Rumson-FH edges Shore in girls’ season opener
Defense shines
for both teams
CHRIS KELLY Shore Regional’s Melissa Lehman and Rumson Fair Haven’s Carly Golden dive for a loose ball during their game in West Long Branch on Friday night.
Championship teams make their foul shots. And in the season-opening game for each team, Rumson-Fair Haven’s girls topped their counterparts from Shore Regional, thanks in large part to their ability to make their foul shots.
Shore Regional sent Rumson-Fair Haven to the line five teams in a Shore Conference B Central matchup, and it was from the line that the Bulldogs won the game, 36-28, making nine out of 10 shots.
"It’s really difficult to simulate foul shooting from a game during practice," Rumson coach George Sourlis said. "The only thing you can do is to have them do it when the girls are really tired, so they have to concentrate more."
But Shore gave the favored Bulldogs all they could handle, providing them with an early-season scare, thanks in part to their tenacious style of defense.
Leading 25-19 into the fourth quarter, Carly Golden dropped in Rumson’s only bucket from the field on an outside jumper.
With Rumson controlling the ball with clean, crisp passes, Shore was forced to foul their guests to get a chance at the ball.
Five times Rumson went to the line in the closing minutes of the game, pulling ahead to an eight-point lead after going 9-for-10 from the charity stripe.
Chrissy Fisher drained four, while Golden dropped in three, and Jody Robbins two.
"Shore played a great game," Sourlis said. "They came after us, playing as hard as they could possibly do. Shore should be congratulated for their effort; they came out thinking that they could beat us, and they could have."
After Rumson ran the first quarter for a 12-4 lead, the Blue Devils came back, behind baskets from Kaitlin Hampton (two), Megan Villane, Tori West (both one) and Kristin Brady (a trey), to end the first half trailing by one point.
"I was thrilled with the way we played," said Shore coach Lou Petrone. "Rumson is a legitimate top five team in the state, a great talent, and has a great coach. We played them for 32 minutes, as hard as we could. The girls did everything we asked them to do."
Despite their efforts in the closing moments of the first half, Shore offense bowed to the overpowering defense of the Dawgs.
In the third quarter Rumson only allowed a Shore to score four points, then held them to nine in the fourth.
"I don’t think we played our ‘A’ game, but defensively we did what we had to do," Sourlis said. "We only gave up 28 points in a four-quarter game."
Leading all scorers for the night was Rumson’s Amanda DeMartino and Golden, who both sank 10 points.
Shore’s leading scorer was Hampton, who drained four from the field for eight points.