Rich Fisher

By: centraljersey.com
Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. . .
A lower-seeded Shore Conference girls basketball team walks into a Colonial Valley Conference gym and, well, wins big.
End of story.
Year in and year out, CVC teams seem to find their way out of the state tournament due to a team from down the shore, and it was no different for Hopewell Valley last Saturday.
Third-seeded Holmdel came into Pennington to take on the second-seeded Bulldogs and left with a 67-41 victory over a team with the second most wins in school history. That made the Hornets 3-0 against CVC competition in this year’s states.
"I think Shore Conference teams benefit a great deal from playing in their conference," coach Jeff Losch said. "Most teams seem to have a great balance of athleticism and skill that goes along with playing very hard.
In essence, there are few breaks during the Shore Conference season, while the CVC has its share of "easy" wins, so to speak.
Throw in the fact that most of the Bulldogs list basketball as their second sport, and it makes things tough when the season hits a certain point.
"We had four seniors playing, but we really did not have a lot of basketball experience on the floor," Losch said. "The fact we did not play a lot of teams as good as Holmdel this year, really came back to haunt us. We did not have that experience to help us get through the tough times."
The entire game was a tough time as Holmdel opened a 16-8 lead after one quarter and continued to build upon it. Kelly Williams finished with 14 points and Sarah Gronet’s nine were the closest any other player got to double figures.
"We were a step too slow the entire game," Losch said. "Instead of being in front of a cutting player, we were behind her. Instead of taking a charge when coming over to help, we were late and committed the foul.
"Part of it is athleticism, part is anticipation, but most is being in the proper position. Offensively we did not take advantage of the space that was given to us."
All that being said, it can not detract from one of the greatest girls’ basketball seasons in school history. Hopewell (21-7) came within three wins of tying the Val Ackerman-coached 1976 team’s record of 24. HoVal won its sixth straight Patriot Division title and reached the sectional semis for the third time in five years.
"I don’t know if I’m satisfied, but I am happy for the players that we did so well," Losch said. "We had some really nice kids who worked hard so it was good to see that effort pay off."
Losch had praise for seniors Leigh Applestein, Whitney Bickford, Gronet, Danielle Stout and Casey Schoenholtz, who "meant a great deal to this team. They were extremely competitive on the court and taught the younger girls a great deal."
He was also impressed with the strides made by junior Emily Sing, sophomores Jen Didun and Nellie Tanguay and freshman Kara Hageman.
"Emily played well after an injury-plagued sophomore year," Losch said. "Jen Didun really took a step forward the second half of the season with her offense and Nellie Tanguay’s improvement from last season to this year was probably the biggest I have ever seen in a player.
"Kara was a very pleasant surprise. We tried not to put too much pressure on her but she did an excellent job playing every position on the floor, scoring, blocking shots, rebounding, defending. You name it."
The engine that drove the Bulldogs was junior guard Kelly Williams, a first-team All-CVC pick by the coaches. Losch noted that after carrying the scoring load early in the season, she evolved into more of a true point guard as her teammates began to get comfortable.
"Her ability to push the tempo for the entire team both offensively and defensively was extremely important," the coach said. "The thing I’m most proud of is she’s really started to develop some great leadership skills this year. There were a number of times when she would pull aside a younger player and help them with some facet of their game.
"She’s so extremely competitive on the court, I’m sure it would surprise a lot of people to know she has that side of her. I’m really looking forward to seeing Kelly continue to grow as a leader next year."
And with some other talent returning, it should be another nice year.