LAWRENCE: Injuries hindered girls basketball

By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
   The Lawrence High School girls basketball team learned first-hand this season that life isn’t fair.
   The Cardinals came into the year with high hopes only to see a variety of breaks go against them. Through it all, however, they tried to make the most of their shining moments.
   ”We had high hopes for the season,” said LHS head coach Gregg Zenerovitz. “It didn’t happen, but that doesn’t take anything away from other kids having the opportunity to step up. That’s the way it is sometimes in life.”
   LHS experienced one of its highs when Ashley Russo scored her 1,000th career point on Jan. 23. One week later, the senior all-everything tore her ACL.
   ”She was our heart and soul,” Zenerovitz said. “When she went down, it was a huge loss. We tried to explain that stuff happens. No matter what happens, we have to keep going.”
   It wasn’t the end of the injury woes. Lauri Regan, the Cardinals’ starting point guard, missed several games with shin splints. Zainabu Sillah sprained her ankle early and never seemed to fully recover.
   ”Unfortunately,” Zenerovitz said, “we caught the injury bug this year.”
   It left LHS with only a skeleton of the team that started the season for Tuesday’s 49-35 win over Hightstown in a Mercer County Tournament consolation game. Amber Seay scored 10 points and Leah Hansen added nine points as the Cardinals finished the season 5-20. Jen Korngut pulled down 14 rebounds to break the LHS single-season mark.
   ”Lauren Raymond for the last three years has been going out and continuing to play hard even when it was tough to play hard,” Zenerovitz said. “Jen Korngut going into our last game was 10 rebounds shy of tying the school record. She’s improved since last year. Amber Seay, another senior of ours, is a pleasure to be around and coach. She’s gotten better.
   ”Even though our record is not very good, there have been some positives. The thing we try to stress is we faced some adversity this season and it gives other girls a chance to step in. Things didn’t go as we’d hoped, but hopefully they learned from it. That’s how it is in life. You’re going to stop or you’re going to keep working. That’s like life.”
   Injuries enabled some younger players to gain valuable experience that can help them for seasons to come. Jasmine Bowen, a sophomore, was slated to come off the bench this year. Instead, she ended up starting and finished second to Russo in scoring average.
   ”She had her ups and downs,” Zenerovitz said. “There were some games I thought she played extremely well and some that she looked like a sophomore. She kind of got thrown in the fire. We wanted to take her off the bench and work her in, but she had to start.
   ”Leah Hansen, she’s another great story. She’s a junior who started the season as JV point guard. By the beginning of February, she was the starting varsity point guard. She’s positive. She worked hard. She was frustrated at the beginning of the season when she wasn’t getting time. Lauri went down with shin splints and she came in. Even after the Hopewell game, their guards were tough on her, but she remained poised out there. We’re excited to have her back.”
   Shea Wood is another junior who started against Hightstown on Tuesday. She will return for the Cardinals next season. Another player who figures prominently in next year’s plans is freshman Sarah Borajkiewicz, who finished with five points against Hightstown.
   ”I love her enthusiasm and her hustle and toughness,” Zenerovitz said. “That toughness is something I think we lacked at times. As a freshman, she played her first varsity minutes against Hopewell. Her first minute, she posted up and got fouled. Little things like that we’re excited for. We lose a lot of girls (to graduation), but there are opportunities for other girls to step up.”
   A few more of them will be ready to do so after getting a taste of the Cardinals varsity this year. Some of them weren’t in the original plans for this season, but like the rest of the Lawrence High squad, they made the best of a challenging situation and finished up on a high note with a win Tuesday.
   ”In season where it didn’t go as we had hoped,” Zenerovitz said, “there were still positives.”