Lady Highlanders take tough tourney loss in OT, 67-60

The West Milford High School girls’ basketball team got knocked out in the first round of the Passaic County Tournament on Saturday, but the loss followed the Lady Highlanders’ sixth win of the season.

In the team’s Feb. 6 victory over Clifton, West Milford exploded for a 16-2 first quarter run and never looked back.

The score was 26-6 by halftime and it was more of the same in the second half, with the final score 52-23.

Junior guard Rory McCormick led the Lady Highlanders in scoring with 18 points, while sophomore Rachel Chandler added 10 of her own.

Going into the win, West Milford was coming off of a couple of losses, the first to Wayne Hills on Jan. 30 and the next to Fair Lawn on Feb. 4.

Sophomore Samantha Araujo led the team with 11 points in the losing effort against Wayne Hills, while Chandler chipped in with six of her own.

Senior forward Ashley Jacobs led the team in the Fair Lawn loss with her seven points, but senior Kristina Fedor wasn’t far behind with six.

In both losses, the Lady Highlanders couldn’t overcome dominant first quarters from their opponents, getting outscored 17-9 and 10-4 respectively.

It seemed like it was going to be the same story in Saturday’s tournament game against Passaic Tech, with West Milford getting outscored 10-4 in the opening period and down 32-21 at the half.

The Lady Highlanders, however, stormed back to tie the game at 56 at the end of regulation.

Unfortunately, the team couldn’t keep it up in overtime, as they were outscored 11-4 en route to the 67-60 loss.

West Milford entered the tournament as the seventh seed and Passaic Tech the 10th.

McCormick led the Lady Highlanders in scoring against Passaic Tech with 13 points, while both Jacobs and Chandler chipped in with 12 points apiece.

The Lady Highlanders (6-11) were looking to get back on track on Tuesday, when the team was scheduled to take on Lakeland at home.