By: Carolyn M. Hartko
COLONIA The atmosphere in the Colonia High School gym on Monday evening crackled with the possibility of an upset. But cold perimeter shooting in the second half dashed the hopes of the visiting Monroe Lady Falcons as the Lady Patriots (10-11) took a 45-36 victory in the first round of this year’s Greater Middlesex Conference Girls Basketball Tournament.
Colonia, seeded 15th in the tourney, was due to face second ranked Edison on Thursday night (after press time). Since 18th-seeded Monroe did not make the states this year, Monday’s game sets their final record at 9-14 (8-8 in the Blue Division).
"In the back of my mind, even in the second half, I really believed that we could pull it off," Falcon head coach John Donza said. "We were down eight in the beginning of the second quarter, and I still thought we had a legitimate shot at beating them. They really weren’t as impressive as I thought they were going to be."
Both teams got off to a slow start, with Monroe taking the first period 11-6. The Falcons couldn’t hold onto the lead, and had dropped behind 20-17 by halftime. Monroe’s inside girl, Alison Baumlin was getting pummeled in the post. With the Falcon’s outside shots slamming harmlessly off the glass, Colonia was free to put triple or even quadruple coverage on Baumlin.
On the opposite side of the court, diminutive senior point guard Renuka Johal seemed able to drive the lane at will, burning the Falcons for 16 points. Lauren Miller, a 5-9 sophomore, backed up Johal with 14 points.
"Maybe it was the conditioning," Donza said. "Our girls always seem very tired in the fourth quarter. We make a little bit of a run, but then we’ll give it back again. If we could have hit a few more of (the outside shots), it might have opened things up a little bit for Ali."
In spite of the rough treatment, Baumlin continued her double/double streak with 13 points and 10 rebounds. But it was junior Lisa Gaydas who led the offense with 14 points, including two converted steals.
"Lisa played a really good game," Donza said. "I wish every kid on the team had her heart. We’d be a lot better team."
It was the support players, both on and off the bench, that let the Falcons down on Monday. If they weren’t shooting bricks, they were throwing the ball away on wild passes. Aside from Gaydas and Baumlin, no one made her average, and the offense really needed those 4-5 point contributions.
The reward for winning this particular tournament pairing was not enviable. It’s very unlikely that Colonia will get by Edison, and Monroe wouldn’t have fared much better. But Donza and the Falcons would have liked the chance to try.
"We would have just loved to pull the upset because no one really expected us to beat Colonia," the coach said. "I was told by some of the Blue (Division) coaches that they are a beatable team. And we had a stretch where we did play well. But we can’t sustain it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to work on that, starting with the summer league at Middlesex County College."
Donza found out this past weekend that Baumlin was named to the all-Blue Division team, quite an honor for a freshman. And the Lady Falcons were given the division sportsmanship award for the second year in a row.
"I told the girls that it means more this year than it did last, because last year, we just got beat up by everybody, and we didn’t say anything about it," Donza said. "This year, we did some beating. We were in games, and they still conducted themselves very well. And that’s why they were voted the sportsmanship award. They should feel much better about it than even last year."
