MANASQUAN vs St. ROSE … RBC vs TRINITY… NICK RUSSO… CHANGE IS COMING 🌈

TWITTER UPDATE- Still in the process of getting my account restored

Last night the Shore made its first steps towards the changing of the guards this season. Last night we found out what makes the Shore Conference different than everyone else. In a year where the Shore Conference should give the rest of the state hope. The Shore continues to deliver. Last night was the biggest delivery of the year as players, coaches and teams stepped up.

MANASQUAN and ST. ROSE is always a special game. It’s a rivalry game. It’s one of those games that both teams circle on there calendar. This years game was different. Manasquan was expected to challenge for a SCT and TOC title. St. Rose was expected to be in major rebuilding mode. Manasquan is led by senior D1 players and experienced underclassmen. St. Rose is a roster of inexperienced players led by two D1 juniors. Last nights game was everything a fan of basketball wanted. That’s because last nights game went into overtime. But it’s how they got there that was so exciting.

Some things the box score doesn’t tell you. Like when D1 Senior GEORGIA HEINE with 3 seconds left forced her 2nd consecutive turnover to push last nights game into overtime. Which allowed another D1 senior Mary Donnely to knock down a three to help give Manasquan a much needed quality win. But that is not the entire story of the night. First you have to to talk about the young St Rose team of babies. Maggie Cavanaugh was electric all night for St Rose with 15 points and 7 rebounds. But her running mate cracklings Rosie was thrown into the ice cooler by Mary Donnely. This left St Roses hopes in the hands of there inexperienced juniors and talented babies and they did not disappoint.

Julia Whesper proved she could play under the big bright lights. She had 6 points.. 7 rebounds… 3 dimes and 3 steals. She she was a thing of beauty all night. But Coach Chambers babies were the story. They did not flinch for a second under the hot spotlight. Each freshman at some point made big plays for St Rose. Emily Cavanaugh had 6 points and 3 rebounds.. Christa Ramos hit a big three. … Caroline Conforti looks more and more like ALL FRESHMAN… Lizzy Mitchell was cool as they get…and all CASSIDY KRUESI  did was get 5 points… 3 rebounds .. 3 dimes while playing lights out defense. She was as Billy Crystal would say “Marvelous“. St Rose has a lot to be proud of after last night.

But guess what? Manasquan has a lot to be proud of too! There names are Katie Collins, Rylyn Orlando and McKenna Karlson. Ryiln Orlando is the D1 player nobody knows about. She has not been crowned or hyped up. She knows she doesn’t have the brand name that Guarantees opportunity. But she knows big moments and yesterday she may have saved the Manasquan season…. YET AGAIN! She had 9 points.. 3 rebounds was scary on defense and made every big play a coach could ask a player off the bench to make. She was a star last night. Katie Collins is already star and has been acting like one. In a game where every basket and play mattered. Katie Collins mattered. She scored 4 big points and had 4 rebounds and 2 blocks. But what the box score won’t show is how she took over the paint on defense yesterday. She bailed out the Manasquan guards on defense to many times to count. Katie Collins was a difference maker. Just like McKenna Karlson’s big bucket and defense.

Last night two teams overcame so much and grew as a group. When St. Rose tied the game at 38 and then got a technical called for “Taunting”. It was shocking and showed a total lack of discipline. It opened a big door for Manasquan. Yet somehow St. Rose survived to fight another day or in this case to overtime. When St Rose jumped on Manasquan early in the game. Memories of last years defeat were dancing in there heads. But D1 senior Brooke Hollawell was not having any of that. Her 14 points were masterful and allowed Manasquan to fight and see another day. To keep there SCT AND TOC dreams alive. The thought of Brooke Hollawell not playing last night is not something Manasquan Coach Lisa Kukoda wants to thing about. In the end none of this really matters. That because everyone got what they came for last night … great drama… excitement .. entertainment and above all GREAT BASKETBALL.

RBC’s life is about to change. But last night there two power 5 players, Justine Pissott and Ally Carman threw there teammates a life Preserver. Last night RBC ran into the 2nd best backcourt in the Shore and almost got taken out. Haven Dora created havoc all night dancing in the lane. Coach Montano tired his entire roster on her in a effort to slow her down with no luck. But it was NINA EMANCE and her 74 inch wing span who was unguardable last night. She had 24 points and toyed with the RBC guards all night. Nina Emnace folks is not just 1st Team All Shore these days… she has POWER 5 recruiting written all over her body. Trinity Hall has a Top 5 ranking coming there way. Think if they had there entire team at the start of the season. Better yet think about them right now! But all that sounds good until Justine Pissott and Ally Carman (for a 2nd consecutive game)comes to play. Both had 17 points and allowed RBC to live another day. That and Trinity Hall going 8-17 from the foul line…ouch!

Say a prayer RBC that’s because there going to need it. Life is about to change as Justine Pissott will not be in the lineup until further notice. She hopefully returns before the SCT or states. But before everyone writes RBC off, check the track record when either Pissott or Ally Carman are not on the floor together … folks do your homework!… things in the Shore are changing and these two teams are the biggest examples.

Middletown South discovered what one extra ball handler and scorer can do for a team. The addition of Erin Mayerhofer led to South’s most impressive win to date. Mayerhofer had a team leading 16 points in her debut as South rolled over Manalapan.

Colts Neck, is anyone paying attention? They beat Neptune yesterday. Now Neptune has seen the wheels fall off the bus. But Colts Neck has the bus rolling in a major way. Coach Russo is trying to make a run at Coach of the Year and JULIANNA GIBSON may be the biggest reason why he wins the award.

Ocean Freshmay Kayden Clark just made the biggest freshman statement of the year folks. She had 14 points… 10 rebounds and three dimes in yesterday’s win. Folks they say one game can change a narrative.. well here you go… the FRESHMAN OF YEAR race is back on in a big , big way… not to mention that Ocean gets a transfer in 30 days that could boast them into the Top 10… things truly are changing

Holmdel trying to regroup took out the whooping stick last night and blew out Old Bridge. Erica Stolker was not good but great with 16 points. So was Allison Cannon with 12 . But once again they played without Coach Darren Ault. This team has been dealt a bad hand.. things are changing.

Just when you count RFH out, what happens? They beat Chatham and then face the new and better Shore Reg roster and beat the brakes off them. That’s because Julia Cosentino had 20 points and never question a Dave Calahan team. Go look at the RFH SCHEDULE and scores and what do you notice? They could be looking at a entirely different narrative with a few breaks… things are about to change people.

So who are the best guards in the state of New Jersey? Not just the shore folks. How about this name, DEVYN QUIGLEY of Manchester who had 31 points last night. The fact of the matter is Quigley is the best player in Ocean County and let’s debate it…a First TEAM ALL SHORE player… my my are the times a changing.

What to know what’s not changing? The behavior of parents at games. Why make the big speech before each game and then let parents miss behave… how about not just kicking them out. But banning parents who act out… A DAMM JOKE!… a bigger joke to keep complaining and doing nothing about it