By Jeff Appelblatt
It could not have been what Colts Neck High School girls’ basketball coach Glenn Jansen hoped for when his team followed finishing December as winners of three straight with two straight home losses to Toms River High School North and Holmdel High School to open January.
Toms River North entered the game at Colts Neck as winners of seven consecutive games, so Jansen and his club knew the Mariners were going to make it tough to make it four wins in a row for the Cougars. That showed immediately when the Mariners rushed out to a 21-7 lead.
The final five minutes of the first half belonged to Colts Neck. When the first-half buzzer went off, the Cougars were only down by five, 23-18.
“The girls don’t give up. They work really hard,” Jansen said after the game. “Sam Roth is leading by example every single play. She plays the entire game. She never asks to come out. She led us again with 12 points. And even when Sam isn’t scoring, she’s leading by example. Sam willed us back into the game.”
Roth’s 12-point day and the leadership she was showing just wasn’t enough. The Cougars managed only two points in the third quarter and found themselves down, 38-24, after three. There was no second comeback in Colts Neck. When the clock struck zero, Toms River North had won the game, 46-30.
Some coaches, especially against a team as good as the Mariners (9-0), would be happy about the big comeback in the first half, even if it turned out to be a loss. Jansen, though, was too disappointed by the second-half collapse.
“You’re a varsity athlete in the Shore Conference — the best basketball conference in the country for girls basketball. If you need to take a moral victory to get you ready for the next game, then that’s on you. To me, it would burn a hole through my belly until I got out there against competition,” Jansen said. “I’d be ready to go tomorrow at practice and just claw, scratch and fight because I don’t want to be embarrassed again.”
Practice the next day may have gone fine, but the girls were outplayed again two days later in Colts Neck.
Holmdel defeated the Cougars, 47-41. Roth only managed one basket in the loss, while Cara Volpe led the way with 12 points and 11 boards. Lexie Iglesia, who scored seven points against Toms River North to go with her 11 rebounds, upped her point total against Holmdel. She scored 10 points and had eight rebounds. Amy McGee and Jaime Prestigiacomo each contributed eight points.
In the end, it was just another loss for Colts Neck, which dropped to the .500 mark (4-4).
The Cougars look to bounce back Jan. 11 at 5:30 p.m. at Freehold Township High School. The Patriots (3-4) were the last team Colts Neck beat. The Cougars won, 49-39, when the teams faced off in Colts Neck Dec. 28.