Strich leads young Caseys to SCT title
BY DOUG McKENZIE
Staff Writer

Above, Rumson’s Kara Abbot (l) and Caitlin Hyduke battle for the loose ball with RBC’s Kathryn Fox during the SCTfinals in Toms RIver on Friday. At left, Abbot fights for a rebound, with RBC’s Kristina Danella.

TOMS RIVER — The Red Bank Catholic girls basketball team entered Friday night’s Shore Conference Tournament final against Rumson-Fair Haven brewing with confidence.

“We weren’t losing (to RFH) a third time in a row,” said junior guard Jenna Strich.

When it was all said and done, it was Strich that insured the Casey victory, seemingly taking the game over in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter to propel the second-seeded Caseys to a 41-31 victory over the top-seeded Bulldogs.

The win not only gave RBC its fourth SCT title, it also avenged a pair of regular-season losses to the Bulldogs.

Just like it did with the first two games between these two teams, it came down to making shots down the stretch.

“Both teams guarded the whole game,” RBC head coach Joe Montano said. “The difference was we made some shots this time and they made some shots the last time. When you’ve got two great teams gutting it up like that, that’s what it comes down to.”

PHOTOS BY JEFFGRANIT staff

Rumson-Fair Haven head coach George Sourlis concurred.

“I just think that they made shots down the stretch,” he said. “We’ve played them three times, and the two times we made shots we won, and this time they made the shots down the stretch in the last four minutes. Strich made a three from the NBA line and then came back and made another one. That’s the difference in the game right there.

“They deserved to win,” Sourlis added. “They had a couple of key spots where they got second shots and they converted and hurt us. We had the ball three times where we could have taken the lead. I felt that once we took the lead we could really get them to start to wonder, ‘Oh my God, here we go again.’ But we were never able to get over the hump, and that was key.”

Strich’s inspired fourth-quarter play was the difference. With RBC holding onto a two-point lead with about six minutes to play, Strich buried a long three-pointer to push the lead up to five.

Rumson’s Caitlin Hyduke, the Shore’s recently crowned Player of the Year who was RFH’s only offensive presence throughout the second half, answered with a three of her own, cutting the lead to 30-28 with five minutes to play.

Strich then muscled her way to the basket and scored on a lay-up, before draining another trifecta on the ensuing possession to give RBC the 35-28 lead.

After RBC Kristina Coppolino hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to nine, Hyduke converted on a traditional three-point play to get RFH back within six with 3:06 to play.

RBC then did its best to run out the clock, and when Rumson was forced to foul, they fouled the wrong person. Strich went 4-for-4 from the line down the stretch to ice the game, and finish with 14 points, 12 of which came down the stretch.

“Strich, to her credit, from 25 feet made a shot,” Sourlis said. “If she misses it, we come down the floor and take the lead. Our philosophy was that we were going to force them to shoot the ball from the perimeter and make it. They have such great size and athleticism inside, it would be very difficult for us to allow them to get the ball inside. If they were going to beat us, it had to be from the perimeter.”

And that’s exactly what they did, as Strich picked the perfect time for a breakout performance.

“She’s a great kid,” Montano said. “She’s worked real hard this year. She’s had injuries this year. You know, the knee, the ankle, she’s been sick. She’s had a real rough go. It makes me feel good to see her step up in that spot.

“We put her at the point and I told her before the game that we want the ball in (her) hands,” he added. “We felt that she was ready for one of those break-out games. She got some clean looks and she was capable of doing it.”

“I don’t really hold (the scoring responsibility) all on myself,” Strich said after the game. “But I knew my team needed it, and that I had to do it.

“I’m going to go out knowing that I tried everything.”

Her teammates are glad she did.

As for Rumson, they took the loss in stride, knowing that they still have a state-title run to prepare for. And Sourlis knows that his team learned plenty about itself in the loss.

“The first couple of minutes I thought we didn’t come out to play,” Sourlis said. “There were some key spots where maybe we weren’t as patient as we could have been. Some of that was my responsibility. I tried to let (Hyduke) go a little bit, because I felt in a game like this we were not really getting contributions from other people.”

While Hyduke was as dominant as ever, scoring 19 points despite facing constant defensive pressure from a number of Casey defenders, Rumson’s inability to find a second scoring option burned them in the end.

But Sourlis had no regrets about letting her go down the stretch.

“I thought she played a great game,” the coach said. “She was getting shots and making them. I think in games like this your best players play great, and she did.

“I’m proud of my kids,” he added. “We’re not going to go down without a fight.”

And you can count on that same resiliency throughout their run at another Central Jersey Group I title. The Bulldogs are the bracket’s top seed and were set to host Governor Livingston yesterday in the second round. The Highlanders, seeded ninth, knocked off eighth-seeded Shore Regional, 48-45, on Monday to advance to the second round.

With a win yesterday, RFH would play in the sectional semifinals tomorrow night against either Roselle Park or A.L. Johnson. The sectional final is set for Tuesday night at Bridgewater-Raritan.

As for RBC, they enter the South A tournament as the three seed, and will take on sixth-seeded Notre Dame in the first round today in Red Bank. A win today would mean a trip to the sectional semis against either Paul VI or Holy Spirit on Saturday. Camden Catholic is the top seed.

The South A final is set for Tuesday night at Lakewood High School.

This Casey team is young, with a regular rotation consisting of almost entirely sophomores and juniors. But they’ve already proven they’re ready to win championships, and have players capable of stepping up in the big spot.

Friday night’s SCT title win proved that the Caseys are championship contenders now.

“They own this. This belongs to them,” Montano said of the SCT title. “There were a lot of times this year we could have gone the other way.”

There’s no question which direction this talented young team is heading now.