Cambridge 19, Cooperative 16
Knights go cold, but still beat Jaguars
Never before in league history, and seldom before in the history of basketball, has a team won a game without scoring a single point in the entire second half.
The Cambridge girls varsity basketball team did exactly that Thursday afternoon in their home gym as they moved out to a 19-9 lead over Cooperative in the first half, then held on for dear life as Cooperative slowly chipped away at the lead in the second half.
The final score was 19-16.
Cambridge had a spectacular first half. Indeed, both teams played well, as indicated by the fact that only only one traveling call occurred in the entire first quarter, an almost unheard of achievement.
The difference was that Cambridge was shooting brilliantly, while Cooperative was not. A Cooperative fan observed in disbelief, "It doesn't matter where they shoot from. It goes in."
Sophomore Maira Lino tossed in a three-pointer to get things rolling, and baskets followed in quick succession by Camila Johnson, Raquel Lopez, and Vania Rueda.
And when you're not, you're not
Then suddenly in the second half the Lady Knights seemed to lose their touch. Happily for Cambridge, Cooperative did not regain its shooting eye. Neither team, in fact, scored in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter Cooperative resumed putting points on the board -- but slowly, and mostly on foul shots. Cambridge couldn't seem to buy a basket.
With about a minute and 40 seconds left, and the score 19-16, there was a long officials time out as the referees attempted to deal with Cambridge's malfunctioning scoreboard and reset the clock. (The scoreboard also stopped working near the end of the boys' game.)
Jaguars go for a tie
The clock couldn't be reset and the final seconds were completed somewhat in chaos, without the scoreboard clock, and in a darkening gym where many of the overhead lights were burned out.
Nearly all of the remaining time was spent with Co-operative on the attack in the Cambridge end of the court, but the Jaguars could not connect.
As the clock expired Jaguar Cecelia Aponte threw up a shot from three-point range that looked at first as if it might tie the game, but came down wide of the mark.
The high scorer for Cambridge was Lino with seven points. Johnson had six; Lopez four, Rueda two.
For Cooperative, Cecelia Aponte had eight points, Nataly Noguer had three, Nicole Broersma had two free throws, and Carla Limpias one field goal. and Sophia Sotelo one free throw.
