The Holmdel High School girls basketball team enters the NJSIAA North Section 2 Group III tourney with a deceiving 12-10 record, and coach Dawn Karpell believes the Hornets will make their presence felt.
At 16-11 a year ago, Holmdel entered the Central Jersey Group III playoffs in a similar situation and rolled to the championship. While Karpell acknowledges the competition is difficult with Shabazz in the same bracket and teams like Scotch Plains and Orange in the opposite bracket, the Hornets are a tough team.
This time around, Holmdel was scheduled to open the tourney last night at South Plainfield, the team the Hornets beat in the opening round of the CJ Group III event last year.
"We play in a tough conference [B North] to begin with, so the girls are used to playing top-notch teams," the coach said. "One area that should help us is our depth. We regularly play eight players, while most teams use only five or six at this time of the year."
Counted among Holmdel’s losses are three to Shore Conference champ St. John Vianney, as well as two defeats by Neptune.
Point guard Ashley Folchetti leads the Hornets’ offense. The senior contributes an average of 4.4 assists and 2.2 steals, and has a knack for canning big shots. She’s ably assisted by sophomore guard Christina Martorelli, who leads the team in scoring with a 10.2-point average, and Jackie Klatsky, a sharp-shooting junior who averaged 9.5 points and is a three-point threat.
Guards Marissa Porto, another three-point threat, and Jasmin Rodriguez can score when needed. Junior center Mary Orsini provides a presence underneath, and freshmen Liz Mayell and Ariel Redmond have contributed solid minutes off the bench.
Folchetti, Klatsky and Rodriguez also form the heart of a stingy defense that often creates turnovers.
"I think we’ll be able to score some points, so keeping the pressure on defensively will be the key for us, and, of course, rebounding," Karpell said. "We just have to take it one game at a time and see what happens."
— Warren Rappleyea