Push No.1 Shabazz To The Limit
By Mike Ready
BELMAR – After two straight early season losses to Patterson Eastside and Neptune, the Saint Rose girls’ basketball team was flying low on the radar and not getting the respect they deserved as one of the Shore Conferences elite teams.
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Two games after the Neptune loss they opened some eyes with a four-point win at Franklin, ranked sixth in the state at the time.
Five games later they woke up the Shore Conference basketball gods with a 42-41 win over top-ranked Saint John Vianney, and a 60-40 win over New York City power Arch Bishop Malloy the following game jettisoned them back into the top-dog discussions.
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St. Rose went on to win 27 of their final 29 games to end the season, ran away with the Shore Conference Class B Central, reached the Shore Conference Tournament finals, won their second Non-Public group title in three years and reached the Tournament of Champions semifinals for the second time in school history.
They were seeded No.5 in the Non-Public South B bracket and defeated No.1 seeded Roselle Catholic in the semifinals before defeating No.2 seeded Gill Saint Bernard, ranked second in the state, in the final. They then went on to beat Morris Catholic in the Non-Public Group B final for their second trip in three years to the Tournament of Champions.
Seeded No.5, the Purple Roses avenged their early season loss to Patterson Eastside with a 64-40 win in the quarterfinals before losing to Shabazz, ranked No.1 in the state and No.5 in the latest USA Today Super 25, in the semifinals.
In that game, a 53-44 loss, St. Rose trailed by only four, 24-20, at the half and were still very much in it after a Payton Smith 3-pointer and a Sarah Kurtz free throw with just under six minutes to play pulled them to within five, 42-37.
However, that was as close as they would get as the Bulldogs brute strength underneath and St Roses inability to convert 3-point shots was just too much to overcome down the stretch.
St. Rose played hard and tough throughout and was never intimidated by the much bigger Shabazz team; including 6-foot-1 inch senior forward Zaire O’Neil, who will take her talents to Georgia Tech next season.
Junior guard Jess Louro led with 16 points and six rebounds, Smith had 10 points and four boards, junior guard Kat Phipps added seven points, four boards and three assists, while Sarah Kurtz chipped in with eight points and two assists.
St. Rose shot an uncharacteristic 6-for-28 (21 percent) from 3-point range for the game and 2-for-12 (17 percent) in the second half. They lived and died with the three this season and ultimately that was their downfall in this game.
The 5-foot-10 inch Louro was selected to the Shore Sports Network All-Shore second team and was named Class A Central Player of the Year after averaging 10 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game.
Senior sharp shooter Cindy Napolitano, Phipps and Kurtz were all named first team All-Class A while Smith was a second team selection.
Napolitano averaged 8.6 points per game with a team leading 71 three-pointers. She also broke the St. Rose school record 173 career three pointers earlier this season.
Kurtz added 8.8 points a game with 4.7 boards, 2.5 assists, a block and a steal. Phipps led the team with a 12.6 scoring average, grabbed 5.2 rebounds and dished out 3.4 assists per game. She was second on the team with 56 three-pointers.
Smith averaged 5.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.8 steals a game.
Second year head coach Joe Whalen was named Class-A Central Coach of the Year after leading the Purple Roses to one of the most successful seasons in school history.
