WEST MILFORD – The Lady Highlanders couldn’t keep up with NV - Old Tappan in the first round of the State Tournament on Tuesday night, losing the away contest by a score of 80-40, ending the team's season.
The Golden Knights came out strong from the start, outscoring West Milford 29-4 in the opening quarter.
Even with junior Ashley Jacobs’ double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds), the Lady Highlanders were never able to recover.
That makes it four consecutive losses to finish the season for West Milford, as the team was coming off of an away loss to Roxbury heading into Tuesday night’s game.
In that game, the Lady Highlanders couldn’t overcome a dominant second quarter by the Gaels, in which Roxbury outscored the Lady Highlanders 19-9.
While West Milford was able to chip away at the lead, it ultimately wasn’t enough.
The final score was 40-34.
Jacobs had a team-leading 14 points along with nine rebounds in that game, while sophomore Alex Buonano led the team with 11 rebounds.
Jacobs also led the team in both points (10) and rebounds (11) in the Lady Highlanders’ previous loss to Sparta on Feb. 21.
That was a close contest, with the score being 16-15 at the half in favor of the Spartans, but the second half was a different story.
Sparta outscored West Milford 37-14 over the final two periods, making the final score 53-29.
The Lady Highlanders finish the season with a record of 7-18.