Cougars speed, shooting too much for Caseys in SCT final

BY DOUG McKENZIE

Correspondent Playing in its first Shore Conference Tournament (SCT) championship game, the Colts Neck High School girls basketball team knew what it needed to do to beat the two-time defending champions from Red Bank Catholic.

And despite the overall youth of a team that features six sophomores and just two seniors, head coach John Truhan's Cougars executed their game plan perfectly in winning the school's first SCT title, 66-53, on Saturday at the Ritacco Center, Toms River.

By pushing the tempo and shooting the ball well throughout the contest (particularly early on), Colts Neck was able to build an early lead and hold it the entire way, led by the team's dynamic sophomore backcourt of Brooke Hampton and Lauren Clarke. Hampton led the way with 26 points and six assists, seemingly coming up with a big basket whenever the Caseys made a run, while Clarke consistently hurt RBC with her ability to get to the basket, adding 20 points.

With Hampton and Clarke pushing the tempo throughout, Colts Neck took advantage of the Caseys inexperience in the backcourt.

"We felt that the fast play was in our favor," said Truhan, whose team became the first public school team to win the SCT since Neptune in 1989. "We wanted it to be a north-to-south game, because if it was east-to-west, it would have slowed it down and [Kristina] Danella would have taken over. And you see how good she is.

"We just tried to spread the floor, limit the turnovers and attack the basket."

W hile Danella was her usual brilliant

self, scoring a game-high 29 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, it wasn't enough, as the Caseys struggled to find another scoring option with the Cougars keying on her from the tipoff.

"We knew that we had to work hard to help out on her defensively," Hampton said. "We tried to double and triple team her every chance we got. We couldn't let her beat us.

"We had to really run them. We knew they were big inside and if they slowed us down, theywould beat uswith their inside game."

Colts Neck came out on fire, building a 20-13 lead after the first quarter keyed by a late 9-0 run. That fast start set the tone for the entire game, and affirmed that the Cougars were in control of their own destiny.

"It was definitely a big confidence boost to come out like that," Clarke said. "It was great to find our rhythm early on."

With Brittany Howes and Crystal Butler working hard to contain Danella, Colts Neck held the junior center to just three points in the opening quarter, all from the foul line. However, Danella began to turn it on late in the second quarter, scoring five quick points to get her team within 30-26 going into the break.

"I thought in the first half Kristina might have been rushing her shots a little bit," RBC head coach Joe Montano said. "She was just trying so hard to get three-point plays. I told her to just put

the ball in the basket and I thought

she did a great job in the second

half of letting the game come

to her."

"I was dribbling too much

and thinking too much,"

Danella added. "Coach just

told me to slow down and

play my game."

Once the third quarter

started, the Hampton-led Cougars came out red hot once again, pushing the lead up to 45-35 when the brilliant point guard hit a jumper in the lane at the buzzer. Up 10 going into the fourth quarter and hitting as many shots as they were, the Cougars were in control with just a quarter to play.

With Danella doing her part to keep her team in the game (mostly by making 14 trips to the free-throw line, where she spent most of her time throughout the Caseys' SCT run), RBC stayed within striking distance early on in the fourth quarter, only to run out of steam in the final moments. Colts Neck consistently beat RBC with penetration, and was able to hit the open shots when the defense collapsed.

"They made a lot of shots tonight, and they were wide-open shots," Danella said. "We knew they're a bunch of really good shooters, which made them a hard matchup for us because we're a little inexperienced, especially with our guards."

"They made a lot of shots," Montano added. "Their two guards are obviously very, very good players. They beat us off the dribble and they made their shots. I think they played their very best and it was too much for us."

Now that they have won the SCT title, Colts Neck, which is 26-1 on the year and has won 19 consecutive games, takes aim on the Central Jersey Group IV title, where they are the top seed and will face the winner of Monday's Freehold Township- East Brunswick first-round matchup in today's second round.At this point they are a heavy favorite to emerge with the sectional title, and if they can continue to play as they did on Saturday the rest of the way, the young, fiery Cougars could find themselves playing well into March.

As for RBC, the Caseys will have some time to lick their wounds before facing either Camden Catholic or Gloucester Catholic on March 1 in the semifinals of the Non-Public South A tournament, where they are the second seed. St. John Vianney, the team the Caseys beat in the semifinals of the SCT, 33-31, is the top seed in this bracket.