Manasquan Cruises into WOBM Girls Semifinals

The girls side of the WOBM Christmas Classic has followed a fairly predictable script from year to year, with the seedings being an accurate predictor of which teams will reach the semifinals and, eventually, the final.

Such has been the case at the 2011 edition of the tournament, though Toms River East nearly rewrote the script on Tuesday in the quarterfinals at Pine Belt Arena on the campus of Toms River North.

Top-seeded Manasquan, second-seeded Point Boro and third-seeded Jackson Memorial all advanced easily to Thursday's semifinals, which begin at 6:15 p.m. at Pine Belt Arena.

Manasquan, ranked the No. 1 team in New Jersey, made short work of the Blue Devils in the final game of the day, sprinting out to a 13-4 lead in the first 6 minutes of the game. While much of the attention on Manasquan this season is directed at Michaela Mabrey, the Notre Dame-bound senior, those first 6 minutes showed why the Warriors have received that ranking, as three of five of Manasquan’s starters scored and Mabrey had just one basket during the run.

Of course, Mabrey quickly reminded the crowd of why there’s so much attention on her, raining in a trio of 3-pointers that put Manasquan ahead 21-7 after one quarter. The story was much the same for the rest of the half – Manasquan scored 25 points in the second quarter and 18 in the third before coach Felix Romero pulled his starters. Michaela Mabrey finished with 15 points but that was because she often passed on the shot and to a teammate. Katelynn Flaherty led Manasquan with 22 points and Marina Mabrey added 19.

“Today we pressed well,” Romero said, “but then we started getting a little lackadaisical about defensive assignments. We don’t want to create bad habits.”

Romero said he has been urging the Warriors to stay focused and to work on their chemistry, because he knows bigger challenges lie ahead.

“We’re trying to make the most we can out of these games,” he said. “We need to work on communicating better, because we need to do that when we face teams like Point Boro.”

Shore Regional coach David Dudzinski knew the Blue Devils had their work cut out for them when he saw the brackets.

“They have height, they have ball handlers, they have shooters,” Dudzinski said. “They’re a great team.”

But he tried to keep his team focused on playing hard.

“At halftime (when Shore trailed 46-14) we told the girls you can do two things: You can quit, or you can go out and play your best, and concentrate on doing one thing better.”

“We had too many turnovers,” Dudzinski said. “We would have had to be perfect to have had a chance to beat them.”

Manasquan will take on fourth-seeded Rumson, which had to fend off a strong challenge from Toms River East to advance. East stayed within striking distance for much of the game, and closed to within one when Emily Kunzman hit a pair of 3-pointers with about 5 minutes left in the game. But the Purple Bulldogs managed to stay one step ahead of East and pulled away for a 51-43 victory.

The Raiders trailed 28-23 at the half and were down 36-28 after three quarters. But they were not going away quietly.

Corey Schwartz (13 points) was fouled on a shot and got the basket, then added the free throw to make it 36-31. Rumson’s Catie Ebner made it 38-31, and then Toms River East made its biggest push, grabbing a rebound of a Rumson miss and getting it in the hands of Kunzman, who calmly dropped in a 3-pointer to make it 38-34. The Raiders forced a turnover and got the ball down the floor again to Kunzman, whose 3-pointer drew them to with 38-37.

That one-point deficit was as close as East got, however, as Rumson steadied itself and began forcing the tempo to its liking.

“We didn’t box out very well,” Toms River East coach Kevin Cohen said. “We’re not very big, so we have make up for it by boxing out. We had a few mental lapses.”

Overall, he was very pleased with his team’s effort.

“Our pressure proved that we can play with some of the better teams in the Shore Conference,” Cohen said. “The girls worked hard to the very end. We have a lot of returners from last year, and they fight from start to finish.”

Kunzman finished with 9 points and Kristen Kennedy added 11 for East.

Rumson will face Manasquan, a 73-27 winner over Shore Regional, at 8 p.m. Thursday in the semifinals.

The other semifinal, set for a 6:15 tip at Pine Belt Arena, pits Point Boro against Jackson Memorial.

