Shore Conf. hoops tourney action heating up
Boys and girls finals scheduled for Saturday night
BY DOUG McKENZIE Staff Writer
This year's Shore Conference Basketball Tournament certainly has its share of local flavor.

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above right: Red Bank Catholic's Kasey Hobbie (No. 22) tries to put up a shot against Shore Regional's Liz West (No. 15) during a home game on Feb. 15. Above: RBC's Kristina Danella (No. 33) releases a shot over the outstretched arms of West during the contest. RBC played in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals last night against top-seeded St. John Vianney, with the winner playing either Colts Neck or Rumson-Fair Haven on Saturday night in the championship game.

With a pair of local girls teams advancing to the semifinals, along with one local boys team, local high school hoops fans may very well have someone to cheer for once again during Saturday's boys and girls finals a the Ritacco Center in Toms River.

On the girls' side of play, few were surprised to see St. John Vianney advance out of the quarterfinals. The Lady Lancers, the top seed in the tourney, looked every bit like the team to beat on Sunday in beating eighth-seeded Freehold, 56-47. Junior guard Katelyn Linney had 18 points to put the Lancers into the semifinals, where they were set to face a familiar foe in the semis on Tuesday in Toms River.

The two-time defending champion Red Bank Catholic Caseys advanced with a 48-45 win over St. Rose on Sunday, as senior forward Kristina Danella continued to play like one of the very best players in the state with a dominating 29 point effort. The Caseys have overcome a slew of injuries this year, but remain a tremendous threat to end the Lady Lancers title run, mostly because of the play of Danella.

With her teammates dropping like flies with various injuries over the course of the season, Danella has emerged as the team's main option on the offensive end of the floor, and has responded brilliantly. Opposing teams know exactly what the Caseys are going to try to do, but have proven to be defenseless against Danella's efforts. By simply willing herself to the basket and drawing fouls in the process, the Casey forward is putting up big numbers and frustrating opponents on a routine basis. Against St. Rose, Danella made 18 of 24 free throw attempts, and was once again the go-to player throughout the contest.

SJV was sure to double- and tripleteam Danella on Tuesday in the semifinals, but that hasn't always proved to be enough to slow her down.

And RBC head coach Joe Montano was confident that another of the capable Casey players would step forward with some offense, giving RBC a good opportunity to earn a shot at a third straight SCT title on Saturday.

In the other girls' semifinal on Tuesday, second-seeded Colts Neck took on third-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven. Colts Neck advanced by knocking off seventhseeded Raritan in impressive fashion in Long Branch on Sunday, 56-35. Sophomore guard Lauren Clarke had a gamehigh 22 points and sophomore point guard Brooke Hampton added 17 for the Cougars, who reached the SCT semifinals for the first time in school history. Junior guard Alexa Ryan led Raritan with 15 points.

RFH advanced with a tough 40-34 win over Howell in overtime on Sunday.

Junior Kate Miller scored six of Rumson's seven points in overtime to bring home the win, and scored 26 of Rumson's 40 points in the game.

This game, however, included some controversy at the end of regulation.

Howell's Denise Crudup sank three free throws with no time left in regulation to send the game into overtime after being fouled on a threepoint attempt when Howell inbounded the ball with three-tenths of a second left in regulation. The late whistle came as a shock to the Bulldogs, who seemingly had the game won. RFH head coach George Sourlis was particularly upset (and for good reason), but was hit with a technical foul for arguing the call. Crudup then opened the extra session with a pair of free throws to give the Rebels the lead.

However, behind Miller's heroics and a brilliant defensive showing that didn't allow another Rebel point in the overtime, RFH survived the extra session to earn its shot at Colts Neck.

"We just knew that we had to go out in overtime and win it," Miller said following the win. "On the scoreboard it said we were tied and that's all that mattered. We just needed to go out there and beat them again. We'd already beat them once, we just needed to do it again.

"The whole series of events kind of helped us," she added. "We came out in the overtime fired up. We knew that we had to work harder than we had the entire game … and that's what we did … we played harder and played well."

The winners of Tuesday's semifinals will meet on Saturday at the Ritacco Center in Toms River at 5 p.m.

The CBA boys entered the SCT quarterfinals facing what many people are calling the hottest team in the conference in Monmouth Regional.

And with CBA having knocked the Falcons out of both last year's SCT, as well as this year's Neptune Holiday Jubilee, the Colts were also facing a team bent on avenging those defeats.

After knocking off Central Regional, 65-50, in the second round, head coach Geoff Billet's Colts took on a Golden Falcons team that rolled over Toms River North, 72-46, in its first tournament game, and looked every bit like a team ready to challenge for the SCT title.

On Sunday, Monmouth simply continued to roll, handing the Colts a 55-50 loss, as sophomore Neil Thompson led the way with 23 points and junior center Joe Willman adding 17 points. Senior guard Mike Kuhn led CBA with 15 points, getting 10 of his points in the second quarter to put the Colts ahead as they closed the half on a 9-2 run.

Monmouth jumped ahead early on, taking a 14-6 lead into the second quarter.

CBA answered behind Kuhn's 10 points, and entered the halftime break up 24-22.

This one stayed close throughout the second half, with the teams trading the lead back and forth. Thompson was the best player on the floor in the third quarter, scoring 10 of his team's 16 points, and giving his team a 38-35 lead entering the final quarter. It stayed close in the fourth until the Falcons went on a 9- 1 run to take an eight-point lead with 1:57 to go.

With the win, the Falcons advanced to meet Class B North rival and No. 1 seed, Neptune, in the SCT semifinals at 6 p.m. at Ritacco Center tomorrow.

Neptune had little trouble with Asbury Park in their quarterfinal game, handing the Bishops a 67-44 loss thanks in large part to an intense defensive effort in the second half. Monmouth will need to find a way to overcome the Scarlet Fliers' relentless defensive pressure, while also slowing down a Neptune offense that can get points from a variety of people.

In other quarterfinal action, secondseeded Monsignor Donovan beat Red Bank, 50-48, in overtime despite 34 points from RBR's Will Sanborn. The Griffins will now face Colts Neck in the other SCT semifinal tomorrow.

Colts Neck beat Freehold Borough, 58-45, in their quarterfinal behind senior Steve Spinella's 30-point effort.

The winners of tomorrow's action will play for the title on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Ritacco Center.