South Brunswick Girls Basketball will Host Playoff Game Monday

Although the South Brunswick High School girls basketball team has lost its past two games, that doesn't mean the team will not carry some momentum into the state playoffs.

South Brunswick Coach Beth Barrio likes the way her team responded to an early deficit in its 52-49 loss to Bishop Ahr on Thursday.

"We were down 17-4 at one point," Barrio noted. "The girls locked it down on defense, got some stops and carried that into some momentum on the offensive end."

Danielle Padovano scored 19 points and pulled down 10 rebounds in the loss. Danielle Roberts added 13 points, four rebounds, five assists and four steals.

"While we're never happy to lose, this was a lot different than the game we played on Saturday," Barrio said. "Saturday was the biggest loss of the season. I'm happy the girls reponded by playing well (against Bishop Ahr)."

When Barrio says "biggest loss of the season," she means by the most points. South Brunswick was defeated by Piscataway, 59-27, in a Greater Middlesex Conference quarterfinal game on Saturday at Middlesex County College.

Bianca Celi and Ashley DeGroff scored 11 points each for South Brunswick in the setback.

This was the third time this season Piscataway defeated South Brunswick. Piscataway won 50-43 on Dec. 23 and 50-42 on Jan. 25.

"They played a two-three zone against us that didn't use before," Barrio said. "I have to give them credit. They definitely did a great job on defense. We definitely didn't execute our game plan and offensive set."

Which is why Barrio was happy to see much better offensive execution on Thursday.

"Heading into the states, that's a positive outcome," Barrio said.

South Brunswick will take a 13-8 record into its home playoff game at 7 p.m. against Marlboro on Monday. South Brunswick is the eighth seed and Marlboro is ninth.

"We've seen them and I think it should be a good match," Barrio said.

South Brunswick has the additional boost of hosting its first playoff game in Barrio's five years as the Vikings' coach.

"It's always great to be home," Barrio said. "You're comfortable and you know the gym. Hopefully, we'll have a big home crowd."

A big home crowd to add to the momentum South Brunswick started with its late surge against Bishop Ahr.