Girls Basketball: Somerville's season ends in Group III semifinal

TOMS RIVER - After a season in which it continuously exceeded expectations, the Somerville High School girls basketball team ran into an opponent it couldn't overcome. 

The Pioneers fell to Old Tappan 50-30 in the NJSIAA Group III semifinals on Friday night at RWJBarnabas Health Arena. 

Somerville, coming off of its second-straight North 2 Group III sectional title, was held to its lowest point total of the season, and struggled early against Old Tappan's suffocating defense. 

GIRLS BASKETBALL: FRANKLIN BREEZES INTO GROUP IV FINAL 

GIRLS BASKETBALL: NJSIAA GROUP SEMIFINAL ROUNDUP

GIRLS BASKETBALL: NJSIAA TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

"At this point in the year, no matter what, no matter who you're playing, these are the best teams left in the state," Somerville coach Matt Melesurgo said. "We knew that they were a powerhouse, we knew they were very tough defensively, offensively they run great stuff, they have a lot of weapons. There's no right way to end the season but I think they have a lot to be proud of. That's a very good basketball team and for three quarters we hung around, we fought and the expectation was to fight and to battle like we have all season. They just over-matched us in some aspects."

Old Tappan led 12-3 after the first quarter and opened a commanding 25-8 lead with 3:56 remaining in the first half. Down 29-16 at halftime, Somerville held the Golden Knights to only eight points in the third quarter and battled back to trail 37-25 after three. 

In the fourth quarter, it was more of the same for Old Tappan, which outscored the Pioneers 13-5 for the 50-30 final. 

"I just feel like we didn't match the energy they had right away, they kind of got off to a quick start and their pressure really made it tough for us to get in any kind of groove offensively," Melesurgo said. "No matter what we threw out there defensively, they had answers, they have great players and they do a lot of great things and we just struggled to defend. At points it was tough, we made a little bit of a run, kind of hung around a little bit but that's a solid basketball team, wouldn't let us back into the game. All the credit to them."

Emily Markowski led Somerville with nine points while Meghan Douglas scored eight points, all in the second half. Christina Cernuto, the Pioneers' leading scorer, was held to only two points. 

Last season, the expectations were high for the Pioneers and they went on to win their first sectional title since 1985. Since last March, Somerville graduated five seniors, including Melody Van Ness, the program's all-time leading scorer. This time around, expectations were on the low side, as Douglas was the lone returning starter with more than one year of experience. 

But along with Douglas, seniors Sara Tavares, Cernuto and Anna McVerry helped keep the momentum going as the Pioneers finished 22-7 and won the Skyland Conference Valley Division title. 

"Overall the season was amazing, I think the expectations were very low to start and all the talk was about how we're going to miss the group from last year, but there's going to be talk about how much we're going to miss this group too this year," Melesurgo said. "Meghan Douglas, Christina Cernuto, Tavares, the whole group of seniors, McVerry, all had amazing seasons. They just refused to lose this year. We got off to a bad start and we rebounded real fast and the last couple of weeks have been an amazing ride and unfortunately it ended like this, but to be in this game means and shows how hard this group worked all year."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego