Johnson Ousted By Plainfield
As UCT Moves Into Semifinals

CLARK - The Crusaders tried their best.

Johnson, the fifth seed, even led by five points after the first eight minutes in an attempt to prevent all four top seeds from advancing to the Final Four.
However, in the end, fourth-seeded Plainfield proved too poised, powerful and prodigious.

Malia Underwood connected on her only three-point field at the second quarter buzzer to extend Plainfield's lead to four at the break before the Cardinals began separation in the third quarter thanks to some strong offensive rebounding and converting Johnson turnovers.

"They were able to speed the game up and we made a lot of bad passes," Johnson head coach Joe Marino said.

Plainfield went on to post a convincing 58-44 Union County Tournament quarterfinal round triumph over Johnson Saturday, Feb. 14 at Johnson High School in the second of the four quarterfinal contests played there.

The other top seeds also won, with top-seeded New Providence first eliminating ninth-seeded Elizabeth 70-39 in a battle of the last two champions. Then in the evening games it was second-seeded Westfield over 10th-seeded Oak Knoll 54-21 and third-seeded Union Catholic beating sixth-seeded Cranford 50-46.

50TH ANNUAL UCT GIRLS BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
AT JOHNSON HIGH SCHOOL IN CLARK
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 18

4-Plainfield (13-10) vs. 1-New Providence (22-1), 6 p.m.

3-Union Catholic (12-9) vs. 2-Westfield (17-6), 7:30 p.m.

(team records are through games played Saturday, Feb. 14)

Regular season Union County Conference-Watchung Division play:

Dec. 16: New Providence 64, Plainfield 51 - at New Providence

Jan. 15: New Providence 60, Plainfield 53 - at Plainfield

Jan. 8: Westfield 59, Union Catholic 36 - at Westfield

Feb. 3: Westfield 53, Union Catholic 51 - at Union Catholic

The 50th annual girls basketball Union County Tournament is scheduled to continue Wednesday, Feb. 18 with semifinal contests at Johnson that include Plainfield vs. New Providence at 6 p.m., followed by Union Catholic vs. Westfield at 7:30 p.m.

The championship game is set to be played Sunday, Feb. 22 at Kean University's Harwood Arena in Union, with a tentative starting time of 2 p.m., before the boys final.

Plainfield, which outscored Johnson 50-31 after the first quarter, was sparked by the play of senior guard Jahnae Lembrick, who led all scorers with 16 points. Others who contributed mightily included Imani Mullings with nine points, Stacy Argueta Gracelia with eight and Underwood and Kazhae Casey with seven each.

"They were able to expand the court and they were faster than us," Marino said.

Johnson jumped out to a 6-1 start that included the Crusaders beginning with a full court press. Jordanna Tarentino made the first two of her eight free throws and then produced a layup to put Johnson up 4-0. Elizabeth Fitzharris then scored off an offensive rebound to make it 6-1.

A layup by Avery Forfa gave Johnson an 11-6 lead. Two more free throws by Tarentino made it 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Tarentino and Alisia Hamm paced Johnson offensively with 12 points each.
Plainfield improved to 13-10, while Johnson fell to 18-3.

Later in the day Cranford, the sixth seed, also led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter against third-seeded Union Catholic in the fourth and final quarterfinal of the day at Louis J. Peragallo Gymnasium. Union Catholic came back to take a one-point lead heading into the fourth quarter en route to a 50-46 triumph in the closest quarterfinal of the day.

The teams previously split UCC-Watchung Division battles, Cranford winning 35-34 at Union Catholic Dec. 18 and Union Catholic winning 57-48 at Cranford Jan. 20.

Johnson, the Union County Conference-Mountain Division champions perfect at 12-0, is next scheduled to host Kent Place Friday, Feb. 19 at 5:30 p.m.

The Crusaders will then prepare for the Central Jersey, Group 2 playoffs that will commence Tuesday, Feb. 24. Johnson expects to get the No. 3 seed and would be home for the first two rounds should the Crusaders win their first-round game.

"We like where we are," Marino said. "We're set up to play two home games and then hopefully get another shot at Rumson."

Johnson lost at Rumson-Fair Haven 73-37 in the second round last year. Manasquan is the defending champion.

UCT QUARTERFINAL AT JOHNSON
5-Johnson Crusaders (18-3)            13             10             12             09 - 44
4-Plainfield Cardinals (13-10)         08             19             19             12 - 58

5-JOHNSON CRUSADERS (44):
3-Elizabeth Fitzharris, senior, 4-0-0-8
2-Alisia Hamm, senior, 1-3-1-12
10-Avery Forfa, senior, 1-1-0-5
11-Jordanna Tarentino, senior, 2-0-8-12
12-Julia Lettini senior, 2-0-0-4
4-Clare Brighouse, junior, 0-1-0-3 
15-Audrey Humphries, sophomore, 0-0-0-0
13-Giuliana Hamm, sophomore
Starters: Fitzharris, A. Hamm,
Forfa, Tarentino, Lettini.
Totals: 10-5-9-44.

4-PLAINFIELD CARDINALS (58):
1-Jahnae Lembrick, senior, 6-1-1-16
21-Sarae Croley-Battle, junior, 1-0-6-8
11-Imani Mullings, senior, 3-1-0-9
2-Malia Underwood, sophomore, 2-1-0-7
23-Kazhae Casey, senior, 3-0-1-7
33-Stacy Argueta Graceila, junior, 4-0-0-8
24-Mackenzie Anderson Cook, junior, 0-0-0-0
Starters: Underwood, Mullings,
Croley-Battle, Casey, Anderson Cook.
Totals: 19-3-8-55.