Remember when we all said the gap between the top teams and everyone was else was huge. Well it’s a great example of how the shorten pre seasons, hype and player expectations can make for lots of mistakes in the predictions of ranking.
The gap between SJV and RBC is nowhere close to what we thought. First Manasquan is playing tight, fast and with purpose. Trinity Hall and Ocean who just a week ago got blown out. Look totally different. That’s because teams gets better during the season and some teams peek early and go backwards. RBR and Holmdel have clearly taken huge steps backwards. Ranney and Howell have taken big steps forward. Some players are stepping up in a big way and others let’s just say are being exposed. This was the weekend of truth and we found out there are a lot of myths and folks getting crowned who don’t fit the crown. Make not mistake the SHORE CONFERENCE IS WIDE OPEN AND 5 TEAMS CAN WIN IT.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK- HAYLEY POSER- JR- RANNEY
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK- ASHLEY KEIGER- RANNEY
COACH OF THE WEEK – JOE SANTOPIETRO- HOWELL
TEAM OF THE WEEK- HOWELL
MANASQUAN– They have handled there business all year. They let everyone get a taste yesterday. They are playing as a group. Katie Collins has been consistent all year. Hope Masonious is playing lights out. Carly Lapinski and Jordyn Hollawell have been nothing short of sensational. Lisa Kukoda has the heartbeat of the team in her hands. They are officially a problem.
SJV – No reason to panic. The half court defense and a ton of chip shots let them down. The good news is time is on there side. Stella Lockhart is clearly a star. Ashly Solfkanich has been up and down. Time and experience will take care of this. There three talented wing players Julia Karpell, Daniella Matus and Madison Kocis are still trying to learn to play with each other. Yesterday’s lost will take a ton of pressure off them. But now there are challenged because there have lost there biggest edge… opponents no longer fear them.
RBC- The talent is there and it’s not time to panic but they have to be concerned. They rode they bench hard yesterday and paid dearly for it. There front line once again was exposed in a big way. But the real red flag was they simple did not run offense the last 4 mins . In other words they did not pass the ball. The good new is they still had a chance to win. Better game day focus will be a start. They wounded but not dead.
OCEAN TWP- The Four Horsewomen have been sensational. Kayden Clark picked up another MVP, Eli Clark has been a master conductor. Jineen Ayyash has been great at all things, she had 6 dimes from the wing yesterday. Gamila Betton has become a force. But it’s Coach Lazur and the insanely under appreciated SOFIA CHEBOOKJIAN that been the special sauce.
TRINITY HALL- Matt McCarthy took a big risk playing the best schedule in the state early. He didn’t care about rankings. He wanted to expose his kids. Yesterday Nina EMNACE confirmed she is the POY front runner. But she got help from Lilly Riggi, Teagan Drennan, Grace Finney and Siobhan Stapleton. Giving Trinity Hall something this team has been missing… a real supporting cast. They may have found it and the early season competition may have been just what the doctor ordered. They look to be dangerous to everyone from here on out. Some teams get better late.
ST. ROSE– They have been an over achieving group all year. They shared the ball, played great team defense and ganged rebounded. That was until yesterday when they turned into a total ISO team in the 4th quarter . It was a reminder that it has to be all for one and one for all or St. Rose is in trouble. Yesterday they got in big trouble and couldn’t score. The good news is that Brooke Missry is stepping up in a major way. Chrissy Hatfield will try and regroup this week.
WALL– They had what they thought was a quality win over RFH at the time. But time has proven that’s not the case. They lost to a struggling RBR team and OCEAN. The real question is can they get over the top. Shayne Eldridge cannot be asked to do anything more. She saved them vs Manchester by picking DEYVN QUIGLEY’s pocket late and has been a scoring machine. They have RANNEY Monday and it’s going to be a big one. A win would set them up for a big finish. All eyes will be on this game
RFH– Why do I get the feeling that Dave Callahan is perfectly fine being right here. His team has been inconsistent. But the good news Ella Mason, Raquel Guidetti, Sylvie Notine and Erin Reid all at some point have played like rock stars. Now the key is to get them all on the same page at the same time. Can you think of anyone better at doing that than Dave Callahan? Nope is that answer. There great start was fool’s gold. RFH saves their best basketball for late when it counts most. Stay tuned
RANNEY– Kaitlyn Linney just gets moving forward. Her team is young and dangerous. Hayley Poser..aka “the bucket” was magically delicious vs Homdel. She did it all. 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 dimes. The D1 schools in the stands discovered what many already know. She is one of the best guards in the Shore. Ashley Kreiger was in a word, wonderful. Especially when Holmdel inexplicably sat Mackenzie Teevan in the 3rd and 4th quarters . Kreiger had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Lola MacRae just keeps laughing all the way to the bank as everyone sleeps on her. She had 8 points, 3 dimes and and 3 rebounds vs Holmdel and oh yeah, defense doesn’t show up in the box score. She was fantastic. They get WALL on Monday and that is going to tell us a lot.
HOWELL– Last year they got close. This year they’re making noise and the noise you heard? They just knocked off the WOBM Champs RBR. Well excuse the losses to Trinity Hall and Ocean. Joe Santopietro is now in the Coach of the Year Conversation and Kira McKnown and crew are cooking. Now can they stay here? That’s the big question. They have RBR, TRINITY AND RFH still let on the schedule. But they get rewarded for a job well done in this spot.
