If you’ve followed the Highstown girls basketball program over the past few seasons, you know that senior captain Abby Misier rarely leaves the court.
So when Missiel woke up Monday morning, whatever illness was happening in the area, it wasn’t the best option for her or the Rams.
Top-seeded Hightstown nearly found a way to hold off No. 16 seed Marlboro in the first round of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 sectional last week. The Rams look to advance to the conference semifinals for the third straight season when they take on tricky eighth-seeded Old Bridge on Monday night.
True to form, Misier did not let her team down, with Hightstown winning 54-50 (23-5).The Rams advance to host fourth-seeded Jackson Memorial Game Wednesday at 6 p.m.
For Missiel, this was her “Flu Game,” just like Michael Jordan’s Game 5 of the 1997 NBA Finals, when the greatest player in NBA history played with the flu and scored 38 points to help the Chicago Bulls defeat the Utah Jazz 3-2.
Myhill scored a team-high 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, including 18 points in the decisive third and fourth quarters after the team fell behind at halftime. Penelope Swarn added 12 points for the Rams and Caitlyn Nagle scored eight of her 10 points in the first half.
Marilyn Togun led Old Bridge (11-15) with 18 points.
Missier struggled physically for much of the game, but when push came to shove, she took over and kept her team through another night.
“I just don’t want this to be my last game,” Mihir said. “And it’s really just for everyone. I don’t want our season to end tonight. So I just have to keep going and as a team, I thought we put our heart and soul into it and finished the game really strong.”
After one quarter, the two teams were tied at 16-16. With 4 minutes left in the first half, Hayston opened up an 8-point advantage 29-21. But Old Bridge scored the final 10 points of the second half with the help of two 3-pointers from Togon to end the game 31-29.
With the visitors holding a slim lead midway through the third quarter, Missile managed to knock down some baskets — some on his first shot, some after grabbing rebounds himself and following up on misses — to put the Rams on the line. The team leads 41-39. The last eight minutes.
“The last four minutes of the third quarter were important,” Hightstown head coach Jenna Marcus said. “It’s difficult to play from behind. Against Marlboro, we played tight. After we took the lead again tonight, I think we started to feel more confident.
“We were able to execute at the end of the third quarter, make some minor changes, and that was huge for us.”
In the fourth quarter, Missier, who played the entire game with the burden of battling illness on his shoulders, somehow found the strength to keep his team ahead. She scored all but two of the Rams’ points in the final eight minutes and kept her career alive in another game.
“We never backed down in the second half,” Mizil said. “My shots were shorter the whole game just because I was sick. I knew if I could grab my own rebound and get back up, I could score. “We just took advantage of what we had. “
Now, the Rams will host Jackson Memorial for the second consecutive season with a chance to reach the Central Jersey Group 4 finals. The Jaguars beat Hightstown 61-44 last season before defeating Monroe to win the sectional title.
Not that Hightstown needs any more motivation, but the Rams will do whatever they can to keep winning games.
“We lost in the semifinals the last two years and last year we lost to Jackson,” Marcus said. “I think they’re totally focused no matter what, but it just gives us an element of revenge. We don’t want them to come into our gym again and take stuff away from us.
“We want to show who the Hightstown girls basketball program is.”
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