Mastronardi key to Vikings attack

By: Rich Fisher
   If anyone is qualified to talk about the South Brunswick High girls basketball team, it’s Jess Mastronardi.
   The senior guard has been in the Vikings starting lineup since her freshman year, and has watched the program go from a loser, to what many consider one of the top teams in the Greater Middlesex Conference’s Red Division this winter.
   "My freshman year we weren’t even a .500 team, and now we’re expected to be a contender for the division," Mastronardi said. "It’s a combination of having better players, and a lot of us have been playing together for a long time, since the sixth grade."
   And Mastronardi feels that experience with each other could pay off nicely this season.
   "I want to win GMC’s," she said. "I think we should expect to be in the finals. And we definitely should go farther in the states."
   If all that happens, Mastronardi should play a key part as she has been doing since becoming the starting point guard on an 8-15 team her freshman season. Mastronardi did not score much, but had 32 assists that season.
   The following year, she was the second leading scorer on a team whose record jumped to 17-8. Mastronardi averaged 10.2 points and was second on the team in assists with 66.
   With Janay Barnett taking over at point guard last year, Mastronardi was able to blossom as a scorer, averaging 15.2 points and earning team Most Valuable Player honors in a 16-6 campaign.
   This year, she averaged 18.0 points in the Vikings first two games, and coach Jaymee Boehmer expects Mastronardi to be the target of opposing defenses as the season rolls on.
   "I look for her to get a lot of attention," Boehmer said. "We’ll see how they play her and how it plays out."
   Mastronardi said if other defenses want of focus on her, bring it on.
   "I’ll probably get more attention, but I think we have other weapons so that we’ll be able to handle it," she said. "If they double team me, someone else will help out.
   "I’m still looking to at get at least what I averaged last year, as long as it keeps us winning. And I’d like to score 1,000 points."
   Mastronardi prepared for this season, by working out for basketball since last spring and playing AAU ball for the successful West Windsor Lady Hawks over the summer. She took a break from hoops to play soccer in the fall, and now appears ready for another big year on the hardwood.
   "She’s quick, she’s a great shooter and she’s fundamentally sound," Boehmer said. "She can go to the basket or she can just shoot a jumper."
   And rest assured, whatever success the Vikings have, Mastronardi will be in the middle of it, just as she has been ever since she arrived.