| Girls SCT Basketball - Familiar 'Tune: Neptune 47, St. Rose 29 | ||||
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*Click here for video highlights (Members only).* Not a member? Click here to join. Click here for a photo gallery by Bill Normile. TOMS RIVER - When Neptune's trademark full-court press is at its ferocious peak, it's not only hard for opponents to score, it's difficult for them to even get shots off, and the top-seeded Scarlet Fliers outdid themselves in that department in Monday night's Shore Conference Tournament semifinals against fourth-seeded St. Rose. Any talk about the 1-3-1 zone St. Rose threw at Neptune or how well each team would shoot from the floor or anything like that all went out the window in Neptune's 47-29 rout of the Purple Roses (20-2) because of one simple fact.
"We didn't think they could handle our press,'' said Neptune junior guard Shakena Richardson, who had 9 points. "They couldn't keep up with our speed and our full-court pressure.'' That was an understatement, as St. Rose had more turnovers (32) than shot attempts (25) because of Neptune's relentless, trapping, full-court pressure. Thanks to that defensive effort, the Scarlet Fliers (21-1) will attempt to become the first public school to win back-to-back SCT titles since they did it in 1988 and 1989 when they take on the 2008 SCT champion, second-seeded Colts Neck, at 7 p.m. on Thursday at the Ritacco Center. It also marks the first SCT final featuring two public school squads since Neptune beat Raritan in 1988. The Scarlet Fliers, who are ranked No. 15 in the nation by USA Today, set the tone immediately, using their defense to fuel an 11-0 run that gave them an 11-2 lead in the first quarter. Senior Sehmonyeh Allen scored five of her team-high 14 points during the burst and junior center Chyna Golden had four of her 10 points as Neptune knocked St. Rose on its heels immediately. St. Rose's guards had been a strength of the team and helped them to a win over Jackson Memorial in the quarterfinals, but they were rendered invisible by Neptune. The usual balanced scoring for St. Rose was nowhere to be found, as only two Purple Roses players even made a field goal in the game. "We just wanted to come out hard and go right at them,'' said junior guard Syessence Davis, who had 11 points and 6 steals. "Last year we were up 18 on them (in the SCT semifinals) and they came back and cut it to three points, so this time we wanted to hit them early and never let them back in it.'' Davis canned a 3-pointer near the end of the first quarter for a 14-5 lead, but St. Rose, which had not lost to a New Jersey opponent all season, was able to pull it together long enough early in the second quarter to cut Neptune's lead to 15-12. A putback by sophomore Samantha Clark, who had 16 of St. Rose's 29 points in the game, followed by a 3-pointer by point guard Kasey Chambers had St. Rose right back in it before Neptune showed its trademark explosiveness in breathtaking fashion. After struggling early to adjust to St. Rose's 1-3-1 zone and get some perimeter shots to fall, Neptune rattled off eight points in 51 seconds, as Allen and junior guard Morgan Thompson buried consecutive 3-pointers and Davis scored off a steal and lay-up to make the lead 23-12 in the blink of an eye. St. Rose was struggling just to get the ball over halfcourt, and Neptune pushed the lead to 28-14 at the half following another 3-pointer by Allen and a nasty crossover and jumper in the final seconds by Richardson. St. Rose coach Joe Roman's math was a little off on the final turnover tally, but the sentiment was the same when talking about Neptune's full-court pressure.
A Scarlet Fliers team that has had some lapses in concentration at times this season kept its foot on the throttle in the third quarter to ice the win. Richardson nailed a 3-pointer to start the second half and trigger a 7-0 run that extended the lead to 35-14 with four minutes left in the third quarter. St. Rose ended up committing 10 third-quarter turnovers after coughing it up 18 times in the first half. By the time the smoke cleared, Neptune led 43-19 heading into the fourth quarter. "Sometimes we have a tendency to let teams back in it, so once we got the lead we wanted to be smart,'' Richardson said. "We made better choices when we were leading in this game,'' Davis said. By smothering St. Rose's guards, Neptune also greatly reduced the effectiveness of the 6-foot-3 Clark, St. Rose's leading scorer. The Purple Roses were often unable to get her the ball in position to score or to get her the ball at all. The furious tempo created by Neptune also meant Clark had to get up and down the floor in a hurry. "She is the key to their team because she is a big girl with talent,'' Richardson said. "We just wanted to get all over their guards, so that she would get less touches.'' "Our plan was to run her up and down until she had her hands on her knees, grabbing her shorts and not looking for the ball,'' Davis said before smiling. The fourth quarter was a formality, as Neptune only scored four points and still won the game by 18 points because the damage had already been done. All is not lost for St. Rose, as the Purple Roses are still a prime contender for the NJSIAA Non-Public B title, but they will have to go through an up-tempo, full-court pressing team very similar to Neptune, Trenton Catholic, in the Non-Public South B bracket. "We're going to be working on pressure situations for a couple weeks for (preparation for) Trenton Catholic,'' Roman said. "I'll be damned if we have 29 turnovers again.'' As for Neptune, the junior-heavy Scarlet Fliers look to add another SCT title to their mini-dynasty, and they will have to go through a determined group of seniors at Colts Neck to do it. Unlike last season, when Neptune still had something to prove by beating perennial state power St. John Vianney in the SCT final, this season the Scarlet Fliers are expected to get it done because they have been the Shore Conference's No. 1 team since the preseason. Talking to the players, they feel that they are in the spot of "nobody likes Goliath'' at this point. "I still think most of the time that people don't want to see us win,'' Richardson said. "We feed off that.'' Box score Neptune 47, St. Rose 29 St. Rose (29): Clark 5 6-9 16, Sweeney 0 2-2 2, Donahue 0 0-0 0, Hall 0 0-0 0, Chambers 3 0-0 7, Malanga 0 4-4 4, Roddy 0 0-0 0. Totals: 8 12-16 29. Neptune (47): Richardson 3 2-3 9, Davis 5 0-2 11, Golden 5 0-0 10, Allen 4 3-4 14, No. Carter 0 0-0 0, Thompson 1 0-0 3, Na. Carter 0 0-0 0, Harrington 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 5-9 47. St. Rose (20-2) 5 9 5 10 - 29 Neptune (21-1) 14 14 15 4 - 47 Three-pointers: (S) Chambers; (N) Allen 3, Richardson, Davis, Thompson. |
