Girls Basketball: Spotswood rolls to victory over South River

SPOTSWOOD - Good things are happening for the Spotswood High School girls basketball team this season. 

The Chargers (9-4) picked up their fifth win in six games with a 48-28 victory over rival South River on Wednesday night in a Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division matchup. 

It was the second time this season the two teams had met, and was a very different outcome from the 45-43 victory the Chargers picked up back on Dec. 18. The two wins this season also marked the first time in eight years that Spotswood defeated South River (8-4).

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"It feels awesome, especially because we broke an eight year streak this year of losing to South River," Spotswood's Erin Malin said of the victory. "So to be able to beat them both times in our season feels incredible."

On Wednesday, Spotswood used its height to its advantage, jumping out to an 11-0 lead after the first quarter. South River battled back in the second, opening on a 6-2 run to climb to within 13-6 with 4:49 remaining. 

Courtney Potter scored to give the Chargers a 15-9 lead, but five-straight points from Tara Beachem pulled the Mustangs to within 18-14 with 37.4 seconds remaining in the half. A 3-pointer from Savannah Robinson gave Spotswood a 21-14 advantage at halftime. 

"Our focus was to run our tempo and I think the first time around we were OK with sitting in a 2-3 and just kind of going shot for shot back and forth," Spotswood coach Jill Hetzler said. "So in the first quarter, and then even in the second half, we switched our defensive scheme to try and let us be in control of how the game was played and how quick it was, so that was our plan. We kind of fell back a little bit there, we didn't keep the same intensity in the second quarter but they got back into it in the third which was good."

South River pulled to within four points at the start of the second half on a 3-pointer from Beachem, but Potter then scored the next eight points and put the Chargers ahead 29-17 with 3:51 left in the third quarter. Another bucket from Beachem cut the lead to 10, but Malin scored to give Spotswood a 31-19 lead after three quarters. 

In the fourth it was more of the same as Spotswood outscored South River 17-9 for the 48-28 final. 

"Last game obviously we beat them, but this time we just had to come in so much stronger because we felt on the court that we were the better team and I feel like we worked the ball around better and our expectations were pretty high for this game," Potter said. "I feel like we're just a very well-rounded team and all of us are very strong shooters. I feel like we're a very strong team mentally, we're all very close with each other, I think that's what makes us strong on the court too."

Malin recorded a double-double for the Chargers with 14 points, 15 rebounds, six blocks, six steals and two assists. Potter finished with 14 points, four steals, three blocks, two assists and one rebound. Robinson chipped in 11 points, including three 3-pointers, three steals, one assist and one block.

"We always have expectations when we play South River because they've always been known as our rival, and I think we just really knew that we had to come out today and play our game because we knew we could beat them," Malin said. "I also think overall we have a decent team and even when the girls come in to play after us, our team all throughout we're all just versatile players and we can all get out there and we have the energy and the skill."

Beachem led South River with 21 points, including five 3s. Ashley Fischer pulled down 10 rebounds and scored three points. 

With Wednesday's win, Spotswood is securely in second place in the Blue Division at 7-1, behind first place Middlesex. South River falls to 5-3 in the division. 

The Chargers started the season 4-0 before hitting a three-game skid against the likes of Middlesex, Morris Catholic and Passaic Tech. The Chargers bounced back and won three straight before falling to Somerville on Jan. 13, but again have rebounded with two wins in a row. 

"It is a big mental game when you go against a team that you know you haven't won against in a long time, and then you got that one but can you do it again," Hetzler said. "They were pumped all week, they very excited to come back into the gym and do this. They had a nice win on Monday against Woodbridge, which built their confidence back up again so they were able to come in here and hopefully control in our court."

Spotswood lost five players to graduation last year, but returned eight players, so the Chargers have a solid mix of players as Potter, Malin, Robinson and Maddie Hellerich have all been big contributors this season. 

"We are absolutely thrilled with the girls, they're working hard every day in practice. We are throwing a lot of different things at them, offensively, defensively, they're adjusting to it, their heads are in it, so we're feeling good about it," Hetzler said. "Three of the starters are seniors, so that's huge, they come in with more composure, but we have really good shooting guards that come of the bench and then we also have sophomore stars too, so we have a good mix. I'm glad to see us kind of starting to get over the hump of changing things up and adapting when we need to and really taking on what the focus is for that day."

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