SJV forges on despite key loss

BY WAYNE WITKOWSKI Staff Writer

When high scoring guard Teresa Manigrasso suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee two weeks ago, most girls basketball fans felt St. John Vianney’s team would not be able to recover for the postseason.

St. John Vianney High School’s Kathleen Egan battles for a rebound with Rumson-Fair Haven’s Brielle O’Brien during Friday night’s A Central Division game in Rumson. The visiting Lancers won, 42-32, and clinched the division championship. ERIC SUCAR staff St. John Vianney High School’s Kathleen Egan battles for a rebound with Rumson-Fair Haven’s Brielle O’Brien during Friday night’s A Central Division game in Rumson. The visiting Lancers won, 42-32, and clinched the division championship. ERIC SUCAR staff “It was another kind of negativity because she was one of the seniors on our team who was part of our drive to the Tournament of Champions last year,” said coach Dawn Karpell of the player who signed early for St. Peter’s College and was averaging 13 points per game (ppg).

It was a night of irony because the injury came during a 63- 38 victory over Manasquan, which was led by the 24 points from Michaela Mabrey, the leading scorer in the Shore Conference at the time who had helped St. John Vianney win the Tournament of Champions last year before transferring. Manigrasso had scored eight points in that game before she injured her knee while making a quick stop on a cut in the lane.

Manigrasso apparently was missed in the next game against Cherokee when the Lancers lost, 41-40, on a missed shot with eight seconds left, although it came back from a five-point deficit with :40 left.

“We shot 24 percent from the floor that night,” said Karpell. “It’s a sour note right now because Teresa is our most consistent player and a top scorer. It’s a shock to us right now.”

No specifics were decided coming into this week on surgery for Manigrasso.

But the team showed signs of bouncing back on Friday, Feb. 5, when it beat Rumson-Fair Haven by 42-32 to improve to 16- 2 and win its fourth straight Shore Conference A Central Division title.

“When it happened [the injury] we tried to think positive, that Teresa might only be out for a week,” said senior 5-foot-10 forward Missy Repoli, a starter last season as well who is averaging 12 ppg this season. “Then we found out what happened the next day. She’s one of the important parts of our team. We knew we needed to regroup and put it all together and still win.”

Clare Kerrisk, a senior, stepped into Manigrasso’s shooting guard spot and the team showed signs of regaining its chemistry and confidence, although some roles need to be changed a bit, including the intangible ones.

“Teresa is our most intense person and is a big scorer,” said Repoli. “We usually pass to the hot player and we’ve taken that [her scoring] out of the equation. Our other players are good defenders who want to step up and play the way they want. They’re trying to be leaders out there. Teresa will still be coming to games and she’ll be our leader off the court. It’s definitely a loss for us and now we have to pick up what we can do. It doesn’t matter who scores as long as we play as a team. We’re starting to pick up some of it.”

“We expect Jackie Kates to step up her scoring,” said the coach of the senior point guard who scored just under nine points and has six assists a game. She scored 16 against Rumson-Fair Haven, 13 of them in the final quarter. Her basket for a 24-23 lead put St. John Vianney ahead to stay.

Kates also started last season and so did Arron Zimmerman, a 6-foot senior center and that should help the team prepare for the approaching postseason. Katie O’Reilly, a 5-11 junior forward, has stepped into the lineup well as a new starter for this season.

“We still press and play hard, pressure defense. We’ll stay the same, but the kids need to step up and do more,” said Karpell. “I think we just need to continue to do what we do well, which means to continue to play defensively well and to attack the basket. Teresa was one of our better players for attacking the basket and now the others have to do that a little more.”

With some of the Lancers having played on three state championship teams, they are fully aware of what needs to be done. And although the first two substitutes are freshmen — 5-10 forward Kat Egan and 5-9 guard Lyndsay Rowe — they have learned the system well and their inexperience is not a factor, said the coach.

“They’ve been in the lineup all year and have been maturing with each game,” said Karpell. “And they’ve shown flashes of what they can do.”

Repoli feels the team can recover.

“Clare and Lyndsey have been stepping in and we’re trying to get the rhythm back,” said Repoli. “It’s definitely helped. It’s given us confidence.”