. “We feel like a family. We’ve all been playing together for three-plus years and it’s really special that I get to have this as my senior season and play with my best friends. I think our bench is much deeper (this season). So many of the younger girls have stepped up and continued to grow their game, so we’re just really excited for the rest of the season.”
The Quakers (4-1, 0-1 Olympic Patriot) started the third quarter with a 3-pointer from Julia Blong that pushed their lead to 26-15, but a scrappy Cinnaminson team wasn’t about to go away. The Pirates went on an 11-4 run to close the gap to 30-26. But for every run Cinnaminson made, Moorestown seemed to have an answer. Analyse Intenzo converted a traditional three-point play then scored again as Moorestown closed out the fourth quarter with a 37-26 lead.
“Every time we play them it’s a battle and we expect them to come out and play physically. We just have to match that. They are a great team, we just happened to come out on top today. We worked really hard in the offseason, so I feel like we were prepared for any situation that we faced at the end of the game,” Murphy said. “The key was just keeping our composure and trusting ourselves, and not getting caught up in everything that was going on. We just had to stay composed and play our game.”
“We are a third-quarter team. After halftime we tend to push through and extend our leads,” added fellow senior Rima Takla. “We always talk about working hard and getting up and down the court. We all trust each other, we all know we can be strong with the ball.”
Cinnaminson (4-2, 1-0 Burlington County Scholastic League Liberty) was able to close the gap to 42-36 with a little more than two minutes remaining on a baseline bucket by Ava Sztenderowicz, who led all scorers with 14 points, and then got as close as 43-38 on a pair of free throws by Ellie Zarnawski, but the Quakers were able to hit a couple of free throws in the final 25 seconds to seal the deal.
“We play for each other because we’re all really close friends, both on and off the court. We’re working hard for each other and that carries over into the game,” Takla said. “Hopefully we can just keep winning and doing what we’ve been doing. A lot of our focus is just beating teams down the court, pushing the ball and getting better with our passes. We’re returning a lot of our team, and we’ve built a lot of confidence and trust in each other.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Moorestown travels to Wildwood Catholic on Thursday at 6 p.m. Cinnaminson hosts Moorestown Friends on Monday at 9:30 a.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
