Vikings give Barrio first victory

By: Rich Fisher
   When Beth Barrio looks back upon the first victory of her varsity coaching career, she will see a lot of cool things.
   Not the least of which was that her girls listened and performed — which is pretty much every coach’s dream — and rallied for a 56-35 victory over Woodbridge last Friday night.
   "We made some adjustments at halftime and talked about using the clock efficiently because they were playing zone," said the Vikings first-year coach. "We tried to move the ball around in spaces, look for gaps and look for backdoor cuts.
   "They really listened to us, which makes all the difference in the world. I’m sure every coach makes adjustments at halftime and if the girls don’t apply it, it goes unnoticed. They actually executed, which was tremendous. It’s only one game, but so far, so good."
   Things weren’t as good on Tuesday night, as powerful Perth Amboy pulled away in the fourth quarter for 62-46 victory.
   But there were enough good things in the opening-night victory to provide hope for the season. South Brunswick took the floor with a completely different starting lineup than last year, but showed that there is still some talent around.
   Jordan Confessore collected 22 points, six rebounds and three steals; Christina Campagnoli shot 4-for-6 and scored all eight of her points in the first half to keep the Vikings in the game; Ashley Wandishin had five points and six steals; Susie Miller had six points and three rebounds; and Meggy Ferrara, Lori Person, Sam Chromey, Chelsea Korodan and Tina Kotarski all contributed some key minutes.
   And although it led to a personal milestone for Barrio, she was more enthused about the way her players went about business.
   "I’m very excited for the girls because I think they felt really good about the win," the coach said. "They fought back. The first half was back and forth, Woodbridge was fighting back, and we really picked up the pace in the second half. So I was more excited to see them get excited about the way they played.
   "Susie did a tremendous job, stepping up and keeping her composure with two fouls. Ashley made great decisions, she really stepped up her entire game. Chelsea’s from Hawaii, she’s new to the mix and she blended very well.
   "And in the first half, (Campagnoli) absolutely kept us in the game. She was very versatile, and you don’t see that a lot from a forward. They usually stay in the lane, but her outside shot was on, we said ‘Take it when you got it.’"
   The Vikings sputtered over the first 16 minutes and trailed most of the first quarter. They led 17-15 with 3:17 left in the second quarter and no one scored again in the half. But it was hardly uneventful, as the Barrons’ Danielle Stanski suffered a horrific collision with the scorer’s table while chasing a loose ball.
   The game was delayed for nearly 20 minutes while Stanski was tended to with great care by Viking trainer Jennifer Moore.
   The Barrons scored the first four points in the second half before South Brunswick responded with a 17-5 run over the final 6:32 to take control.
   "After that girl getting injured, instead of getting down and just kind of lollygagging, we came back and played really strong with a lot of intensity," Confessore said. "We knew we couldn’t let down or they would come back.
   "We basically knew after the injury they were gonna come out as hard as they could and play for her. We had to step up our game and make sure they couldn’t get to us."
   The Vikings did just that, outscoring Woodbridge 39-20 after halftime. Confessore had 11 points in the fourth quarter when SBHS put it away.
   At certain points of the game, South Brunswick looked good pushing the ball, but that won’t be the only way the Vikings score.
   "I think we did very well doing that," Confessore said. "But in the game of basketball having a set play is also very necessary too, so we’re going to have to be able to run plays. But I think the situation today, we could run on them and we did."
   "You always want to transition," Barrio added. "It’s said about 60 percent of all points are scored in transition in a game one way or another. You definitely need a team that’s going to transition and I think they like to run.
   "But they also executed and made good choices. When it was time to push, they pushed, when it was time to pull it out, they pulled it up top and tried to run the offense again. It was all about their choices, they made the right choices at the right time. That’s the difference, you always have that choice but you don’t always make the right choice."
   And choosing to listen to their coaches at halftime might have been the best choice of all.
BUZZER BEATERS: Confessore and Miller each had 16 points and combined for 14 rebounds in the loss to Perth Amboy . . . The Vikes have another big challenge tonight (Thursday) when they visit Piscataway, then compete in West Windsor’s War of the Worlds Tournament Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.