By Andy Loigu

Just like Old Man River, the Warren Hills and North Warren girls and Hackettstown boys basketball teams are rolling along, into the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex quarterfinals.

The Hackettstown boys are 15-2, on a nine-game win streak. The North Warren girls recently lost 50-31 in Morris County at Jefferson, but stand at 17-2 as this is being typed onto the screen. The Warren Hills girls started slowly but now are on a nine-game win streak and stand at 14-5.

At Warren Hills, the Blue Streaks advanced to the quarters with a 57-34 win over visiting Kittatinny on Saturday. The visitors were coming off a first round win over Hackettstown. Warren Hills will host rootin’ tootin’ Newton on Saturday, Feb. 15, at a time to be determined in the quarterfinal game.
Heather Laffan led Warren Hills with 17 points, 11 of them from the foul line. Advika Thandoni contributed a 10-rebound performance. With a strong inside game, Kittatinny stayed close in the first half and trailed 28-21 at the intermission. It was time for the Blue Streaks’ defense to clamp down on their foes with a trapping zone press and they caused a multitude of turnovers in outscoring Kittatinny 12-5 in period three. Four straight free throws by Laffan closed out the period with the Streaks leading 40-26.

When Maddie Morgan placed a long distance call from behind the three point circle, the lead had grown to 50-28 with less than four minutes on the clock and the game was basically over.

“We answered a challenge today,” said Warren Hills coach Meg McGeehan, noting that nobody on the team expects defending the title which they won last year to be easy.

Third seed North Warren will host 11-seed Phillipsburg at a time to be determined in Saturday’s quarterfinal. Normally a match between small school North Warren and huge-enrollment Phillipsburg would be considered David versus Goliath, but in basketball, you only need five players on the court. North Warren goes seven deep, with players veteran coach Jill Masker describes as girls who love to play all year long and always are in shape and ready to run and push a fast tempo.

Junior Sophia Knerr is the sectional cross country champion in North 1 Group 1 and keeps going and going, like the Energizer Bunny. Her persistent and relentless defensive pressure disrupts opposing offenses and ignites fast transition breakaways. In the Patriots’ 40-25 win over Delaware Valley in the first round, Tiffani Szkarlatiuk was as tough to stop as she is to spell, leading the scoring with 14 points. Maddie Allen added 13 and Quincey McGuinness contributed 11. The Patriots start three sophomores and two juniors. By now you could call them “advanced sophomores.”

The Hackettstown boys will host the Del Val Terriers on Saturday (time TBD) “in the jungle.” The Tigers had a pair of 20-point scorers when they devoured the Newton Braves (now 13-7) last weekend. Tyler Gorczyca and Shawn Morgan both hit the 20 mark while Jalen Baptiste added 10.

The Tigers recently won a “statement game” over a respected Union County program with a 58-55 win at Hillside in the Coaches versus Cancer Showcase. Hackettstown officials keep involving their team in charitable causes and for doing so they deserve a great big huzzah (people used to say that 100 years ago) from the local media. The Tigers defeated a tough Wallkill Valley squad on the road on Feb. 4 by a 75-56 score.

Saying this Tigers team is roaring would be so obvious, but why not? It’s local sports.

..…Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis has left the building.