MHS girls look ahead to states
By: John E. Powers
When injuries hit the Manville High School girls’ basketball team, first-year head coach Ryan Shapiro was able to cushion the setbacks with a short, but effective bench.
The Lady Mustangs are preparing to begin play in the Central Jersey Group 1 playoffs and last week got an important effort against St. Mary High School of Elizabeth. Junior forward Stefanie Bocchino, who has been playing very well since taking over for injured senior Renee Giraldi, led the team with 19 points in the 69-49 win in Elizabeth.
Manville took immediate command with a 27-6 first quarter lead on its way to improving its record to 11-8. The girls had lost two straight and five of their last six.
Bocchino, a goaltender on the soccer team, had four 3-pointers, while senior point guard Lisa Lavenia added 17 points. Senior center Amy Ortman had 12 points. Senior swing player Jenna Breslow chipped in with six. Breslow, who was coming off the bench before the injuries, has averaged close to eight points in the past four games.
"We’re getting a lot of contributions from different players," Lavenia said.
The team has endured the losses of Giraldi and senior forward Jessica Droz, who missed several games because of a broken pinky. The team has also been slowed by illness.
But players like Bocchino and sophomore guard Dana Delesky have helped.
"I thought that winning the St. Mary game was very important. We needed something to boost our confidence," Bocchino said.
Lavenia, who went through a bit of a shooting slump, had her second straight productive game. She had scored 13 points in the Somerset County Tournament loss at Somerville. The bounce-back game against St. Mary came against a poor team, but it was a needed effort.
"With the states coming up, I thought it was pretty important. We just went out there and played as hard as we could, as if it were a big game," Lavenia said.
As for Bocchino, Lavenia said that Shapiro kept telling the 5-foot-6 forward to keep shooting the ball. Perimeter shooting has been a problem for the Lady Mustangs for the last few years.
"She just kept shooting the ball and it kept going in, so we just kept getting the ball to her," Lavenia said. "Stefanie helps us all around."
The return of Droz has also helped the team.
"Jessica does a lot of different things, stuff that we really missed," Lavenia said. "She shoots the ball well, she rebounds, makes steals."
Shapiro said that Lavenia had been burdened during the run of injuries, believing that she might have to do more than she needed. Heather Mathieu, the senior forward, missed the St. Mary game because of an equipment problem, Lavenia said.
Eleven different MHS players scored against St. Mary. The team was scheduled to play host to Jonathan Dayton of Springfield Wednesday. The girls host East Brunswick Tech, the No. 11 seed, in a Central Jersey Group 1 preliminary game Tuesday. If Manville wins, it will play at South River in the quarterfinal round on Thursday night.
"We hope we can go a long way in the sectionals, maybe find a way to win it," Bocchino said.

