Mabrey's Leadership and Experience Keys Win
By Mike Ready
TOMS RIVER – Manasquan was a playoff caliber team before the return of Marina Mabrey for her second tour of duty with the school she helped win the Tournament of Champions her freshman year, 2011-12. However, with her return to game action February 1, Mabrey has transformed the Warriors into a championship team, and quite possibly, the best team in New Jersey.
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Mabrey led Manasquan to a 49-38 win over Newton, Sunday, at the Pine Belt Arena , to claim the NJSIAA Group II title, the Warriors second in three years and Mabrey’s third group title in three years.
“We welcomed Marina back with wide open arms,” senior forward Sam Sullivan said. “We knew how good of a player she was and what she could do for our team. She’s helped us get to where we’re at and her big-game experience is huge for us.”
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“If I’m stuck or like freaking out not knowing what to do on the court Marina’s always there to help me,” freshman guard Stella Clark said. “As a freshman Marina’s already been through what I’m going through, so it’s really helpful because she knows exactly how I’m feeling.”
Mabrey helped Point Pleasant Beach win the Group I title last season before losing in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions to eventual winner Shabazz, 65-50.
Manasquan’s aggressive, physical, all-out style of play got them in early foul trouble and only Newton’s ability to convert from the free throw line, where they shot 15-for-17 from the line in the first half, kept the score close, as they trailed by only five at the half, 27-22.
“I couldn’t remember them scoring,” Mabrey said. “But they just kept putting up foul shots.”
The Sussex County school also forced Mabrey and Sullivan to commit their third fouls late in the first half, but with the halftime adjustments Manasquan made the pair avoided picking up their fourth fouls until late in the fourth quarter.
“We never had these refs before, so we knew it was going to be a tough game with fouls,” Sullivan said. “So it was like a news flash for us when we (Marina and I) both had three fouls going into the half.”
Those adjustments included switching to a 1-2-2 zone to avoid some of the physical contact that sometimes occurs with their aggressive man-on-man game, and moving the ball around more to find the open man.
“We were able to move the ball better and get them tired and worn out,” Mabrey said. “Everybody started going to the basket, everybody started scoring.”
Both worked, as the Warriors held the Pride scoreless the first 2:42 of the third quarter and to four-total points, but more importantly, they were not whistled for a foul the entire quarter.
“We knew we were in foul trouble so we mixed in some zone with our man,” Manasquan coach Lisa Kukoda said. “But we knew once we got into the fourth quarter we’d be able to pick up the intensity again. That was definitely part of our goal going in, kind of surviving through the third with our fouls and then being able to be aggressive again.
“We’re very aggressive, very physical; that’s the type of game we play,” Kukoda added. “I embrace that, they embrace it; I love the way we play. In the second half, we did a better job of still being aggressive, but being smarter about it. Our staple is our intensity on defense, that’s what we pride ourselves on and sometimes we’re so overly aggressive we pick up some fouls we shouldn’t have.”
Manasquan’s aggressive but controlled style play in the third quarter held Newton to four points but more importantly kept them off the free-thrown line.
Senior guard Eva Hart’s perfect pass found Mabrey just outside the three-point arch and she nailed it before being fouled driving the lane and making one-of-two from the line for a 31-22 lead with 5:27 left in the third.
Newton kept trying to work the ball inside to draw the foul and scored on two consecutive buckets underneath, with the Warriors being careful not to foul at this point.
With Newton’s deficit at five points again, Mabrey found Sullivan twice with pretty no-look passes underneath. The first one Sullivan went baseline with a throw-back hook shot and the second was a more conventional layup with 40 seconds remaining in the third to drive the lead back to nine, 35-26.
Mabrey had a blocked shot and three steals to spark the defense effort by the Warriors in the third quarter and finished with game highs in points (20), assists (5), steals (6) and a team-high 10 rebounds. Four of her steals were in the second half when the Warriors forced 11 Newton turnovers, 24 for the game.
The Warriors defense continued to pursue as the fourth quarter began, keeping the Pride off the board until junior forward Tara Lynch scored on a layup, with only 3:47 remaining in the game.
Manasquan then built a 15-point lead, 43-28, with 2:45 left as Sullivan took a Hart pass to the hoop and was fouled before completing the three-point play.
At this point Kukoda began substituting for her starters and Newton scrambled to make it a more respectable final score, 49-38.
Sullivan tallied 13 points, eight in the second half, on 5-for-10 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Courtney Hagaman added 12 points, eight in the first half, with two rebounds and two assists.
Hannah Buckley led Newton with ten points, while Morgan Euston and Kayla Delnero added eight apiece. Delnero also pulled down 11 boards.
The 5-foot-3 inch Clark played taller than her height, as she always does, grabbing five rebounds and provided an instantaneous spark off the bench with two steals and two assists, while chipping in with three points.
“I love going out there and getting things going,” Clark said. “I just love being on the court and helping my team anyway I can.”
“She (Clark) has so much energy, we love having Stella,” Sullivan said. “She’s so young, me and Marina look at her and say ‘wow’ that was what is was like for us, it’s nice to experience that with her.”
“I love this group and it has nothing to do with on the court play,” Kukoda said. “It’s off the court stuff, in the locker room, the bus rides; it’s just a great group. They goof around with me; they rag on me, their just so much fun to be around and to have this first experience with.”
In her first year as coach last season, Kukoda led a relatively unknown Manasquan team with an almost entirely new lineup to a 20-win season in what many consider New Jersey’s toughest division, the Shore Conference Class A Central. Kukoda starred at Red Bank Catholic and Manhattan College before serving as an assistant coach at RBC.
The Warriors were handed the No.2 seed in the upcoming Tournament of Champions and received a first-round bye. They will play the winner of Wednesday’s Camden Wilson vs. Immaculate Heart game this Friday 5:30 at the Pine Belt Arena. Camden Wilson is the sixth seed, while Immaculate Heart was designated the No.3 seed.
