Ortman, Giraldi reach double figures in victory
By: Rudy Brandl
Although the Manville High girls’ basketball team qualified for the state playoffs primarily due to hard work and defensive determination, the offense played a role in producing a key victory last week.
Knowing they would need at least a split of their Valley Division games to have a shot at making it back to the post-season, the Manville girls took care of business right away. And they did it with offense for a change.
Manville surpassed the 50-point plateau for the second straight game in a 57-33 romp at Newark Central. The team was coming off a superb all-around performance in its 51-21 drubbing of Roselle Park.
The girls matched their season-high point total at Newark, reaching double digits in all four quarters for the second straight game. Amy Ortman netted a season-high 21 points to lead the assault. Renee Giraldi hit eight field goals for a career-best points, while point guard Lisa Lavenia added nine for the winners.
Although the Lady Mustangs dropped a 39-18 game at Oak Knoll on Friday night, they regrouped and qualified for the states with a 42-21 triumph at Bound Brook in Saturday’s Somerset County Tournament preliminary.
"They just stepped up the intensity and worked hard," MHS head coach Paul Lenihan said. "It’s a great group of kids. They just pick each other up."
The MHS girls were scheduled to host David Brearley and Jonathan Dayton this week.
Boys’ skid reaches
nine straight games
The Manville High boys’ basketball team dropped its ninth consecutive game Friday night.
Oratory Prep improved its record to 12-6 and completed the season sweep of the Mustangs with a 65-38 victory. MHS got off to another slow start but hung tough by scoring 14 points in the second period and trailed by only 10 points at the half.
Sophomore guard Eddie Gryzeski led the Mustangs with nine points. Robert Snyder, Chris Wass and Glen Liszczak each tallied seven. Gryzeski, Snyder and Wass hit one 3-pointer apiece .
The Rams proved much more potent from behind the 3-point arc, hitting seven threes in the game.
Manville (3-14) hasn’t won in nearly a month and entered the week with four more opportunities to break the skid. Only one of those games is at home and that one figures to be the most difficult. St. Mary’s of Elizabeth comes to town next Tuesday. The rest of the schedule includes road games at David Brearley of Kenilworth and Jonathan Dayton of Springfield this week and then next Friday night’s season finale at North Plainfield.