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Sports

Red Bank Catholic Girls Basketball Looks to State Tournament

Winning 70-36 in their final regular season game against Mater Dei, Red Bank Catholic put senior night and the regular season behind them with a solid team effort which saw eleven Lady Caseys contribute points.

Teamwork and blending the fast-paced running game of the Red Bank Catholic underclassmen with the inside game of seniors Sam Guastella and the sharp shooting outside game of Kasie Hobbie will be the key to victory for the Lady Caseys in a state tournament that includes Notre Dame, Holy Spirit, Monsignor Donovan and  St. John Vianney.

Following a first-round bye in the Non-Public South A playoffs, the second-seeded Caseys play Notre Dame, seeded seventh, at home Thursday at 5pm.

Seniors Guastella, Hobbie and Byrnes have set a goal of winning the state tournament, something the trio never achieved in four years of play in downtown Red Bank. Coach Joe Montano while cautious and continually stressing that they can’t look down the road, nevertheless stated after the Mater Dei game “we’ve shown all season that we can beat the good teams”.

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Montano’s focus,  patience and teaching ability is a critical factor in this team successes. All season long Montano has gone into teacher mode during timeouts, sketching plays, congratulating players and asking them to step-up where needed.

Friday night after a 20-8 first quarter lead he could be heard in the sideline huddle calmly stating “I’d like to see some other people take charge”.

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Montano sticks with his players even when they struggle.  He has kept Freshman Grace Fallon in tough games and easy games alike even when she’s made rookie mistakes or is overmatched.  Against Mater Dei on Friday night he stuck with Hobbie from the free throw line after Mater Dei’s coach drew a technical foul, even though she was cold all night and only scored one point in the game.

It will be up to the team to put Montano’s lessons together and reward the trust he’s shown them if they are to win the title this year.

To win the state title, Red Bank Catholic’s defense needs to guard better against three pointers and to do a better job against players driving the lane.  Mater Dei’s limited success came from draining three pointers at opportune times and driving the lane to the basket.  In losses against teams like Neptune, that same inability to prevent faster teams from running the court and getting under the basket contributed to their losses.  

This is where the Lady Caseys underclassmen can help out their senior teammates.  The underclassmen play a different game than the senior starters, extending the floor with strong up-court passes and running the floor with drive and aggression.  Sophomore Rachel Krauss is playing a very tough game on both offenses and defense.  Throughout the second half against Mater Dei, Krauss was taking charge, aggressively driving the lane, working the perimeter and getting passes inside.

Junior Kayla Dunn is showing flashes of brilliance under the basket and an ability to run the floor and get open.  She scored back to back lay-ups to open the 2nd quarter and has a great turn-around shot under the basket that gets better game after game.

For Red Bank Catholic to win the state title they need the seniors to set the pace, score points and play tough perimeter defense. The underclassmen need to come in, outrun their opponents and tire them out, opening up opportunities for shooters like Hobbie, Caverly, Alfano and Arnott to drain threes and short jumpers. If the team can combine both styles of play, they will be unbeatable.

Crisp passes and strong ball handling will be needed from buzzer to buzzer. Red Bank Catholic’s losses this year were mainly a result of poor ball handling and sloppy passes. If they can hang onto the ball and get it inside to Guastella and Dunn, Red Bank Catholic can run the table. The Lady Caseys can’t let the press unnerve them or throw them off their game.

This team seems to know what they need to do however. During the shoot-around after half-time Friday night, Hobbie and Caverly focused on three pointers and outside jump shots and their teammates made sure they got the ball to practice their shots.

If this team sticks together and plays off of each others strengths they can win the states.

Game Notes

Senior Sam Guastella contributed her  21 points after receiving 13 stitches in her lower lip Friday morning before the game. Recieving a sharp elbow Thursday night against Point Boro caused Guastella to miss most of the Point game after putting in nine points in the first quarter.  She was back in time for senior night.  

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