Kelly Hughes showed why she is one of the best players in the Shore Conference, scoring 19 points in the first half as Point Boro defeated Brick Memorial 61-36.

The Panthers, seeded second, controlled the tempo from the outset, both offensively and defensively, forcing Brick Memorial into mistakes and converting on the offensive end and led 40-13 at the half.

The Panthers turned up the heat even more in the third quarter, pouring in 17 points while allowing Brick Memorial just a single basket. That broke the Mustangs’ back, and Point Boro cruised into the semifinals, where the Panthers will face Jackson on Thursday evening.

“We did a lot of things well today,” Point Boro coach Dave Drew said. “But we still have things to work on, which is good.”

Drew said the Panthers especially need to improve their finishes in transition.

“I thought we missed a couple of easy opportunities early.”

They didn’t miss many, however.

Brick Memorial coach Ken Fischer said it was the little things that hurt the Mustangs.

“We have to block out, we have to get after the loose balls, and those are all things we work on in practice,” he said. Just as important, however, he said, “We have to come out with energy, we have to play with passion, and we have to play with courage.

“You have to believe in what your coaches are telling you, but apparently we didn’t,” Fischer said.

Kelly Hughes finished with 24 points and Jessica Macchi had 11. Brielle Barber had 9 points and Kerry Malleck had 8 points for Point Boro.

Casey Bialoblocki had 7 points to lead Brick Memorial, while Charlie Topinka, Taylor Schifano and Marie Moore each scored 6 for the Mustangs.

In the first quarterfinal, Dana Carbone scored 16 points and Fran Gervato scored 8, but Monsignor Donovan was unable to recover from a slow start in a 56-38 loss to third-seeded Jackson Memorial.

Jackson opened with a 12-2 run and led by 17 points after the first quarter, fueled by Hannah Missry, who had 10 of her 12 points in the quarter. And while Jackson led 39-13 at the half, the Griffins regrouped at halftime and kept the second half closer.

“I was very disappointed with the way we ran our offensive sets in the first half,” Donovan coach Jerry Bruno said. “We wanted to play better defense and run our offensive sets better in the second half, and we did that.”

Donovan scored 25 points in the second half to 22 for Jackson, but the damage had already been done, as the Jaguars finished with four players in double figures. In addition to Missry, Tiffany Montagne (16) hurt Donovan in the paint; Stephanie Mason had three 3-pointers in her 15 points and Shannon Evans had 10.

“They’re a well-oiled machine,” Bruno said. “You can’t key on any one player because they’ve got three great shooters.”

Bruno said the Griffins played better in the second half.

“They didn’t quit, and I’m proud of them for that.”

In consolation action, Jen Coleman scored 5 of her 7 points from the foul line in the fourth quarter, as Lacey pulled away from Ocean late for a 43-33 victory. The Lions were leading 34-31 with 2:23 remaining when Ocean fouled Coleman on two straight trips down the floor. Coleman smoothly nailed both ends of the 1-and-1 in each case, putting Lacey ahead 38-31. Jenna Fleck led Lacey with 18 points and Tayler Batalla added 11.

Emily Cilinski had 15 points and Jessica Louro scored 12 as Wall defeated Southern, 44-24. The Crimson Knights led 25-9 at the half and never looked back.

Toms River North’s Nicole Gardner scored 8 of her game-high 17 points in the first quarter as the Mariners pushed out to a 9-point lead en route to a 63-36 victory over Barnegat. Kendal Kauffman had 13 points and Kristine Knowles had 10 for North.

Sarah Ridgway led the Bengals with 15 points and Samantha DeCapua added 14.

Emily Cottrell (16 points) led a balanced Toms River South attack as the Indians poured in 24 points in the third quarter en route to a 72-40 victory over Manchester.

Manchester led 31-30 at halftime, powered by Corrine Morgan, who hit three 3-pointers and scored all 15 of her points in the first half.

But South got 6 points from Cottrell and Amanda Timmes (15 points) and Taylor Troutman chipped in all 5 of her points while the Indians turned up the defense, allowing just one basket by Aneva Tinnery, who finished with 10 points for Manchester.

Victoria Alvarez also had 15 points, 8 in the second half.