Natalie Mehl of Steinert goes up for the for 2 of her 12 points against Brick Township in the CJ III State Tournament opening round. Photo by Michael A Sabo
By Rich Fisher
Fish4scores.com
Feb. 26: Had a few more shots gone down for Nottingham tonight, we would be guaranteed that a team from Hamilton Township would be playing in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III semifinals.
The 11th-seeded Northstars nearly came up with the biggest win of the Lauren Adams era before dropping a 46-40 decision at 6th-seeded Neptune in a CJ III first-round game today. Had Nottingham (11-13) won, it would have faced Steinert in the quarterfinals, as the 3rd-seeded Spartans rolled to a 62-34 victory over 14th-seeded Brick Township.
As it is, the Spartans (20-6) will be hosting the Fliers at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in a rematch of last year’s second-round game in Neptune that the hosts won by 20. Alexis Bennett and Desiree Allen combined for 45 in that one, but they are no longer around.
Steinert has a different concern this year against a sophomore averaging 20.3 points per game.
“Makayla Andrews can score the basketball,” coach Kristin Jacobs said. “We played Willingboro last week, they had a similar type of player, similar type of team. I think Neptune’s a little more refined than Willingboro. We had to go there in the second round last year so we’re excited to have them here this year.”
It will be the second straight Shore Conference opponent for Steinert, and Neptune will likely pose more of a challenge than Brick (7-18).
After the visitors took a 6-3 lead, the Spartans scored 20 straight to blow it open at the start of the second quarter. Tatiana Dorner was the catalyst. Usually a starter, Dorner came off the bench (coach’s decision) and immediately ramped up the game. With Steinert leading 12-6, the senior scored 13 of the Spartans final 23 points of the first half to provide a 35-11 lead.
After that, it was a case of giving everyone playing time. Dorner led the way with 17 points, 5 steals and 5 rebounds, while Natalie Mehl had 12 points, 4 rebounds and 5 steals, Jayda Bing had 8 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals, Leila Collazo had 7 points and 4 steals, Erika Golik had 7 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, and Jordan Jones added 7 rebounds and 4 steals. Nicole Pappas chipped in with 5 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals in the fourth quarter.
Steinert’s Emily Diszler puts up the jump shot in the CJIII opening game against Brick Township. Photo by Michael A. Sabo
“This is good confidence for us, but we have a tough road ahead,” Collazo said. “You never know with these teams. The seedings really mean nothing, so we’re gonna play every game like we’re coming out against Ewing or Allentown or Notre Dame. We want to make it to the end, that’s our goal.”
It’s a goal they have pursued with zeal, as Steinert has won 20 games for the first time since the Dana Jeter-led 2009-10 team went 23-4.
“They’ve done a lot of hard work,” Jacobs said. “They put in the effort, the intensity in practice hasn’t changed.
“We’ll take lay-ups, we’ll take jumpers, we’ll take good defense. We got a little sloppy at some points in the second half, but we were trying to work some different offenses, different defenses; just forcing the issues in some places to see what we can do.”
It would have been fun to see a Nottingham-Steinert rematch on Wednesday, but it was not to be as the Northstars came up tantalizingly short against the Fliers.
Nottingham trailed 27-26 entering the final quarter before the home team held off the upset-minded Stars.
“We played tough tonight,” Adams said. “We came up with a game plan and they executed it very well. It was one of our better games this season; a lot of things came together for us on both offense and defense.
“Unfortunately, shots that we needed to fall didn’t, especially from the foul line. Even though the result isn’t what we had hoped for, I’m extremely proud of the girls.”
Nydia Liles led Nottingham with 11 points, while Liz Kerekes, who added three 3-pointers to her new single-season school record, had nine and Madison Diaz scored eight.
The Northstars finished 11-13 as Adams continues to be one of the top coaches in Mercer County. She may not have the glittering record of some others, but the former Northstar standout continually squeezes every bit of ability she has out of her team.
One of these years, that marquee win will come.
