BY SHAWN LAYTON
Staff Writer
EDISON – The J.P. Stevens High School girls basketball rebounded from a 64-40 loss to Piscataway, one of the state’s top teams, last week with a 55-35 win over Monroe.
“I thought we played well against Piscataway at times and even outscored them in two different quarters,” Stevens head coach John Spiess said. “We had a bunch of players in early foul trouble and that definitely hurt our chances.”
Brittany Mullings finished the Piscataway loss with 15 points, 10 rebounds and 10 blocked shots. It was her first triple-double of the season.
“She’s been on a tear,” Spiess said. “We kind of took our lumps against Piscataway, but Brittany was just outstanding.”
Mullings was instrumental in the team’s win over Monroe as she finished with a team-high 18 points to go with her 10 rebounds.
Using Mullings’ hot hand and the three-point shooting of Kathryn Ruhno, the Hawks went on a 19-4 run in the opening quarter to set the tone for the rest of the contest. Ruhno nailed two of her four three-pointers in the opening quarter en route to finishing with 16 points in the win.
“We came out hot in the first quarter and hit a total of three shots from beyond the arc,” Spiess said. “Our run gave us some breathing room and we maintained the lead the rest of the way.”
Like Mullings, Caitlyn Seamster was also a monster on the glass collecting 10 boards to go with her five points.
“Our defense was the key for us once again,” Spiess said. “We did a good job of holding Monroe’s big shooter Carly Keane below her average.”
Keane came into the game averaging 14 points per game but was held to just seven points against the Hawks.
“Overall we did a nice job of challenging shooters and rotating to spots,” Spiess said. “Our philosophy is that our defense leads to our offense, and that was certainly the case in this game.”
The Hawks improved to 4-2 on the season with the win over Monroe and will look to pick up wins over Edison, Old Bridge and Marlboro this week.
After opening the week with a much anticipated meeting between the cross-town rivals in Edison on Tuesday, Stevens will travel to Old Bridge for a 7 p.m. tip-off tomorrow. The team will close the week with a 1 p.m. home game versus Marlboro on Saturday.
“Edison is a very good program and it should be a tough game for us,” Spiess said. “I get a chance to coach against my daughter for the first time in my career.”
Marlboro should offer Stevens a chance to see how its team stacks up against a tough, out-of-area team, while the struggling Old Bridge team should not be overlooked. Old Bridge enters this week currently 1-7 on the season and is fresh off a 42-27 loss to South Plainfield.