Above: St. John Vianney’s Jackie Kates tries to put up a shot before Neptune’s Shakena Richardson (r) can get a piece of it during the second half of the Shore Conference Tournament championship game played Feb. 25 at Monmouth University. The Scarlet Fliers prevailed, 57-48, in the battle between two of the three best teams in the state. Right: SJV’s Missy Repoli pulls down a rebound over Neptune’s Syessence Davis during the game. PHOTOS BY ERIC SUCAR staff You never want to lose, especially when a championship is at stake. But if there is a silver lining for St. John Vianney High School in the Lancers’ 57-48 loss to Neptune in the final of the Shore Conference Tournament, it’s that they still have more games to play.
“I told the girls to remember this feeling,” said senior point guard Jackie Kates. “We don’t have to end the season like this.”
This week the state playoffs begin, and as Kates noted, it will require a “new level of focus” as seasons and careers are on the line in the one-and-done state playoffs.
The senior-laden Lancers have been pretty good at that “new level of focus,” having been to the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions the last three years, winning it all in 2009 and losing to Neptune in last year’s final.
SJV will begin the defense of its Non-Public A state sectional title tonight against the winner of Tuesday’s first-round game between Paul VI and Bishop Eustace. The Lancers are the top seed, and as long as they keep winning, they’ll play all their games at home. The state sectional final is Tuesday, March 8.
Friday night’s SCT final held at Monmouth University featured two of the three best teams in the state in defending SCT champion Neptune and St. John Vianney. For many it was Round One between the two teams that could very well meet down the road in the TOC.
The last time these two powerhouses played was last March at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, and it was for the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions crown. This game bore little resemblance to that TOC encounter as the Lancers trailed the Scarlet Fliers by just 2 points early in the fourth quarter before Neptune took control with a 12-2 run.
Both teams have stars, but that doesn’t prevent them from playing defense. In fact, they pride themselves on defense, and that was on full display in West Long Branch. It was almost 4:00 before SJV’s Arron Zimmerman scored the first points of the game.
Neptune led 12-6 after the first period but was held to just four points in the second quarter. That enabled the Lancers to pull even at 16-16 at the half. Kates scored back-to-back baskets and Zimmerman hit a pair of free throws to complete a 6-0 spurt that tied the game at 16.
The first-half shooting percentages reflected the intensity both side put into their defense. The Lancers shot 32 percent from the field, which was red-hot compared to Neptune’s 23 percent. Offensive rebounding was the key factor for the Fliers, led by Chyna Golden and Nahja Carter.
The second half started with Kates hitting a three-pointer that gave SJV a 19-16 lead. It would be short-lived. A three-pointer by Rutgers University-bound Shakena Richardson gave Neptune the lead back, at 21-19. Katie O’Reilly’s put-back tied it at 21- 21 for the Lancers, but a three by Syessence Davis, who is following her teammate Richardson to Rutgers, gave the Fliers the lead for good.
Richardson followed Davis’ trey with another, and Neptune was leading by 6, 27-21. Zimmerman, who played strong in the paint all night, got the Lancers back to within two, 29-27, with a pair of baskets. But as the third quarter was expiring, Richardson hit a three-pointer from the top of the key that gave the defending champions a five-point lead, 32-27, heading into the fourth quarter.
Kates got three back at the start of the fourth quarter to make it 32-30, but that would be as close as the Lancers would get for the rest of the game.
Richardson, who began to find space now that a foul-plagued Kates was off her, led the 12-2 run that pushed the lead up to 48-33. There is no quit in the Lancers, and O’Reilly led a comeback that pulled the Lancers to within four, 50-46, in the final minute. But Davis sealed the win for the Fliers, going 6-for-6 from the free-throw line .
Richardson led all scorers with 20 points and was 3-for-5 behind the arc.
Neptune head coach John Brown was not surprised that Richardson had a big scoring night.
“We call her Big Time Shakeena and she was there tonight,” said Brown. “She likes the lights.”
Davis had 19 points for the Fliers and pulled down eight rebounds. Golden led the Fliers in rebounds with nine while scoring eight points.
Brown said the SCT final was all about history for his Fliers. They wanted to become the first public school to win three straight championships since the Fliers last did it in 1987-89 (Asbury Park in the Rosie Strutz years won four straight from 1974-1977).
Neptune improved to 22-1 and began defense of its TOC title in the Central Jersey Group III sectional, where the Fliers are the top seed. They played 16thseed
Northern Burlington on March 1.
SJV, which has a record 12 SCT titles, was seeking its first since 2005. The Lancers fell to 23- 3 with the loss. O’Reilly led the Lancers in scoring with 15. She also had six rebounds. Kates and Zimmerman each had 14. Zimmerman tied for game-high honors on the glass, pulling down nine rebounds.
Kates said the loss served as a reminder for the Lancers that the status quo won’t get them back to the TOC.
“We need to get better,” she said. “We didn’t execute our offense as well as we can. We need to get better.
“You have to give credit to their defense, it was very good,” she added.
The loss to Neptune wasn’t the end of the world; Kates pointed out that in 2009 the Lancers lost to the Fliers in the SCT final but went on to win the TOC.