If you doubted for one moment how much Manasquan wanted to win the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions, you needed only to look in the eyes of Katelynn Flaherty to see the answer.
And then you needed to just sit back and watch.
For two and a half quarters, Gill St. Bernard’s had been hanging around, keeping it close, making everyone wonder whether Manasquan was going to finish what it started four months ago.
Find out what's happening in Manasquan-Belmarfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In the span of two minutes, Flaherty answered the question.
The sophomore guard scored 8 points, assisted on a basket by Marina Mabrey and then stole the ball and added one more basket to give the Warriors an eight-point lead that they never relinquished, defeating Gill St. Bernard’s 67-55 in the title game at the Izod Center in East Rutherford.
Find out what's happening in Manasquan-Belmarfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
It is the first Tournament of Champions title for Manasquan, which won the Group III championship to make its first trip to the TOC in school history.
“Holding that trophy was just great,” said Michaela Mabrey, the outstanding senior guard who has earned honor after honor all season. Bound for Notre Dame, Mabrey has been selected as a McDonald’s All-American as well as Gatorade Player of the Year for New Jersey. She’s been asked to play in the Women’s Basketball Coaches’ Association All-America game, and has received the Kerwin Award as the Shore Conference’s girls basketball player of the year. “So many people were telling us we couldn’t do it.”
And much like the Warriors’ season, defeating Gill St. Bernard’s was no easy task.
Manasquan (32-2) struggled at first, shot after shot refusing to fall, just as the shots had refused to fall early against St. Rose in the TOC semifinals and against Teaneck in the Group III final. Michaela Mabrey hit a 3-pointer a minute into the game, but Manasquan failed to score again for another three and a half minutes.
In the meantime, the Knights (29-5), led by the duo of Dominique Vitalis and Taylor Rooks, were scoring and soon Gill St. Bernard’s – which had beaten top-seeded Shabazz in the semifinals, surprising many veteran basketball watchers – had what seemed to be an easily achieved 8-point lead.
It didn’t last long.
The tenor of the game started to change in the second quarter. Manasquan began to get more aggressive. The Warriors were into the bonus on free throws midway through the second quarter, with Sam Sullivan and Amanda Hagaman both picking up their second fouls.
“We wanted to get them (Vitalis and Rooks) out of the paint,” Manasquan coach Felix Romero said. “You’re not going to completely shut them down; they’re going to get their points. But we wanted to get them out of the paint.”
Flaherty’s aggressive play was simply a thing to behold. The 5-foot-7 guard was all over the ball when it was in the hands of shooters on the perimeter, but she came into the paint, too. With a minute left in the half, she elevated to block a shot by Rooks, a 6-1 guard, that would have given Gill St. Bernard's a 29-26 lead. After a Vitalis free throw, Michaela Mabrey buried a 3-pointer with two seconds left. What could have been a four-point lead for the Knights was instead a 29-28 lead for Manasquan, a five-point swing.
The block by Flaherty was just a preview of things to come, however. With 3 minutes left in the third quarter, Flaherty grabbed a loose ball off a turnover by the Knights, drove down and scored to make it 36-35 Manasquan. A minute and 20 seconds later, she hit a long 3, her first of the game.
Fired up, she turned up the heat on the Knights, driving for a layup 25 seconds later, then hitting from long range with 42 seconds left for a four-point Manasquan lead. She hustled down, grabbed a rebound, dished to Marina Mabrey for a basket, then stole the ball and scored again on a fast break to make it 48-40.
“It gave us a big sense of control,” said Flaherty, who finished with five steals, two blocks and four assists to go with her game-high 27 points. “When I hit my first 3-pointer it gives me a lot of confidence to keep shooting.”
And keep shooting is just what Michaela Mabrey had told her teammates at halftime.
“We ever give up shots just because we’re missing,” said Michaela Mabrey, who finished with 26 points. “If you keep shooting, they’re going to fall.”
Mabrey’s shots had been the only ones falling with consistency in the first half, as she led the team with 13 points at halftime. Flaherty had 9 at the midpoint, and Marina Mabrey had just 7 at the break as Manasquan held a one-point lead.
In the second half, it was those three again who carried the scoring burden, and they scored Manasquan’s first 59 points of the game, before Hagaman was finally able to get one to fall.
By that time, the outcome was just about settled.
“A lot of teams have gone home in tears, but we get to go home champions,” Romero said. “I am so proud of them. It’s a long season, and there were a lot of outside distractions. They did a good job of not letting the distractions get to them.”
Michaela Mabrey said the support of the school and their classmates meant a lot – support the team acknowledged after the game, walking to the student section and hoisting the trophy for them to see and enjoy.
“They’ve been behind us all season,” she said.
And now that season comes to a close.
“I still remember the first day of practice,” Michaela Mabrey said, “and now it’s over. I’m happy, but I’m sad.”
“I just knew it was the beginning of something great.”
The members of the Manasquan Tournament of Champions team:
Sam Sullivan; Michaela Mabrey; Katelynn Flaherty; Marina Mabrey; Amanda Hagaman; Courtney Hagaman; Melissa Pavia; Gretchen Fay; Ellie Masonius; Molly Bryant; Eva Hart; Bridget Ford.
