Three losses drop team’s record to 5-14
By: John E. Powers
Manville High School girls’ basketball coach Kyle Rehrig knew his team’s first year in the Skyland Conference would be difficult.
That doesn’t mean it has made losing any easier as the young coach has been looking for consistently better play from his team.
The season was down to two games as the week started. The MHS girls were to play Tuesday night at South Hunterdon and finish the season Friday in Manville against Belvidere. Both are Raritan Division opponents.
The Lady Mustangs, who fell to 5-14 Friday night with a 48-35 loss to North Warren, beat South Hunterdon 40-31 Jan. 9 in Manville. The MHS girls are 1-10 in divisional play, their only win coming against South.
"I thought we played well against North Warren," Rehrig said. "We lost by 13, but I thought we played pretty well. Early on we were down (15-9 after one period), but with the exception of a few spurts in the first and third quarters, I thought we might have played one of our better games."
Junior guard Samantha Aichele led Manville with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists and three steals. Junior point guard Rhianna Lebedz added six points, but no other player had more than four. Lebedz and Aichele are averaging about 10 points per game.
Manville’s inconsistent shooting has a lot to do with the team’s inexperience, Rehrig said.
"We have some girls who have shown signs (of scoring more), but nothing consistent; the effort is always there," Rehrig said. "Our lack of offense has been a real problem at times, but it hasn’t been the main thing. It’s really a combination of things. Against North Warren, we had a couple of possessions were couldn’t get offensive rebounds because of their size. Our lack of size has really hurt us.
"We’re trying to win, but I go into most games and you know you don’t have much of a chance because we’re just so under-sized," he added. "It’s tough to win most of those games. I tell the girls that ‘if we show them something in the first we’ll have them on their heels.’ That’s what we have to do."
The Lady Mustangs got another sample of Bernards star Catherine Carr, who was on schedule to score her 2,000th career point this week. Manville was eliminated 66-31 by Bernards and Carr in the Somerset County Tournament Jan. 26 then saw the Mountaineers again five days later. Carr scored 22 of her 26 points in the first half as Bernards won 53-32. Aichele led Manville with 12.
"We took her out of the game in the second half, but we didn’t do that in the first half," Rehrig said.
The game that was disappointing came against Bound Brook last Tuesday. Manville beat the Crusaders in a holiday tournament contest at Dunellen after having lost to Bound Brook 37-22 in the opening game of the season. But Bound Brook won the rubber match 50-34. Aichele had 13 points to lead Manville.
"They shot the ball pretty well and we didn’t do a lot of things," Rehrig said. "It was a combination of us not playing well and them playing well."

