Patriots fall short in state quarterfinals
BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer

COLONIA - The season came to an end last week for the Colonia High School girls basketball team when the Patriots suffered a 45-26 loss to South Plainfield in the quarterfinals of the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2 Group III Tournament.

Colonia fell behind early after South Plainfield opened the game with a 13-3 run in the first quarter. Despite playing the state powerhouse close in the following two quarters, Colonia was gassed by the time the fourth quarter came around and dreams of a major upset came to an end.

"We lost to a better team," Colonia head coach Tom Chmiel said. "South Plainfield has a load of talent and they pressure the ball really well. We got in a hole early and it's so difficult to come back against a team like that."

Colonia was led by Tiffany McDaniel's 13 points while South Plainfield got double-digit scoring efforts from Chantiyana Beckett, Niya Santiago, and Blaire Houston.

With the loss, Colonia's McDaniel will now concentrate on choosing a college to bring her high-scoring act to this fall. The senior became the school's all-time leading scorer this season finishing her career with over 1,100 points.

"Tiffany has some choices to make," Chmiel said. "She has schools like St. Peters, Stockton, and Bloomfield very interested in her. She still has to decide what's best for her."

Also playing their final game for Colonia last week were fellow seniors Brittany Morgan and Rosalyn Martin.

"Brittany was one of our biggest clutch players and a great leader," Chmiel said. "Both Brittany and Rosalyn were physical players that gave us some strong inside presence. We will definitely be a different kind of team next year. We'll probably try to push the ball up the floor more and try to develop a stronger outside game."

Expected to be back next season with high expectations of picking up the slack left by the trio of departing seniors is freshman Chelsea Cimilucca, sophomores Sasha Hall and Simone Smith, and junior Nicole Aquila.

"Sasha was our starting point guard the entire season and she did a nice job," Chmiel said. "Simone will probably move from forward to center next season and be our inside force."

Aquila and Cimilucca saw some minutes off the bench this season and are likely candidates to play themselves into starting positions.

Another player expected to be a major contributor is junior Jesse Muse. Muse was sidelined much of this season due to injury but came back for the season's final stretch.

"Jesse's injury kept getting worse so her time was limited this year," Chmiel said. "She's probably the best outside shooter on the team so she could be a key element to next year's lineup."