Evanylo, Mortensen moved up to varsity
By: John E. Powers
One of the objectives of a junior varsity program is to help compliment the varsity, to develop players to add depth and eventually become key contributors. The Manville High School girls’ junior varsity basketball team did some of that this year freshmen Dana Mortensen and Amy Evanylo both helped the varsity as the season went on.
But the primary job coach Erin Delaney had this year was to teach a Basketball 101 course. The Lady Mustangs finished 3-16, beating Bound Brook and Sussex Tech twice, but that’s not how Delaney measured things.
"We were very young this year," Delaney said. "We had only three returners (Rebecca Burke, Angelika Lazur and Natalie Chiribao) and we had nine freshmen. For the most part, they were brand new to the game of basketball. Some of them would go on the court and ask if they would play offense or defense. But they were very eager. We have a great bunch of girls, who went through learning stages. They wanted to be here."
Lazur, a sophomore forward, led the team in scoring with 76 points, while Chiribao had 57. Forward Alissa Teodorczy had 26. Mortensen netted 45 and Evanylo had 25 in limited time since they both could only play one quarter of junior varsity games after being promoted to the varsity.
"Angelika pretty much played all four quarters; I rarely took her out for a breather," Delaney said. "She was our biggest rebounder, and she was physical. She got slapped around, but it didn’t seem to stop her."
Freshman forward Erin Lipot had 27 points and freshman guard Courtney Brisebois added 15.
"The freshmen really improved over the season and Courtney improved tremendously over the season," said Delaney, who expects a large group of eighth graders next year from Alexander Batcho School. "She would also come after practice and ask, ‘what do I need to work on?’ I would say the kids really learned the game and had more of an understanding of the game. One of the biggest things we had to work on was not to dribble again after you stopped. It was a little frustrating."
Manville, which opened the season with a 23-20 loss to Bound Brook, avenged that setback with a 27-24 win in the rematch.
"That was a nail-biter," Delaney said.
The girls also beat Sussex Tech 42-9 and 30-7.
"We got to play plenty of kids who hadn’t been getting in," Delaney said.
Delaney said that the toughest task facet to teach was offense.
"Offense is our biggest problem, we had a hard time taking our shots and getting them the confidence to take shots that was one step and just running plays," Delaney said. "We have to work on our form, our strength. I had three girls who had never touched a basketball before."
The Manville girls did a good job of communicating on defense and they drew fouls when they played man-to-man.
"I know they were disappointed that they were 3-16, but it’s about getting better," Delaney said. "That was part of my post-game speech in our final game (a 42-22 loss to Belvidere). I’m sure it would have been a great help if we could have had Dana or Amy for four quarters, but that’s what you hope, you want the girls to step up to the next level. I was proud of them."

