BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
JEFF GRANIT staff St. John Vianney players (left to right) Katherine Gooch, Jessica Nimbley, Alisa Apo, Shantel Brown, Kristine Perez and Courtney Calderone console each other during the waning moments of the March 23 Tournament of Champions final at the Continental Airlines Arena. Seniors Shantel Brown, Colleen Light and Katherine Gooch may not have delivered an overall state championship to St. John Vianney, but after a six-year absence, they had the Lancers back in the Tournament of Champions final.
The NJSIAA Tournament of Champions was once the private domain of the Lancers, the TOC’s most decorated champions. Beginning in 1991, the Lancers won the MOC crown in the odd years, rolling up five championships and establishing themselves as the state’s premier program.
SCOTT PILLING staff SJV’s Courtney Calderone shoots over Woodrow Wilson’s Letitia Curry during the TOCfinal on March 23. SJV girls continued to win in the 2000’s, but except for a semifinal appearance in 2003, the Black and Gold were missing from the TOC.
That all changed this year when a collection of Lancers who believed in themselves, even when other didn’t, put SJV back in the spotlight.
JEFFGRANIT staff SJV’s Jessica Nimbley gets a hand on the shot of Woodrow Wilson’s DeVaughn Hailey. A great March ride came to an end at the Continental Airlines Arena on March 23 when Woodrow Wilson, Camden, beat the Lancers, 64-45.
“It was a great experience,” said Brown. “The last two weeks have been the best time I’ve had. We became closer as a team.”
SJV was seeded No. 4 for the TOC after capturing the Non-Public Schools A state title. The Lancers beat No. 5 seed Bloomfield Tech, 72-59, in the quarterfinals and then sent shock waves through the state when they took out No. 1 seed Absegami in the semifinals, 61-51, conjuring up thoughts of a sixth TOC.
PHOTOS BY JEFFGRANIT staff Vianney’s Alisa Apo applies the defensive pressure on Wilson’s Tanezia Harden during the second half of the TOC final on March 23. But last Wednesday, No. 2 seed Wilson, the Group III state champion, put an end to any hopes of a sixth title by combining their size, length, quickness and experience to throw the Lancers off their game in the first half. Wilson then sealed the title with composure when SJV made its run in the third quarter.
SJV’S Katherine Gooch tries to beat the pressure of Wilson’s Tanezia Harden under the basket. Midway through the first quarter, Wilson was clinging to an 11-10 lead and Deree Fooks, their 6-0 guard who had been hurting the Lancers inside, went to the bench with her second personal foul. Things were looking bright for St. John Vianney. Then, the Tigers displayed their claws, out-scoring the Lancers 25-6 over the rest of the first quarter and through the second. A three-point shot from beyond the NBA line as the red light went on by Taylore Wallace was the final blow, putting the Tigers up 36-16.
“We had a bad first half, and that shot just topped it all,” said Brown.
Lancer coach Bob Ward credited the Tigers for SJV’s offensive struggles.
“We were tentative in the first half,” he said. “Give them credit. They took us out of what we’ve been successful at since the Shore Conference [Tournament], which was getting to the line and penetrating. They clogged the lanes and took away our penetration.”
The Tigers mixed their defenses, starting in a full-court man-to-man and changing to a match-up zone and 1-3-1. Wilson coach Almar Dyer said he had his team change to a 1-3-1 to try and force the Lancers to shoot from the outside.
“We wanted to make them shoot the long shots,” he said. “They’re not familiar with the background in this arena, and I thought that might be a factor. I wanted them shooting the deep shot, which also put us in position for rebounds. They are a good rebounding team and we told our players to box out.”
SJV’s players said that the arena background didn’t cause them to miss their shots, but the first-half results certainly made Dyer’s words prophetic.
The Tigers played a nearly perfect first half, disrupting the SJV offense, taking them out of the running game and shooting lights out on the offense.
St. John’s nightmare continued into the first minutes of the second half as the lead ballooned to 46-20. The Lancers, though, would not go quietly into the night.
With Gooch providing a spark off the bench, the Lancers suddenly discovered their shooting eye, which enabled them to set up their full-court trap.
Gooch drove the baseline and scored an old-fashioned three-point play. A turnover gave the ball back to the Lancers, and Brown scored on a driving layup. It was the first time since early in the first quarter that SJV scored back-to-back baskets on the Tigers.
With the trap now harassing the Tigers, Alisa Apo scored on back-to-back steals. SJV closed the quarter on a 15-3 run that sliced the lead to 49-35.
A three-pointer by Brown closed the margin to 51-38 early in the fourth quarter. But when the Lancers began to trade baskets with the Tigers, their rally ran out of steam, and the win that had looked so secure at halftime for Woodrow Wilson was back in the Tigers’ control.
“We dug ourselves a big hole in the first half,” said Ward. “We could have rolled over. We fought to the end.
“Our three seniors should be proud of what they have accomplished,” he added.
Ward cleared his bench in the final seconds of the game, allowing his seniors to get a standing ovation from the Lancer faithful. The last one to the bench was four-year starter Brown, who, in the final game of her career, led all scorers with 19 points.
“We gave it our best,” said Brown, who will head to Seton Hall University, South Orange, in the fall.
Apo netted 10 for the Lancers, who finished the season 24-6.
Wilson, 27-3, had five players in double figures, led by Wallace and DeVaughn Hailey, who each had 12.
Hailey and Brown were voted their teams’ respective MVPs.
The TOC title was the first for Wilson, and it came at a perfect time for the beleaguered city.
“It’s a positive for the city,” said Hailey, a senior.
Dyer noted that the city has been behind the Tigers the last two weeks.
“It’s sunshine in Camden right now,” he said.