Eagles hope to rebound from SCT loss
SJV, Holmdel reach SCT semifinals, face each other
BY WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above, Middletown South’s Michele Whalen tries to score over the Colts Neck defense during the Eagles’ loss on Friday in Colts Neck. At left, South’s Cristina Longo is fouled on her way to the basket.

The Middletown High School South girls basketball team is preparing for its March 3 opener in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group.

Coach Tom Brennan’s team is 16-6 and is coming off of a loss to Colts Neck on Friday in the second round of the Shore Conference Tournament. The Eagles had previously defeated Central Regional in the first round. Middletown South will play the winner of the Colonia-Voorhees game set for Monday.

The young Eagles suffered a setback when junior Lauren Sorrentino, one of Middletown South’s best defenders, suffered a torn ACL against Old Bridge.

“Losing Lauren is a tough for us because she helps take the opposition’s guards out of games,” Brennan said. “She’s one of our leaders, and she can also score.”

To offset Sorrentino’s loss defensively, Brennan is looking to score more points. The coach has moved forward Shea Taggart further out, and the sophomore has shown she can hit mid-range jump-shots.

That takes some of the pressure off of junior Michelle Whalen, who leads the team in scoring with a 10-point average, and sophomore Courtney Herring, who averages about nine points. Herring was superb against Central Regional, putting up her first double-double, notching 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Point guard Brittany Hoffman, a sophomore, has also played well, piling up nine assists in four her South’s last six contests. And freshman forward Shawna Hagen has done solid job under the hoop.

In addition, the Eagles have been bolstered by the arrival of Julie and Jillian Gannon, who moved back to town after spending the past two years in Colorado. Julie Gannon, a sophomore, has done well as a reserve point guard, while Jillian is getting some time up front.

“This is a very young team, and they occasionally make mistakes, but they’re doing a lot of things right and they’re showing good maturity,” Brennan said. “They’re looking forward to the state tournament; they know it’ll be a good test.”

Brennan noted that he was hoping to pick up a game this week, but nothing had been scheduled at press time.

The Eagles are the second seed in the North I Group III tournament, and thus received a first-round bye. They will face the winner of the Voorhees-Colonia first-round game on March 3 in Middletown.

Hornets, Lancers advance

to SCT semifinals

A pair of local girls teams kept their Shore Conference Tournament title hopes alive over the weekend, as both St. John Vianney and Holmdel won their respective quarterfinal matchups.

The second-seeded Lancers had little trouble in knocking off Pinelands, 72-52, on Sunday at Red Bank Regional.

Vianney used a tremendous defensive effort to thwart the Wildcats’ attack, while senior guard Shantel Brown spearheaded the Lancer offense, scoring a game-high 25 points, while adding 12 assists and five steals.

But while Brown was putting together her impressive numbers, the remainder of the Lancer team was contributing on both ends of the floor, as Vianney used a second-quarter 10-3 run to put some distance between themselves and Pinelands.

Pinelands showed some signs of life with a 10-0 run before the break to cut the Vianney lead to 31-24, but the Lancers dominated the second half, and put the game out of reach with a 22-10 edge in the third quarter.

With the win, Vianney earned a semifinal matchup with Holmdel last night.

The 11th-seeded Hornets have picked the right time to play their best ball of the season and entered last night’s game coming off a defensive battle with Colts Neck.

The Cougars were the tournament’s third seed, having recently scored an upset of top-ranked Monmouth Regional and, and were coming off a blowout win over a good Middletown South team.

But all of that fanfare had no effect on the Hornets, who shocked the Cougars when Dana Graziano buried a three-pointer from the corner with 5.4 seconds left to give Holmdel the 23-21 win.

Cristina Martarelli and Jackie Klatsky were the top scorers for the Hornets with nine and six points, respectively, in this offensively challenged contest, while Graziano was next in line with five points.

But it was Graziano who hit the biggest shot of the game for Holmdel, sending them to last night’s semifinal against St. John Vianney.

The winner gets a shot at the SCT title against the winner of last night’s Monmouth-Toms River North semifinal on Friday night in Toms River.

Sunday’s win over Colts Neck was Holmdel’s second consecutive upset, as they had knocked off sixth-seeded Howell on Friday, 50-40.

Klatsky led the way in this one with 11 points, as the Hornets (14-8) handed Howell just its second loss of the year.