CHATHAM, NJ -- At some point in the future, Chatham girls basketball coach Joe Gaba knows that his team will have to score off its half-court offense in order to pull out a tight game.

But, for now, he's more than happy to see his team thriving early in games off its full-court pressure and taking early leads.

Such was the case on Tuesday evening when Chatham's full-court pressure led to a 23-point halftime lead and an eventual 57-41 win vs. Cranford in second-day action of the "Cougar Classic."

SIGNUPSCRIPT

"Today we came out and played to our standard in the first half, not picking up any bad habits, and trying to push tempo, execute a little in the half-court, which we did, and kind of take over the game early," Gaba said.

Chatham (5-1) started with a full-court press and took the lead right away on a basket inside by Cami McKenzie off a Riley Allen feed (see below).

Cougar sophomore guard Mia Semioli, who scored seven of her team-high 15 points in the first quarter, followed with a 3-pointer from the top of the key (see below).

Chatham sophomore Ella Kreuzer scored 14 points and contributed to the fast start with two 3-pointers in the first quarter.

The Cougars put together a 14-1 run in the second quarter that began with two free throws made by Addison Barrett, Kreuzer's drive to the basket and Maeve Bogue's basket inside off a pass from Semioli.

Semioli followed with a drive to the basket (see below) and Bogue followed by sinking two foul shots.

Chatham closed out the second quarter with a Kreuzer fast-break layup off a steal and pass by Allen, McKenzie's interception of a pass that she converted into two points and Kreuzer's reverse layup that made it 33-10 at the break.

"Right now we're winning games because of our transitional offense and our pressure defense," Gaba said. "There is going to be a time in point this season when we're going to have to execute in the half court. That's something that we'll just have to work on. In the third quarter, we came out and worked on our zone looks to practice them, because we're going to need it in the future."

Allen (10 points) hit two 3-pointers and scored on an offensive rebound put-back to help Chatham push its lead to 51-21. Gaba emptied his bench early in the fourth quarter.

COUGAR NOTES: The Cougars will try to go 3-0 in the round-robin "Cougar Classic" when it meets Watchung Hills (4-2) on Thursday at 6 p.m. Watchung Hills also won its first two games of the classic in matchups with Cranford and Ramsey ... Cougar sophomore Ella Kreuzer had her streak of scoring at least 20 points snapped at three games when she scored 14 on Tuesday night. She hit 5-of-6 shots from the floor in the first half in scoring 12 points over the first two quarters ... Chatham was 8 for 8 from the foul line with Addison Barrett 4 for 4 and Mia Semioli and Maive Bogue each 2 for 2 ... Cranford made 5 of 6 attempts from the line.