Sloppy play costs MHS girls on road

Horrendous free throw shooting leads to first Sky loss

By: John E. Powers
   
   KENILWORTH — The play that was a microcosm of the Manville High School girls’ basketball team’s loss at David Brearley last Thursday night happened as the fourth quarter started.
   With Manville trailing 29-27, Brearley junior forward Jill Kelly snuck away for an uncontested layup off an inbounds pass. Manville head coach Ryan Shapiro could only look at the floor and shake his head.
   Brearley went on to outscore Manville 12-4 in the fourth quarter, earning a 41-31 victory. It was a game that was right there for the taking for the visitors.
   Manville, playing without senior center Amy Ortman, who was sitting out the second of two games for a flagrant foul against New Providence, had several chances to beat a team it had knocked off 44-37 the first time the two teams met Jan. 19.
   The Lady Mustangs missed nine consecutive free throws at one point and finished the game hitting just 5-of-22 from the stripe. They missed three open lay-ups after making steals, outracing the Bears for loose balls. But that first play of the fourth quarter is what Shapiro came back to first after completing his post-game talk.
   "The girls were sleeping on that one," Shapiro said. "I’m telling them to come out. I know it was a different group in. I don’t think we played that group of kids together all year. Two were in foul trouble and the other was already hurt. But there is no need for that, they should come out, know where to go, match up but they were lost. I knew it was going in as soon as she shot it. Luckily it was a two and a not a three."
   The game started off well for Manville as it took a 6-0 lead. Renee Giraldi made a pretty feed to Lisa Lavenia, who converted a layup. Lavenia made a steal and fed to Jessica Droz for another score and then Jenna Breslow hit two foul shots to make it 6-0. T
   he Lady Mustangs built a 10-3 lead later in the period when Droz put back a Heather Mathieu miss. But Brearley took a 17-16 halftime lead on freshman guard Terry Sues’ layup with 1:17 left. Three Manville turnovers and three missed shots stalled any chance to regain the lead before the break.
   "The little things," Shapiro said. "We were close. We were there. We were in the game. New Providence out hustled us – it was 16-4 after the first quarter. The game tonight was about missed layups and foul shots."
   Still, Manville hung around for most of the second half. A Mathieu three tied the game early in the second half at 19. Doria Glynos’ drive put Brearley back up, but Breslow, who led Manville with 12 points, immediately tied the game.
   The game was tied at 23, 25 and 27 – after Breslow had given her team its last lead at 27-25 with one of her three consecutive baskets. That lead turned out to be Manville’s last of the game as Brearley closed the third with a 29-27 advantage and built it up as the fourth quarter wore on and on.
   Through it all, Manville was losing players. Giraldi hurt her hand, Droz fouled out and Mathieu was called for a technical foul, the Mustangs’ second of the game, and Shapiro replaced her on the advice of one of the referees.
   "They’re in shape, but Jessica was in foul trouble, Renee got hurt, Amy was out – those are three starters right there and Heather didn’t play the last three minutes of the game because of a technical," Shapiro said. "We have to do a better job of keeping our composure. I really don’t think they beat us tonight. I think we beat us tonight."
   Droz finished with 10 points, while Breslow gave her best scoring effort of the year. In the third quarter, she scored six of her team’s nine points. The others came on a Mathieu three.
   On Saturday, with Ortman back in the lineup and scoring 15 points, the team lost to another club it had beaten when they lost at Hillside 42-38 after leading 26-19 at the half. The loss dropped the Lady Mustangs to 9-5.
   The MHS girls are scheduled to host No. 16 seed Mount St. Mary Academy of Watchung tonight in a Somerset County Tournament preliminary game, set to begin at 7 p.m.