wins 43-36;
Cole earns MVP
Paterson Eastside
PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above, Marlboro’s Jenna Gatto and Brina Pollack show their emotions as their high school careers come to an end during the Group IV final at the Ritacco Center in Toms River on Sunday. At left, Chakhia Cole looks to pass before falling out of bounds.
wins 43-36;
Cole earns MVP
BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
Losing to Paterson Eastside in the NJSIAA Group IV state championship game was the easy part.
What was most difficult about Sunday’s 43-36 loss at the Ritacco Center on the campus of Toms River High School North was the finality it brought with it. For Marlboro’s girls basketball, it was the end of the most successful era in Freehold Regional District history. Four years, 101 wins and a ton of memories for Chakhia Cole, Brina Pollack, Jenna Gatto and Christie Kastner.
"I’ll never forget these girls," said Cole, who is off to West Virginia University next year. "We had a good run and we had fun. I’m very proud of what we accomplished."
Pollack, who is headed for Purdue University, pointed out that it was more than the end of an era.
"It’s over," she said. "These are girls I grew up playing with. We didn’t want it to end. It was a really great year, we came together as a team. We became so close.
"Nothing will be like this again, getting to play in front of your hometown fans," she added.
Pollack and Co. gave their fans plenty to be proud of one more time as they looked to win a second straight Group IV state championship against an Eastside team with a dominant player, Essence Carson, and an overpowering front line that had 6-2 Sasha Lowery, 5-11 Nasheema Johnson and Carson, although a guard, who is 6-0 herself.
Head coach Brian Nash knew it was going to be an uphill struggle for his squad.
"We knew their size would be a problem," he said. "It was their advantage and they used it. We told the girls they had to work hard on the glass and box out. To their [Paterson Eastside’s] credit, their girls went hard to the basket."
One thing the Mustangs have never been given enough credit for during this unforgettable run is their toughness. It has allowed them to compete at the highest level in the state and the reason Nash knew that, despite the serious match-up problems they had with the Ghosts, they would find a way to hang in.
If Paterson Eastside thought it could intimidate the Mustangs, the Ghosts were mistaken. They discovered just how tough Marlboro was when the Mustangs dove and chased after every lose ball and contested every rebound. Despite being badly out-sized in the paint, they did not back down. When Pollack nailed a three-pointer from the top of the key as time expired, Marlboro had a 12-8 lead after one quarter and the Ghosts knew they were in for a 32-minute fight.
When the second quarter started, however, Cole was on the bench having picked up her second foul with 51 seconds left in the first quarter. Without Cole’s inside presence the Mustangs offense came to a halt. They managed just one point in the second quarter and were out-scored 10-1 as Nasheema Johnson continued to hurt them on offensive rebounds. Luckily, the ‘Stangs were only down 18-13.
Kastner started the second half with a rainbow three and it was 18-16.
The Ghosts then turned to their star, Carson, and she took the game over. They posted the guard up and she scored on three-straight baskets to build the lead up to 25-16. It was the turning point of the contest.
"When Essence took over in the third quarter we had to dig our way back," Nash said. "She responded. She was the difference."
Nash and the players knew, however, that the Mustangs still had a run in them. Somehow, despite scoring just six points combined in the second and third quarters, the Mustangs were down by a manageable seven, 25-18, going into the fourth.
Playing with an urgency that comes from knowing this could be the final eight minutes of their careers, the Mustangs dug deep one more time and had the Ghosts on the run. Another three by Kastner, a foul shot by Anat Sibony and two free-throws from Cole following an inbounds turnover had the ‘Stangs within one, 27-26.
A Carson basket made it 29-26, but Cole answered with a free-throw and a basket. The game was now tied at 29-29 with 3:45 left in the game.
Lowery and Carson responded with five unanswered points to build the lead back to five, 34-29. It would reach 36-30 on a basket by Johnson.
But Cole, who has carried the team on her shoulders with her giant-sized heart, was not through. Twice, in the final 35 seconds, she made difficult shots that pulled the ‘Stangs within one possession — the first on a driving lay-up and foul, and the second, a three-pointer from the top of the key with 10.9 seconds left in the game that made it 39-36 Eastside.
But each time Cole gave her team a chance, the Ghosts responded. The Ghosts made their final six free-throws to seal the win and their first Group state title since 1981.
Cole was brilliant, as always — she led all scorers with 19 points. She added four rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots and was named Marlboro’s Most Valuable Player.
Carson led the Ghosts with 18 points and nine rebounds and drew the praise of Nash and the Mustangs while winning MVP honors for her team.
"She’s a premier player who makes others around her better," Nash noted.
Johnson added 14 points and 10 rebounds while Lowery had a game-high 14 boards. Paterson Eastside out-rebounded the Mustangs, 40-27.
Marlboro came full circle in the loss. As wide-eyed freshmen, the Mustangs had reached this same point in the NJSIAA tournament, falling in the group final to Columbia. Everyone knew their potential and they would fulfill it coming back two years later to win the Group title and achieving their goal of making it to the Tournament of Champions. Marlboro made the most of their only TOC appearance, reaching the final where they lost to Shabazz.
Cole, Pollack, Gatto and Kastner went a combined 101-15 during their storied careers. They won four Kuhnert Holiday Tournament crowns, four Shore Conference A North Division titles, which included a perfect record of 48-0, three Central Jersey Group IV championships, the 2003 Group IV state title and were runners-up in the 2003 TOC. Last year they had perhaps their finest moment, their win over Christ the King, then ranked No. 1 nationally.
It was a ride unseen in this area before, and unlikely to be duplicated.
Marlboro made its way to the state final by dispatching South Jersey champion Toms River North, 58-39, Thursday night at Southern Regional High School.
The Mustangs put this in the win column early with a 19-4 run that carried over from the first to second quarter.
Back-to-back threes by Gatto and Kastner sparked the run.
Gatto, whose contributions on defense and offense usually go unseen, was particularly offensive in the first half, hitting two threes and scoring seven points.
"We knew they were going to gang up on Chakhia," she said. "Other players were going to have to step up."
With Cole held to just four points in the first half (thanks in part to picking up two fouls), the Mustangs still held a commanding 34-19 lead a the half with Pollack leading the way with nine, followed by Gatto’s seven and seven from Kastner.
In the second half, it was all Cole as the 5-8 forward who put on a show worthy of the Kerwin Award winner (as top player in the Shore area).She put in 13 points, dominated the glass, blocked shots, ran the fastbreak and triggered the fastbreak with her outlet passes.
Having survived two scares in winning Central Jersey, the Mustangs enjoyed a rare breather in advancing to the Group final for the third time in four years.