By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
Laura Coletti had anticipated playing for the Somerset County Tournament girls basketball championship.
Instead, the Montgomery High School senior was watching it from the stands Saturday.
”I turned to my brother during the national anthem and told him, we should be down there,” Coletti said.
Torturing herself a bit after MHS was upset in the SCT semifinals only heightens her sense of urgency as the Cougars prepare to open the Central Jersey Group IV state tournament 7 p.m. Wednesday. Second-seeded MHS will host the winner of No. 7 Steinert and No. 10 Edison.
Ninth-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro South plays at No. 8 Freehold Township tonight with the winner playing at No. 1 Colts Neck on Wednesday. In Central Jersey Group III, ninth-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro North plays at No. 8 Wall today with the winner playing at No. 1 Neptune on Thursday.
It won’t be hard for Coletti to get up for either potential Cougar opponent. She has to beat whoever shows up in order to keep her final scholastic season going.
”If something goes wrong and we don’t advance, it’ll all be over,” Coletti said. “It’s as good a motivation as any to win. It’s it for me and our four seniors. It started to hit me after the county tournament. I’ll never get a chance to win the Somerset County Tournament again. We want to go out with a bang and get as far as we can.”
Coletti, Allie Pedinoff, Marcia Voigt and Jen Wysocki are in their final state tournament. Coletti and Voigt have been playing in them since they were freshmen when they lost to Malcolm X Shabazz in the sectional semifinals. Since then, MHS was eliminated in the first round, and last year lost to Trenton after an opening win.
”This year, we have potentially two home games,” Coletti said. “We feel we put ourselves in a good position to progress farther than have last year and the year before.”
It’s been quite a season for the Cougars. Even with the upset loss in the SCT and a hangover loss to Freehold Township three days later, MHS enters states with a 21-4 record.
”Not even in my wildest dreams did I think we’d win 21 games,” said third-year coach Kevin Kretschy. “We’ve just had consistency. Our defense has been good. We had one bad defensive game all year. And Marcia and Laura have been very, very good and we’ve had other contributors come off the bench.”
After contributing for four seasons, Voigt and Coletti are well known by opponents. They have seen box-and-one and triangle-and-two defenses. It still hasn’t mattered as they are the Cougars’ leading scorers.
”The first time we saw an unusual defense was Voorhees and we ended up losing that game,” Coletti said. “It was a learning game. We worked a lot on how to react to junk defenses. We got more comfortable with them after that. We didn’t panic because we were more prepared for it after that.
”We know what we’re doing out on the court. A big part is Carlee Rosenthal. She recognizes what the other team is in and calls out the plays right away.”
The plays work well, and the Cougars can avoid some junk defenses by getting baskets in transition. Coletti is a triple threat on offense. She runs the floor well and finishes, shot 80 percent from the foul line last year, and in the set offense is a force in the low post. She’s been a steady contributor, but this has been her finest season.
”She’s more focused,” Kretschy said. “She’s been more consistent. She hasn’t had any games with just four or six points where she hasn’t shown up. She’s finally learning that. When Marcia fouled out in the county semifinals, she took over the game.
”She’s gotten better at passing out of the double teams. If she’s doubles, she knows she doesn’t have to shoot. When we beat Immaculata to win the conference, we ran an out of bounds play to her. She caught it and kicked it out with four seconds left and Taylor Zahn made it at the buzzer to win it.”
Coletti’s faith in her teammates is an important part of the Cougar success. MHS has enjoyed a season of milestones.
”We went 10-0 in the conference, the first time we’ve claimed the conference since I’ve been here and first time undefeated,” Kretschy said. “They’ve never beaten Watchung in the regular season and took care of that. We’ve never lost to Franklin and they kept that going. They beat Immaculata at home. There were a lot of firsts. And the seniors have contributed heavily to that.”
The seniors will factor in again Wednesday. They could be on the Senior Trip to Florida, but instead Coletti and her classmates will take their final cracks at the state tournament.
”I’ve never been in this position before,” she said. “It gives you a little mental edge. You want your career to last that much longer. It is a little different. It’s a little scary to think it’s over so soon.”
Coletti, who intends to continue her career in college, is approaching her final high school games. She can still remember her first ones, and has come a long way since then.
”I think I have my head up a bit more,” Coletti said. “I’m making better decisions. A lot of it has to do with my teammates.”
Laura Coletti is a self admitted basketball junkie, which is half the reason she was at the SCT final. She’d like to get to the sectional final as well — as a player, not a fan.

