By Wayne Witkowski
Jackson Memorial High School’s girls basketball team will look to bounce back into the Shore Conference A South Division race in what could be a pivotal week for making postseason tournaments.
On Jan. 19, the Jaguars (4-6) played Toms River High School North (6-2), which has won three straight after a loss to Southern Regional High School, and then plays Brick Township High School, which is winless coming into this week, at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 21 and Brick Memorial High School at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 26. All those games are at home.
“We are starting to get everyone back to commitment mode,” coach Rachel Goodale said. “We have a lot of soccer players [on the team] that had to go away during Christmas break for soccer, so we couldn’t really attack our weaknesses during that practice time. Theses kids work so hard in all they do and now that they are in full commitment, it shows. The skill level is getting better ”
Seniors Daria Jones and Kara Howlett have been the mainstays and were the bright spots in a 1-2 showing last week. Jones scored 14 points in Jackson Memorial’s 59-41 loss to Southern Regional. She scored 16 while Allison Wanzer and Howlett scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, in a 49-37 victory over Howell High School Jan. 13. Jones posted 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 48-32 loss to Toms River High School South Jan. 12.
“We need to improve our ball security and rebounding,” Goodale said, hoping this week will be a step in the right direction.