By Jimmy Allinder
The East Brunswick High School girls’ basketball team is 10-5 overall and 7-4 in the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Red Division, which hardly could have been predicted before the season began.
The Bears have managed this with a team that returns just one returning starter, junior Nicole Johnson, and is led by a different coach, Kevin Faw. He replaces Keith Lane, who was 59-17 in three seasons at the helm, including a GMC championship last season, and no one could have expected a semblance of that success — at least initially.
Yet, the Bears have done well, although it seems they’ve been riding a roller coaster. The season began auspiciously with East Brunswick winning its first five games in December, perhaps causing the Bears’ faithful to become excited about the season’s prospects. That jubilance, however, quickly turned to despair when East Brunswick dropped its next five contests, including a pair in early January to South Brunswick High School and Sayreville War Memorial High School, the respective Red Division and White Division leaders.
But when the Bears visited Red Division opponent Edison High School (10-4 overall, 7-4 division) Jan. 7 and left with a 50-47 victory, Faw said was it was one of the defining wins of the season.
“The girls showed toughness in that one and handled the pressure throughout the game,” he said. “But I think our best performance was a [64-63] win [Jan. 26] against Old Bridge [High School]. The players bought into the defensive scheme we put together, and it was one of our best offensive performances. Even though it was a one-point win, we stuck to our game plan and again played with poise.
“The girls have done a phenomenal job thus far. They are trying to grasp a new system and my expectations and at times, we’ve struggled. But it hasn’t been for a lack of hard work or effort.”
East Brunswick is in second place in the division behind South Brunswick.
This is Faw’s initial go-around at coaching girls’ basketball after handling boys’ programs for nine years in his native Washington. There may have been uncertainty about how this person from 2,800 miles away went about his job, and Faw understood that.
“Don’t forget, it’s been a learning curve for me, too,” he said.
Before a home game Jan. 31 with Woodbridge High School, East Brunswick won four of five since the four-game losing streak.
Johnson (15 points, 3.4 assists and five rebounds a game) is captain and a key member of Lane’s GMC Tournament championship team, which finished 22-4 overall. She is joined by a rotation of six youthful players.
Dharati Patel, the lone senior, has provided leadership, while junior Lauren Krinsky is one of the hardest workers on the floor who often matches up against opponents’ best athletes. Sophomores Alyssa Bondi (10 points per game) and Bianca Nakar have made contributions, while freshman Brianna Sliwinski has earned important minutes.
“We have made progress because we play as a team,” Faw said. “We would not be where we are without every girl contributing and playing a role.
“I introduced the concept of collective responsibility before the season. We will win together, lose together and we don’t play for individual accolades but for East Brunswick basketball.”
Following the Woodbridge game, the regular season concludes with a return meeting at home with South Brunswick Feb. 2, at Piscataway Township High School Feb. 4 and at home to Monroe Township High School Feb. 7. Revenge will be on the Bears’ minds since those teams administered three of their defeats.
Depending on the results, the Bears may be seeded high enough in the GMC Tournament to advance to the first round Feb. 15. The quarterfinals are Feb. 18 at New Brunswick High School, the semifinals are Feb. 21 at South Brunswick High School and the finals are Feb. 24 at Kean University in the first game of a doubleheader, with the boys playing for the title in the second contest.
East Brunswick competes in NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group IV, which begins its tournament with first-round games Feb. 27 at the higher-seeded teams. That will also be the case for the quarterfinals March 1, semifinals March 3 and finals March 6.