Squan Honoring Girls H.S. Basketball Team

The Manasquan girls basketball team made school history last week by and now its community is paying tribute to the Lady Warriors.

The team will be honored with an official proclamation at the beginning of this Monday's borough council meeting, Mayor George Dempsey said.

"We will issue a written proclamation to every girl on the team and all four coaches stating what they accomplished," Dempsey said. "It really is a remarkable accomplishment because they were competing against every big public and parochial school in the state and those girls were the absolute best."

Dempsey also said that State Sen. Robert Singer and Assemblymen David Rible and Sean Kean will offer their own respective proclamations in honor of the team winning the the state championship.

"Assemblymen Rible and Kean have been good to Manasquan, as has Sen. Singer and it's very nice for them to recognize what these young ladies have accomplished," Dempsey said.

The Tournament of Champions in basketball is unique because it is one of only two team sports in N.J. to determine a one definitive champion in the state. Most other sports determine six group champions, with football settling for 20 sectional champions. Field hockey is the only other sport that plays a Tournament of Champions following the group playoffs.

Led by third-year head coach Felix Romero, the girls basketball team finished its landmark season with a record of 31-2 and defeated Gill St. Bernard of Gladstone in the Tournament of Champions championship game on March 20, 67-55, to capture the school's first ever T of C crown.

Manasquan won girls basketball Group II championships in both 1987 and 1988, but the Tournament of Champions was not established until 1989.

"We've had state championship teams going back to the eighties, but never anything like this where a team beat every other team in the state to become the one and only champion," Dempsey said. "We always like to recognize state championship teams, so for a team that accomplished as much as this team did, we absolutely want to make their accomplishments known."

The Borough of Manasquan has made it standard practice to honor is high school state champions with a proclamation, most notably the football team's 11 NJSIAA sectional championships.

Dempsey himself was involved with the football team as a video coordinator before he became mayor and has a special appreciation for the athletic accomplishments of Manasquan's high school students.

The borough has also recognized the accomplishments of individual student athletes, most recently 2007 Manasquan graduate Tahlia Smoke, who won the Overall NJSIAA Girls Singles Championship in tennis. Smoke is currently a senior at the Air Force Academy.

"The football team of course has great tradition and receives unbelievable support from the community each and every year," Dempsey said. "The community does a great job of supporting our local athletics, not just in football, but in every sport."

This Manasquan girls basketball team has its own share of individual accomplishments as well. Senior Michaela Mabrey, who will play at the University of Notre Dame next season, played in the prestigious McDonald's All-American game Wednesday night at the United Center in Chicago, a showcase for the best high school boys and girls players in the country.

The borough will also honor the elementary school girls team with a certificate of appreciation for winning the Run for the Roses Tournament.