Winning with defense, C.H. East girls remain unbeaten

Like her team, Lillian Chukwueze enters every game with the same defensive mind-set.

"We play man-to-man defense, so I know I just have to come out and play as tight as possible," said Chukwueze, a senior guard for the Cherry Hill East girls' basketball team. "That's what our coach tells us to do, and that's what I like to do."

Chukwueze recorded eight steals in the first half, 10 overall, Tuesday night in a 63-43 victory at Lenape.

The senior's smothering defensive approach was the catalyst of a 20-0 run that helped the Cougars remain undefeated. Cherry Hill East improved to 16-0 overall, 4-0 in the Olympic American.

Chukwueze "is a scrapper," East coach Kim Keyack said. "And I think she really gets it going for us on defense. And when one person is hustling for us like that, the next person hustles, too."

Marie Boisvert (12 points), Michelle Onu (12), and Darby Festa (11) each scored in double figures for the Cougars.

Lenape opened the game on a 6-0 run. At that point, even the referees expected Cherry Hill East to call a timeout.

The refs blew the whistle and stopped the game, thinking they had heard a call from the Cougars' bench.

But Keyack said a timeout was the last thing on her mind.

"They thought I called a timeout, and I told them, 'No, we've been down 6-0 before,' " she said. " 'We've been down 10-0 before.' And when something like that happens, we just have to say to ourselves, 'OK, it's time to step up,' "

The strategy worked.

The Cougars scored the game's next 20 points and went into halftime up by 37-12.

East forced 24 turnovers in the first half, including a stretch in the first quarter when it forced turnovers on nine consecutive possessions.

"We wanted to put a lot of pressure on the guards today," Keyack said. "But we play man-to-man every game. There's really no need to scout us, because that's what we're going to play."

Lenape came out stronger in the second half. The Indians were more protective of the ball and outscored East, 16-10, in the third quarter.

But the first-half deficit was too much to overcome.

Advia Campbell paced Lenape (13-6, 2-3) with 11 points.

"I give all the credit to East," Lenape coach Lynn Brennan said. "They came in here and played a hard-fought game. They're well balanced. They have senior experience. So I'll chalk [the loss] up to the fact that they have more experienced players."

According to Chukwueze, experience is what helped the team overcome a slow start.

"We know that's what we normally do," Chukwueze said. "A lot of times, we start out slow and then we pick it up. So we didn't panic."

East, the No. 2 team in The Inquirer's South Jersey top 10, is outscoring opponents by an average of almost 30 points over its last 12 games.

"It's a great feeling to be playing this well," Chukwueze said.

Cherry Hill East   16 21 10 16 – 63

Lenape   6 6 16 15 – 43

CHE: Brittany Muniz 9, Caroline DiBartolomeo 2, Marie Boisvert 12, Lil Chukwueze 8, Michelle Onu 12, Darby Festa 11, Rachael Sisholtz 6, Courtney Workman 3.

L: Moira Anthony 3, Advia Campbell 11, Brianna Wylie 10, Cierra Nichols 9, Ashley Young 1, Taylor Holmes 5, Alexis Sears 4.