Cedar Creek’s paint power featuring Blackwell, Thomas too much for Collingswood to handle

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher EGG HARBOR CITY — Middle Township, Lower Cape May Regional and Audubon — you are officially on notice. The “twin towers” are back. Cedar Creek’s Fatimah Blackwell has been bothered by a leg injury for much of the season, but she recently made her return to the court and that could spell trouble for the rest of the teams in the South Jersey Group 2 playoff bracket. It certainly did for No. 12 Collingswood on Monday night. The Panthers were no match for Blackwell and fellow 6-footer Casey Thomas, as the host and fifth-seeded Pirates raced out to a 27-4 first-quarter lead and never looked back in a dominating 55-33 win in the opening round of the state playoffs. Cedar Creek (20-7), champions of the Cape-Atlantic League’s United Conference for the third straight year, advance to face fourth-seeded Middle Township. The other winners in the top half of the bracket were No. 8 Audubon and top-seeded Lower Cape May. “I don’t think we expected to do that, but we all kind of got hot and fed off each other,” said Thomas, who led the Pirates with 16 points. Senior forward Casey Thomas puts up a shot in the paint, scoring two of her game-high 16 points Monday night in Cedar Creek’s playoff win over Collingswood. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) The return of Blackwell added a dimension to Cedar Creek’s offense that Collingswood simply couldn’t match up with. “It does, a lot,” Blackwell said. “Back to the twin towers, as they say. We dominate the boards, and to have us both out there you have the rebounds, the putbacks. “I’ve been back for a couple of days now. I was out for six weeks. It feels really good to play again,” Blackwell added. “It feels really good to play together as a whole team, no injuries, everybody is back in. At first I was a little iffy, I thought I would need two more weeks of physical therapy but then the doctors said all I needed was one week. I was like, oh my God, I’m just thankful that I am back for the playoffs, my team needs me. To be back feels really good.” “It’s great that she’s back. We’re all super excited that she’s back, we’re finally whole again and all playing as a team,” Thomas said. “It’s the first time this season that we are all good to go.” Blackwell finished with 12 points but could have had much more. She didn’t play most of the second half, as Cedar Creek had built up an insurmountable 41-9 lead by halftime. Maddy Tomasello added 11 points and Shannon Fletcher chipped in with seven. Thomas said the win was a big confidence booster going into the Pirates’ second-round matchup with Middle Township on Wednesday night. “It was one of those games that we really needed to prove to ourselves that we are still in it and still have it in us to go far,” Thomas said. Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]