Manasquan Wins Back-To-Back Shore Confernece Tournament Titles

Photo above: 2015 girls Shore Conference Tournament champions

WEST LONG BRANCH – National Player of the Year candidate and Notre Dame recruit Marina Mabrey is known for her scoring prowess, but anyone familiar with Mabrey’s game knows her talents encompass much more than just putting the ball in the hoop.

Her all-around game was once again on display Friday night at Monmouth University’s Multipurpose Activity Center in the Shore Conference Tournament final, as the No. 2 seed Warriors defeated previously undefeated and No. 1 seed St. Rose 69-60.

The Purple Roses (25-1) are the No.1 ranked team in the state and ranked No. 14 in the nation by Max Preps. They are led by two of the top scorers in the state, senior guard Kat Phipps and senior forward Jess Louro, and many felt this was a team of destiny.

St. Rose defeated the Warriors two weeks ago on a last-minute 3-pointer by Phipps –who scored 34 points, including 19 in the fourth quarter - to take over the No.1 ranking. However, on this night it was Manasquan that looked the part of the No. 1 team.

Kukoda inserted Dara Mabrey – Marina’s freshman sister – into the starting lineup with the sole purpose of slowing down Phipps. It proved successful as Mabrey hounded Phipps all night while playing lock-down defense and holding her to 10 total points on five shots, 14 points below her season average.

“Dara wanted that job, she was excited about the challenge of playing a player that caliber,” Manasquan head coach Lisa Kukoda said. “She said to me “I don’t care if I score coach just let me guard her;” that’s says a lot of her mentality and that she’s willing to do anything for the team.”

The Warriors team defense held St. Rose to 8-for-21 shooting from the field (38.1 percent) in the first half and 20-for-44 (45.5 percent) overall for the game.

“Our defense is always our big thing, that’s always our game plan going in,” Manasquan head coach Lisa Kukoda said. “We know the offense will come but we’re always focusing on defense, that’s our game when we’re aggressive and kind of flying all over the court. If we can play that way for a good duration of the game then we’re pretty confident in what we’re doing.”

The Warriors, ranked No. 2 in the state and No. 24 in the nation, jumped out to a fast first-quarter lead and never looked back. The game had the distinct feeling that it was never in doubt and Manasquan was never in real trouble.

Mabrey was held to five first-half points but hurt the Purple Roses with her ability to distribute the ball and play air-tight defense. She grabbed five rebounds and had four assists and a steal in only 12 minutes of play after picking up her second personal foul of the half.

Manasquan pushed the lead to 12 points, 26-14, with just under one minute left in the half on a Victoria Galvan three after Mabrey found her in the right corner. Sophomore Ellyn Stoll pulled St. Rose to within nine on a three-pointer before Phipps got them to within seven on a steal and a layin. Warrior senior guard Courtney Hagaman then found Galvan with a beautiful feed to get back to a nine point lead, 28-19, at the half.

It seemed as though whenever St. Rose appeared poised to make a run, Manasquan had an answer.

Hagaman had a team-high seven points - going 4-for-4 from the free-throw line - two steals and an assist in the first half.

Mabrey erupted for 17 of the Warriors 26 third quarter points to blow the game open and give Manasquan a 54-35 lead heading into the fourth quarter. The McDonald’s All-American scored the first seven points of the quarter as the game began to take on the feeling of an impending rout.

“I felt like I was in the zone at the start of the third,” Marina Mabrey said. “I knew I needed to change the way I was thinking because I got down on myself for fouling. My teammates picked me up and they stayed with it for me so I needed to stay with it for them.”

Mabrey averaged 23 points in four tournament games.

The Purple Roses did cut the lead to 55-45 midway through the fourth before a decisive steal by Hagaman led to three straight points that put the Warriors up by 13 with 2:55 to go after a driving layup by Mabrey.

“What we do when we have a lead like that we need to work on, “Mabrey added. “Sometimes we start to lose it when we get a big lead like that and it can cost us down the stretch; we need to work on that.”

Manasquan closed it out from there, becoming the first team to repeat as SCT champions since Neptune won three straight from 2009-2011. The win marked the fourth SCT title for the Warriors in program history.

Marina Mabrey finished with eight rebounds, four assists, a blocked shot and three steals to go with her game-high 29 points. Hagaman finished with 10 points, three steals and a block while sophomore guard Stella Clark added seven points and four assists. Galvan completed a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds and junior guard Gilliam Black had 11 points going 3-for-3 from the field and 3-for-4 from the free-throw line.

Below is a recap of the Warriors title run:

As the No. 2 seed in this year’s Shore Conference Tournament, the Warriors were awarded a first-round bye. No. 18 seed Manchester upset No. 15 Toms River North then traveled to Manasquan for a quarterfinal game versus the Warriors.

Manasquan had no trouble dispatching the Hawks as four players scored in double digits on their way to a 77-25 rout of the outmanned Hawks in the round of 16.The Warriors outscored the Hawks 25-2 in the second quarter to blow the game wide open and went into halftime holding a 48-16 lead.

Marina Mabrey was top scorer dropping in a game-high 18 points with six rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Clark added 15 points including two 3-pointers, Galvan contributed 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds while Hagaman had 11 points with three assists and steals.

Dara Mabrey chipped in nine points and a team-high seven assists while Molly Reed helped out with four points and six rebounds.

In the quarterfinals, the Warriors had a little tougher time with No.7 seed Neptune (20-2) as the Fliers were within three points of the Warriors as late as the early stages of the third quarter. But Marina Mabrey took things into her own hands scoring ten points in a Warrior 14-4 run. That pushed their lead to 42-27 in the final seconds of the third quarter and they held onto a 49-39 victory against a very determined Neptune squad.

Mabrey finished with game-highs in scoring and rebounding with 24 and 15 respectively while Dara Mabrey was second in team scoring with seven points. Galvan added six points, eight rebounds and four blocks in a fine all-around effort.

The Warriors semifinal pitted them up against division rival and No. 3 seed St. John Vianney in the rubber match game between the two long-time foes. The Lancers won 58-51 in early January and the Warriors derailed the Lancer 64-39 a month later.

Manasquan had to overcome Marina Mabrey’s early-second-half foul trouble to shake off the Lancers and take a home a hard fought 53-48 win and their third trip in four year to the SCT finals. Mabrey sat out the final minute of the first half with three fouls and the final five minutes of the third with four.

Hagaman scored 14 points behind four 3-pointers and delivered two key second-half threes to help the Warriors keep St. John Vianney at bay. The first of the two second-half threes put the Warriors up 34-24 just as Mabrey left the game with her fourth foul. The Warriors then held St. John Vianney to four points over the final five minutes of the quarter to take a six-point lead into the fourth quarter when Mabrey returned.

Even though she sat out extended minutes in foul trouble, Mabrey led the team with 22 points and 10 rebounds. Hagaman added three rebounds and three steals to her clutch three-point shooting while Clark chipped in seven points and seven rebounds.

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