The Summit Lady Hilltoppers traveled north to West Essex which was celebrating senior night in their gym. In a very classy move the WE coach cited the Summit seniors before talking about his own senior players. During the ceremony you could see Summit chomping at the bit wanting to get to the court, and when the opening tip was won by Summit they raced to a 15-7 first quarter lead. Moving the ball, shooting keenly, and playing hard defense and rebounding, the girls rode the shooting of Cassie Hall and Emily Cristaldi to forge a lead. But some early foul trouble for Alex Reid sent the senior to the bench and opened up the court for WE’s star senior player, who scored 6 quick points and the lead narrowed to 28-26 at half. 

Only some solid shooting by Jenna Wilson and Kate Martino kept Summit ahead, and when the Hilltoppers’ shots failed to drop in the third, WE forged ahead 41-40 at the end of three.  Summit got 6 points from Reid in the quarter, but she also shut down WE’s small forward to help keep the game close. It was still a see-saw battle in the fourth, when Summit turned up the defensive pressure a notch and began taking care of the ball. All six players scored in the quarter to keep Summit ahead. Reid had a terrific rebound put back and 4 free throws to keep summit in it. Wilson had a nice 20 footer and two throws. Cassie Hall hit a key jumper from the side under pressure. Freshman Martino , who had a flawless game handling the ball and dished a season high 6 assists , hit two key foul shots to take a 54 -52 lead. Cristaldi hit two of her throws to get Summit to 56-52. Melissa Scott was inserted into the game as the team’s best free throw shooter, but she came up with a big steal and hit the driving layup with two WE players draped all over her. With time and WE’s hopes running out, Reid stole a ball at half court and laid it up and in to seal the victory. She led the team with 16 points and 8 rebounds, but Summit got significant and vital contributions from every player to record their second win over a highly ranked WE team.

Note: Summitsports.org owes a special thanks to John Reid. Over the past four years he has provided most of the write-ups and comprehensive women's statistics that have appeared on the website. John is a marvel. It is difficult to keep just a few key statsistics as the game proceeds, but John, by some magical sense, is able to keep them all. Thank You, John!