Monday,
March 16, 2015
By Cory K. Doviak
NJS.com Editorial Director
|
Marina Mabrey scored 28 points to go with 9 rebounds and 5 assists for Manasquan, which won its second straight Group 2 title with a 67-52 win over Westwood on Sunday. |
TOMS RIVER – Whenever it is that the 2014-15 Westwood Regional High School girls basketball team is inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame, and it is a lock that that will happen, this group of Cardinals will talk about the time they played the biggest game of their lives against one of the most complete and most polished scholastic girls basketball players ever to lace 'em up in the state of New Jersey. Senior Marina Mabrey, who was recently named Gatorade's New Jersey Player of the Year and who will likely contribute at the next level from the day she sets foot on Notre Dame University's campus next fall, is as good if not better than advertised.
But what the Cardinals will also talk about when they first meet up in their post high school days and then every time thereafter, is how they fought to the end of the Group 2 state final and even made it interesting for a possession or two in the fourth quarter.
Up against a bona fide dynasty led by Mabrey, who is a McDonald's All-American, Westwood scored seven straight points midway through the final period to creep to within 11 points just to let Manasquan know it was still there. The Cardinals, on the heals of the program's first state sectional title since 1988 and a stunning victory over Newark Tech in the Group 2 semifinals, gave it a go before bowing out.
With its 67-52 victory at Pine Belt Arena in Toms River, Manasquan won its second straight Group 2 state title and claimed the No. 1 seed in the Tournament of Champions where it was the runner up last season.
“It's been amazing because this is the farthest we have ever gone in school history and we haven't won a state sectional since 1988, so just being here in a final it is like....it's amazing,” said Westwood's Samantha McClutchy. “Hey, we came in second. We are the second best Group 2 team in the state and that is really an accomplishment.”
|
Sophomore Samantha McClutchy scored 17 points for Westwood, which finished with a 27-4 record. |
Behind two baskets by Mabrey that book-ended a Stella Clark hoop, Manasquan got out to a 6-0 lead and opened the game with a 10-2 spurt to take control. Mabrey scored on a run-out to close the first quarter scoring and put her team ahead 14-4.
Jaide Hinds-Clarke, the Westwood junior who has already committed to Division 1 Richmond, opened the second quarter with a personal 8-2 run to get the Cardinals to within 16-10, as close as they would get the rest of the way. Manasquan led 31-20 at halftime and then scored the first eight points of the third quarter to open a 19-point advantage. The Warriors led 52-35 heading into the fourth.
What makes Manasquan so tough to guard is that while Mabrey is obviously the best player on the floor, she does not dominate the ball. She is often the beneficiary of the last crisp pass thrown as the Warriors' motion offense lets the ball do the work with everyone getting touches. Mabrey can call for the ball and take a defender off the dribble when necessary, but she makes more heady passes than she does take bad shots. She is also a vocal team leader and a four-time state champion having won her third at Manasquan in addition to the one she earned as a sophomore at Point Beach.
“Every year I tell my team, and this year it is the same team we had last year, that we are going to get back there [to the state final]. That is our trophy and we are going to get it again,” said Mabrey. “I think I set a presence for them that we don't lose. I am not used to losing, so we are not going to lose. I think it puts a fight in them so that when we are down it is like 'What is going on? This is not OK and let's got get it back.' I think it has been successful for us.”
|
Courtney Hagaman scored 16 points for Manasquan, which is the top seed in the Tournament of Champions. |
Mabrey filled the stat sheet again and she was efficient in doing so. Her 28 points came on 10 of 14 shooting from the floor and she made 7 of 9 from the free throw line. She also added 9 rebounds and 5 assists, one of them to her sister, freshman Dara Mabrey, whose only two points came on that fastbreak when her older sister was ahead of the field but instead decided to share the wealth. Courtney Hagaman shot 7 of 13 from the floor and nailed two 3-pointers to finish with 16 points and sophomore center Victoria Galvan, also an accomplished passer out of the post, finished with 12 points and 3 assists. As a team, Manasquan (29-2) shot 54 percent from the field and was 9 of 13 from the free throw line.
After a scoreless first quarter, Hinds-Clarke showed she belonged on the big state with a team-high 18 points followed by 17 from McClutchy, a sophomore who showed the willingness to compete from tip to final buzzer. Senior Emily Molk scored 9 points in her final contest, Olivia Cassidy (7 points) made both of Westwood's 3-pointers and Brooklyn Colon had the other point for the Cardinals, who finished the best season in school history with a 27-4 record.
“It's too bad that it is over because we are playing some really good basketball right now. Earlier in the season when we had a shot to make some noise in some big games we were not at our best. Emily Molk caught a flu in the middle of the season, Sam McClutchy turned an ankle during the county tournament and I think a lot of people lost respect for us. But this group of kids knew they could play better basketball and they have been waiting to prove that. In this state tournament they did prove that, ” said Westwood head coach Charlie Collis. “We expect to be back here and we don't see a reason why we can't take this a step further into the [Tournament of Champions] next season.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS GAME. TO BUY A COLLECTOR'S PRINT
OF THIS STORY, PLEASE VISIT 4FeetGrafix.com. |