'Unbelieveable run' for St. John Vianney girls basketball ends in state championship game
TOMS RIVER - The poetic season-ending finish the St. John Vianney girls basketball hoped for didn’t happen.Instead, Immaculate Heart Academy of Bergen County prevented the Lancers from polishing off an undefeated season in the state Non-Public A championship game Saturday. IHA took advantage of limited play time of Vianney star Zoe Brooks (foot injury) and won 65-55 at RWJ Barnabas Arena.
“The game didn’t turn out the way we had hoped,” SJV coach DawnKarpell said. “These kids put their heart and soul into the whole season.Unfortunately, we just didn’t have that extra gear today, in spite of Zoe (Brooks) coming in atthe end to help us out a little.”
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St. John Vianney’s four-year seniors helped lift their team to a 104-3 record over their time, with this the only loss to a New Jersey team.
Early in the game, the Lancers (31-1) proved to be effective defensively by setting up their halfcourttrap. They managed to cause several turnovers and gain early momentum defensively.Without Brooks to take the scoring load, they looked to other sources but, outside of the team-high 16 points from senior guard Bre Delaney, the offense proved to be stagnant throughout the first half, allowing the Blue Eagles time to figure things out.
“Credit to IHA, they knew our schemes and hit every shot within them,” Karpell said. “Wewaited a little too long to get our offense going.
“We’ve had an unbelievable run but this is sports and sometimes it just happens.”
The Lancers trailed heading into halftime, 22-20.
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Immaculate Heart’s adjustments
Due to the Lancers’ relentless defense, the Blue Eagles (25-4) took a very long time to get goingoffensively. However, once they began finding their rhythm and exploit holes within the Lancers’zone, it felt as if they couldn’t miss.
A large part of their offensive success came from the Blue Eagles’ Isabella Asencio (25 points). Ascenio not only found opportunities to score for herself, but she often threaten the zone with her quickness and quicklykicked the ball out to open teammates.
“Vianney’s trap is always something they’re really good at, but we looked at film from ourscrimmages and found the holes in the zone,” Ascenio said.
This led to a monster half for the Blue Eagles, and ultimately determined the second half. Withinthe final minute of the third quarter, Karpell decided to check Brooks in the game with theLancers trailing 42-29.
Brooks contributed by assisting and rebounding as much as she could, however she’d go onto end the game with zero points. While Brooks appeared to be more of a decoy, freshmanshooting guard Madison Kocis took full advantage of the opportunity. In the fourth, Kocis (15points) point nailed five threes to help close the gap, however it wasn’t enough to secure thecomeback against the Blue Eagles.
“I have so much respect for their program and coach,” Immaculate Heart Academy coach Steve Silver said. “As far as their team and program, what they bring to the table with their size, shooting….and they're just so disciplined. Their defense is unmatched. However it did take us plenty of time to get going and once we began to believe inourselves and grow confidence we never looked back.”
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: St. John Vianney NJ girls basketball loses to Immaculate Heart Academy
