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TOMS RIVER - The grand stage at the IZOD Center in last year's NJSIAA Tournament of Champions final was too much for the junior-heavy Colts Neck girls basketball team, but the now senior-dominated Cougars felt right at home in front of the bright lights and cameras at the Ritacco Center in Monday's Shore Conference Tournament semifinals against St. John Vianney, the team that beat them in the TOC final.

Lauren Clarke, Brooke Hampton and the second-seeded Cougars had every answer for the No. 3 Lancers' full-court press and balanced offense in a 48-44 win that sets the Cougars up for a date in the SCT final with top-seeded Neptune on Thursday, the second trip to the SCT final for this group of Colts Neck seniors, which won the SCT title as sophomores two seasons ago. This group is now also 12-1 during its career in games at the Ritacco Center, where they have played in the WOBM Classic, the SCT and the NJSIAA Tournament.

Colts Neck celebrates its 48-44 SCT semifinal win over St. John Vianney on Monday night at the Poland Spring Arena at the Ritacco Center. (Photo by Bill Normile)

Clarke scored a game-high 15 points and went 9-for-10 from the foul line, including a 6-for-6 performance in the fourth quarter. Both of Clarke's field goals were 3-pointers.

"Last year, we didn't play well," Clarke said referencing last season's loss to SJV in the TOC final. "That's not the way we wanted to go out. We knew this was a chance to get that bad feeling out of our system."

Hampton, meanwhile, scored 12 points to go with seven assists, eight rebounds and four steals while running an offense that turned the ball over a respectable 14 times against a team that has made its living turning teams over during it recent run of success. Limiting turnovers will also be a major part of Colts Neck's plan when it faces the top-seeded Scarlet Fliers, who turned St. Rose over 32 times in their semifinal victory Monday, on Thursday night.

"We put in four new options to our press break and we worked the heck out of it," first-year Colts Neck coach Jeanene Healy said. "I think they walked in here knowing that they could do it. They thought, 'Hey, if we can break it against eight people in practice, we can break it in the game.'"

The Cougars' frontcourt was productive again, as Emily Laurence, Brittany Howes and Leeann Lanza combined for one third of Colts Neck's points -16 of 48 - with Laurence scoring nine, including a key 3-pointer in the fourth quarter to stretch her team's lead from one to four, 35-31. 

Colts Neck trailed only once, 10-9 early in the second quarter, and answered Vianney anytime the Lancers came within a score or tied the game. When junior forward Arron Zimmerman converted a three-point play late in the third quarter to pull Vianney within two, 29-27, Clarke answered back with a 3-pointer two possessions later to push the lead back to five.

"We had more experience than them and we knew that was going to be to our advantage," Clarke said. "At times like this, that's what's really important. When they come with a few baskets we always need an answer in return."

Colts Neck went to the fourth quarter leading 32-27, and when Vianney scored the first four points of the quarter on two free throws by Katie O'Reilly and another basket by O'Reilly to cut the Cougars' lead to 32-31, Colts Neck answered that, too. Clarke nearly lost the ball on the next possession, but retained control, allowing the Cougars to work the ball around to Laurence, who drilled a 3-pointer from the right wing to put Colts Neck back up by four.

When Zimmerman scored on another tough layup, Hampton converted a 3-point play of her own, finishing a layup with the left hand as she was fouled and hitting the free throw to stretch the lead to five. Missy Repoli hit an elbow jumper on St. John Vianney's next possession, but again, Colts Neck answered when Clarke went hard to the rim, drew a foul and hit two free throws.

Colts Neck guard Brooke Hampton (ball) drives on SJV's Katie O'Reilly. (Photo by Bill Normile)

The Lancers were out of answers from that point on as they never came within two scores of Colts Neck over the final four minutes of the game.

While the answers on offense were critical for Colts Neck, the Cougars' defense may have stood out above all else. Only O'Reilly, a junior forward, reached double-digit scoring with 13 points for the Lancers, who had been on an offensive tear since topping Rumson-Fair Haven in a low-scoring, 42-32 battle during the regular season. Vianney junior point guard Jackie Kates scored eight points and hit two threes, but the Cougars' defense, particularly Clarke, limited the number of times she got into the paint.

"(Kates) can dribble, she can pass, (and) she can shoot so there's a lot you have to be ready for," Hampton said. "We just had to keep her contained and she made some shots, but I thought we did a pretty good job."

"Lauren did such a good job on Kates," Healy said of Clarke's defensive effort against the Lancers' point guard. "She's a good ballplayer and Lauren never let her turn the corner, (and) she didn't let her to get in the paint, and those were the things we talked about at practice."

St. John Vianney and Colts Neck have become rivals despite a limited number of head-to-head games over the past several years, thanks in part to the fact that a number of players on Vianney's roster, like Kates, are from Colts Neck.

"A lot of the girls over there are from Colts Neck, but they went to SJV so it adds to it," Hampton said. "We have a lot of good talent coming from our town, but everyone went to different schools."

The Lancers beat the Cougars in last year's TOC final, but with every player back from last year's rotation, Colts Neck actually started this season ahead of a St. John Vianney team that plays only one senior, lost seniors Katelyn Linney and Jen Mulvey (graduation) and freshman Michaela Mabrey (transfer) from last year's team, and is playing without senior Teresa Manigrasso, who is out for the remainder of the season with a knee injury.

"We knew their personnel pretty well and they knew what we had, so the experience factor may not have been a huge factor, but obviously playing against all those seniors is tough," St. John Vianney coach Dawn Karpell said. "They've been playing together for a long time, but our kids have played in a lot of big games, too. Maybe the big stage got to them a little bit today, but hopefully it's something they learn from."

Colts Neck appeared to be headed toward an SCT dynasty after winning the tournament in 2007-08 when that entire rotation of Clarke, Hampton, DeTulio, Laurence, Howes and Lanza were sophomores, but the Cougars were upset by St. Rose in the quarterfinals last season. The loss has served as a rallying cry for a group of seniors who are out to take back a title that believe belongs to them from a team trying to defend its title in Neptune.

"We learned our lesson last year," Hampton said. "It made us motivated to do well this year. It's not to sound overconfident, but we came in saying we didn't want that to happen again."

Box Score

Colts Neck 48, St. John Vianney 44

SJV (44): Missy Repoli 4 0-0 9, Jackie Kates 3 0-0 8, Katie O'Reilly 4 5-6 13, Arron Zimmerman 3 1-1 7, Clarie Kerrisk 2 1-4 5, Lindsay Rowe 0 2-2 2, Kat Egan 0 0-0 0. Totals: 16 9-13 44

Three-Pointers: Kates 2, Repoli

Colts Neck (48): Brooke Hampton 3 5-5 12, Tiffany DeTulio 1 2-3 5, Brittany Howes 2 0-0 4, Lauren Clarke 2 9-10 15, Emily Laurence 4 0-0 9, Leeann Lanza 1 1-2 3, Kaitlin Schullstrom 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 17-20 48

Three-Pointers: Clarke 2, Hampton, DeTulio, Laurence