Lady Mustangs break 10-year drought in CJ 1
By: Rudy Brandl
There aren’t many basketball teams who could win a game shooting 22 percent from the field and under 40 percent from the free throw line.
The Manville High girls played such good defense in Tuesday night’s Central Jersey Group 1 preliminary round game against Dunellen that those horrible statistics didn’t matter. The eighth-seeded Lady Mustangs hounded the visitors all over the court and forced 36 turnovers to post a convincing 36-23 victory.
Manville (12-11) will challenge No. 1 Highland Park on the road in Thursday night’s CJ 1 quarterfinals.
"It was a great, great defensive effort," MHS head coach Paul Lenihan said afterward. "I’m really pleased with the girls. We’re not the most skilled kids offensively, but they work extremely hard on defense."
Despite their defensive prowess, the MHS girls had to fight for their lives in the first half. Manville trailed on three different occasions but never trailed after taking an 11-10 lead into the locker room.
While the first half certainly wasn’t a work of art, the Lady Mustangs were leading despite making only 4-of-33 field goal attempts.
"Coach really boosted our confidence at halftime and kept us going," said sophomore Heather Mathieu, who hit two 3-pointers and finished the game with eight points. "We all just stuck together as a team."
Junior point guard Rachel Rivera took over in the third quarter, scoring all seven of her points in a 12-4 run that produced a nine-point lead. Rivera hit a three and tossed in two reverse layups to start the surge. Manville finished the quarter on a 7-0 spurt, with Kristin Shubiak cutting behind the defense for a back door layup and Mathieu nailing her second bomb of the night to make it 23-14.
Dunellen never challenged in the final quarter despite the fact that Rivera fouled out with 3:26 to play. Renee Giraldi moved over from the wing to take over the point and did a marvelous job. Giraldi converted a beautiful pass from Shubiak for a layup and converted 7-of-12 free throws in the final frame. The sophomore guard finished with a game-high 11 points.
"We need Rachel on the floor, but Renee did a great job taking over for her," Lenihan said. "She did a terrific job at the foul line in the fourth quarter."
The Lady Mustangs also dominated the glass, with sophomore center Amy Ortman collecting a game-high 13 rebounds and power forward Shubiak grabbing 10. While neither player could turn their offensive rebounds into points, both boxed out and prevented Dunellen from getting second shots.
Manville did a solid job on Dunellen standout player Veronica Bogamozova, who struggled for eight points.
"We tried to shade her," Lenihan said. "Whenever she got the ball, we were on her because we know she’s a real good shooter."
The victory completed a three-game sweep of Dunellen. More importantly, it ended a 10-year drought for the Manville girls in the state playoffs.
"It’s fantastic," Lenihan said. "What counts is the effort. We tell them to play as hard as they can and let the chips fall where they may. We’re going to go down fighting every game."