Mater Dei High School’s girls basketball team has ample experience, while its boys team is rebuilding with a senior-heavy lineup. Both are off to strong starts coming into this week after sweeping by Asbury Park High School on Jan. 10 in Shore Conference B Central Division action.
Girls basketball
Seven players return to the girls team, which is 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the division after beating Asbury Park, 75-43, behind 17 points from junior guard Lindsay Florio, who dropped in a dozen points a game on last season’s 9-13 team. All but four players return from that team, but only two returnees are seniors.
Senior guard Danielle Juelis and junior forward Katie Viscardi each had 12 points and five rebounds against Asbury Park. Juelis averaged seven points a game last season.
“They’ve done a very good job preparing for this season; I’m very optimistic,” said firstyear head coach Brian Laux, who has Shannon Gilmartin, a former standout at Mater Dei who went on to play at NCAA Division II Felician College, as an associate head coach. “We have an experienced group of returning seniors and juniors, who totaled 40 points, 20 rebounds and 14 assists per game [last season]. It’s exciting how they look for each other and share the ball. The team will be very competitive and exciting to watch.”
Laux said the team’s athleticism lends to its up-tempo style on offense and its pressuring defense.
After a season-opening victory over Ranney School, Mater Dei’s girls lost to Middletown High School South in the Bayshore Tournament and won the consolation game, 57-55, over Spotswood High School. In the consolation win, the team sank 31-of-35 free throws, including 17-of-19 in the final quarter. The Seraphs also beat Keyport High School before taking on Asbury Park.
The team’s two seniors — Shannon Glenn (forward) and Juelis — are starters, while Florio and junior Brooke Trotta can handle the ball well. Glenn averaged eight points and seven rebounds a game last season. The other starting forward is not set, although Viscardi has rebounded well, and forward Julie Mc- Carthy was a spot starter last season.
Conditioning is a factor, Laux said, as his bench is thin on numbers and experience.
Off the bench, sophomore Maggie Klatt has good shooting range, while freshmen Cassidy Stimpson and Jennifer Quigley complete the roster. At 5 feet 11 inches tall, Stimpson has shown good hands for catching the ball in the low post and can step out to shoot.
Boys basketball
The boys team raised its record to 3-2 with a 60-35 victory over Asbury Park, as Sam Miles was close to a triple-double with 16 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Freshman Eddie Lewis scored 14 points, and senior Tysaun White, who was out part of last season and spent the rest on the junior varsity team, had 12 points.
“We have to be patient on offense, because we don’t have a lot of experience,” said coach Bob Klatt, whose team was 11-13 last year. “Once we get game experience, it’ll get better. This was our best game so far. The chemistry was there. They played very unselfish.”
Last season, the team made its first appearance in four years in the Shore Conference Tournament, where it lost its opener to Shore Regional High School. It also lost to Wildwood Catholic High School in its NJSIAA tournament opener.
Mater Dei opened its season with a victory over Ranney. It beat host John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, 61-54, in double overtime during the Gene Haley Holiday Tournament before losing in the finals to Bishop George Ahr High School, 47-38. It ended an eight-day holiday break with a 50-49 loss to Keyport before beating Asbury Park.
Miles, an all-purpose player averaging about a dozen points a game, is joined in the starting lineup by White and Lewis, each scoring nine points a game this season, as well as seniors Jordan Owens, a guard who was a spot starter last season, and 5-foot-10 forward Matt Eckert.
“We have a balanced scoring attack, and each player is capable of leading our team in rebounds, steals and assists,” Klatt said. “It is great to have different players stepping up in each game.”
Coming off the bench are forwards Jalene Mitchell and Reese Entwistle, a 6-foot-6 junior transfer from Middletown South who will divide his time between varsity and junior varsity. Senior guard C.J. Williams just got medical clearance from a knee injury and is expected back by the end of January.
“Defense is one of our strengths. We’re ahead of where we were last year because we’re a little quicker,” Klatt said.
Junior guards Patric Donohue and Matt LaPorte, as well as forwards Jason Mandile and Jamien Lawson, complete the roster.