Snowed out game moved to Thursday
By: Rudy Brandl
The Manville High girls’ basketball team shouldn’t be fooled by Somerville’s losing record when the two schools square off in tonight’s Somerset County Tournament second round game. This tournament contest was postponed from Monday to tonight because of snow.
Manville (10-6) probably learned its lesson in last week’s SCT opener, when an upstart Mount St. Mary’s team came to town with only one victory and nearly staged an upset before falling in overtime. Somerville took a 6-8 ledger into this week’s play, having just failed to qualify for the state playoffs, but a few of those losses have come at the hands of powerhouse teams Immaculata and Voorhees.
Speaking of Immaculata, the winner of tonight’s contest earns the unenviable task of challenging the top-seeded, four-time defending county champions in next Monday’s quarterfinals. Somerville, the No. 8 seed, will have the homecourt advantage for tonight’s game, which is set to begin at 7 p.m.
The ninth-ranked Lady Mustangs have been inconsistent ever since their seven-game win streak was snapped at New Providence in late January. Senior center Amy Ortman has picked up her play recently and joined classmate Jessica Droz atop the team scoring list with a 10.8 average. However, Droz missed last week’s county game with a broken finger.
Manville will also need solid contributions from point guard Lisa Lavenia (8.1) and shooting guard Heather Mathieu (7.5). Both players have shown some flashes of brilliance. Renee Giraldi also missed last week’s game with an injury, but Jenna Breslow and Stefanie Bocchino picked up the slack with some outstanding play off the bench.
Somerville has two dangerous players who can control a game. Senior guard Toni Darby is a proficient 3-point shooter, while junior forward Courtney Hilts can do damage inside. If Darby gets hot and Hilts dominates in the paint, the Lady Mustangs will have trouble winning this game.
Manville hasn’t advanced to the SCT quarterfinal round in over a decade, so Ryan Shapiro’s team has a chance to achieve something special this evening.

