Lady Mustangs keep playoff hopes alive
By: John E. Powers
They had lost three straight games and four of five, the win being over a team that was 1-7. Their shooting was miserable and their trademark of relentless defense and hustle was even fading.
The way things were going for the Manville High School girls’ basketball team, their season was on the verge of spiraling out of reach as their record fell below .500 at 6-7.
Then, the girls answered with arguably their best game of the year. The Lady Mustangs returned to the .500 mark with an impressive 51-21 win over Roselle Park, a team the MHS girls had struggled to beat in December.
The shooting was there. The balance was there, with nine of the 10 players scoring. And the forced turnovers and manic hustle was back in full bloom.
Junior forward Heather Mathieu scored 12 points and junior guard Renee Giraldi had an outstanding all-around game with 11 points, six rebounds, six steals and four assists in a game that everybody hoped would put the team back on track.
"We’re playing them one at a time and we’re trying to do the best we can," Manville coach Paul Lenihan said. afterward. "We played a little bit more man-to-man tonight and we tried to pressure the ball a little more tonight. If everybody gets a touch on the pass and everybody contributes, our offense is going to come and go. It’s the defense that we have to keep working on and working on. Tonight we had a little offense and we were a pleased that we made some headway with our offense."
A 12-0 run between the first and second quarters basically was the major difference of the game. Two Mathieu 3-pointers sparked the run.
"She’s talking about getting her confidence and that’s exactly what she needs," Lenihan said. "Once she gets her confidence she can really shoot the ball. She doesn’t take many shots, but we’re trying to talk her into taking some more.”
Lenihan also had special praise for Giraldi.
"She’s really smooth and she works so hard," Lenihan said. "Renee is smooth and polished. We have a very good mix of kids.”
Mathieu connected on her first two shots of the night, which she said was very important in setting the tempo of the game.
"I’m getting confidence and I’m getting pretty good looks at the basket," she said. "You hit your first shot and you feel like you make the rest."
The second half was even better. Manville went into half-time with a 24-11 cushion, but quickly pushed the advantage to 38-15. Diana Weaver took a pass from Giraldi and banked one in for a 26-11 lead. Giraldi made a steal, then converted a lay-up for a 28-11 advantage. Roselle Park’s Becky Riccatelli hit a short jumper to make it 28-13, but junior center Amy Ortman pulled down a rebound and fed Giraldi for another lay-up for a 30-13 lead.
"You can’t beat their hustle," Lenihan said. "That defense and hustle is fantastic."
The team also avoided getting into foul trouble, which led to a puzzling overtime loss at Bound Brook two weeks ago. By the fourth quarter Friday night, Manville had built a 40-16 lead. An Ortman putback, another pretty Giraldi feed that resulted in a Rachel Rivera basket and an Ortman steal and a Mathieu jumper made it 38-15 with 30 seconds left in the third quarter. The fourth quarter was just the icing on the blowout.
"I thought we had some pretty bad teammwork in our last few games," Mathieu said. "We got into foul trouble and we weren’t really disciplined. Hopefully, this will put us back on the right track."
The state tournament cut-off date is this weekend and Manville needs to win two of three games to qualify. The MHS girls were scheduled to play at Newark Central, a team they had already beaten 50-29 earlier this season. Then, MHS will play on the road against a tough Oak Knoll squad tomorrow.
Saturday, the Lady Mustangs will play Bound Brook for a third time, this time as the No. 13 seed in the Somerset County Tournament. Bound Brook is the No. 12 seed. Manville beat Bound Brook 29-10 in the season-opener at home, but fell in overtime, 35-34 two weeks ago.
"We’ll be ready for that,” Lenihan said.