By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Feb. 28: It took seven years, but Steinert’s girls’ basketball team has reached the second round of the state tournament once again.
The 7th-seeded Spartans topped 10th-seeded Hopewell Valley, 53-42, Tuesday night in the NJSIAA Group III Central first round. It is Steinert’s first state win since 2010 and gives the Spartans a second-round game at 2nd-seeded Neptune Thursday.
“They found the confidence they needed to rise above the pressure of a home state game and playing against the best tenth seed anyone would see,” coach Kristin Jacobs said. “They found inspiration in each other and ran through the finish line as one team.”
Hopewell had become one of the hottest teams in the Colonial Valley Conference late in the regular season, beating Mercer County Tournament semifinalists Ewing and Allentown. But the Bulldogs suffered a first-round MCT loss to Pennington and Steinert was able to avenge a five-point loss it suffered to HoVal on Feb. 8.
The Spartans rallied from a 14-10 deficit after one quarter for a 28-22 halftime lead, and maintained their advantage through the second half.
Tatiana Dorner had 16 points, 13 rebounds and five steals to lead the way, while Leila Collazo added 14 points, eight rebounds and four steals, and Morgan “The Menace” Comfort had eight points, 11 rebounds and two steals. Erika Golik grabbed 11 boards and had three steals, while Jayda Bing added seven points, seven rebounds and four steals and Natalie Mehl had seven points and five boards.
“The girls stuck to the game plan, and they played the way I knew they could all year,” Jacobs said. “They weren’t ready for the season to be over. I am proud of their composure and the way they were able to slow the game down at the end and finish.”
* * *
Nottingham and Hamilton West both dropped their first-round games. The 8th-seeded Stars lost a 41-38 heartbreaker to 9th-seeded Moorestown while the 13th-seeded Hornets fell to 4th-seeded Red Bank Regional, 58-33.
Nottingham nursed a slim lead through the second and third quarters before Moorestown rallied to go ahead in the fourth. With the scored tied at 36-36, the Quakers scored three straight and closed with a 5-2 run.
The Stars nearly tied it when Liz Kerekes’ late bomb at the buzzer was on-target but went off the back of the rim.
Tyasia Stephenson capped her outstanding career with 21 points, while Madison Diaz had all five of her points in the fourth quarter as she did all she could to keep the Stars in it.
Nottingham finished 14-12 and coach Lauren Kelly felt her team has some good things to look back on.
“Every year we get better and better,” Kelly said. “Last year we had 13 wins, this year we had 14. We just have to keep going. We’ll have some big losses next year but we have a nice group coming back.
“Aside from not winning the first round of the state tournament we reached every goal we set for the season. We won the first round of the Mercer County Tournament, we had more wins than last year, and beat some pretty good teams. I’m proud of them, they should be proud of themselves.”
Hamilton got 10 points each from Marissa Cooper and Aaliyah Dennis in its loss.
