On Tuesday, March 8, #2 Madison went up against #1 Hackettstown in the state sectional tournament to win the title of the North 2 Group 2 State Champions. The Dodgers dominated throughout the game and finished with a huge 16 point lead against the Tigers with a final score of 48-32.

This is a major win for the Dodgers–the last time Madison High School won a state tournament was 25 years ago. Back in 1997, the Dodgers ended their season with an impressive record of 21-6, which, at the time, was the best record ever in Madison girls basketball history. But after Madison’s win against Hackettstown earlier this week, the 2022-Dodgers surpassed this record with 22 wins and 6 losses, making them the winningest team in Madison history. 

Forward Vivian Summerlin was ecstatic to win the championship in her last year of playing with Madison: “I cannot express how grateful and excited I am about winning the State Sectional Championship as a senior, especially knowing that we are the first group to accomplish this in 25 years. After 4 years of commitment and hard work towards this sport, I am completely elated, overjoyed, and proud of myself and all of my teammates that we were able to come out victorious. It was the absolutely perfect way to close out my basketball career, I could not be happier with how my journey has ended.”

Coach DiTuro, who has nothing but pride for her team, describes how she felt winning the championship: “It was an amazing feeling to win the state championship with this team.  It is a truly special group of players that have a true team mindset.  There is so much support and respect for each other.  They truly accomplished this together and I am just so incredibly proud of them.”

After Madison’s win, the girls were escorted back into town with an entourage of supporters. “After the game I didn’t really realize how big [the win] actually was till we rode back into town with the fire trucks and police cars behind us with the lights and sirens on,” notes junior guard Gwen Tuhy.

The Dodgers racked up a number of impressive stats during the game, and it was all due to a strong mentality. “Our mindset was just to stay focused and not to get all caught up in the crowd and the fans,” says Tuhy. “We knew that there was going to be a lot of Hackettstown fans so we just needed to stay focused on what we have been doing all season.” It was especially important for the Dodgers to just “leave everything out on the court” according to Summerlin. “…in order to win we couldn’t let up on any aspect of our game and had to keep our intensity going.” Sophomore Beau Braverman scored a total of 17 points, with freshman Charlotte Tuhy following her with 13 points and 8 rebounds. Junior Alex Reigle scored 6 points and a total of 11 rebounds, while freshman Gabby Mariani managed 5 assists and 5 steals. Finally, junior Erin Kleiven contributed 5 points and 3 steals. 

Here are some highlights from the game: “We got important contributions from everyone on both sides of the ball,” says Coach DiTuro. “We have some truly great defenders on our team, Gabby, Erin and Rileigh are so tough on the ball. Alex was a monster on the boards last night and stopped their leading scorer, she held them to only 3 offensive rebounds. And on the other side of the ball, Beau had a huge third quarter, hit some big time 3s and Charlotte cemented the victory with 8 straight points in the 4th. There were some big moments from Viv and Gwen in the second as well that bailed us out of a bad foul situation. It was a really well executed game. They played so hard. Our whole group, Mae, Gwen, Ashley and Maggie got us ready for this match. A total team effort.”

Unfortunately, the Dodgers lost to Franklin Township on Thursday, March 10, with a final score of 52-33, thus eliminating them from the NJSIAA Group 2 tournament and ending their season.