It's Rematch Time: St. Rose, Manasquan Face Off Again Tonight

When Manasquan and St. Rose faced off in the championship game of the Shore Conference Tournament 21 days ago, it seemed to be a forgone conclusion in the minds of many that Manasquan was going to roll to the title.

After all, the Warriors had beaten the Roses just two weeks earlier, 43-39, in front of a packed house in the tiny gym at St. Rose High School, where the fans are literally inches from the court.

St. Rose had other ideas, however, and challenged Manasquan in every aspect of the game, walking off with a 65-56 victory and its first SCT championship in 19 years.

While the Roses celebrated in their locker room, the anger on the Manasquan side was palpable. The Warriors walked out of the lockerroom at Monmouth University’s Boylan Gymnasium and scattered, disappearing into the crowd, talking to no one.

The memories of that night will be strong for both teams as they take the floor tonight at 6 p.m. at Pine Belt Arena, on the campus of Toms River North, in the semifinals of the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions.

It is St. Rose's second appearance in the TOC semifinals — the Roses lost to Newark West Side in the 1993 tournament — and fourth appearance in the TOC overall (St. Rose lost in the quarterfinals in 1998 and 2000). Manasquan is in its first trip to the TOC, which has included at least one Shore Conference girls team every year except the first year, 1989.

Shore Conference teams have faced off in the TOC nine times previously, including the title game three times (Red Bank Catholic defeated Toms River North in 2000; St. John Vianney downed Colts Neck in 2009 and Neptune beat St. John Vianney in 2010).

But few of those all-Shore matchups have had the level of intensity that tonight's game will have. Manasquan, led by McDonald's All-American Michaela Mabrey, is still smarting from the SCT loss to St. Rose. And St. Rose, led by seniors Diana Malanga, Sarah Kurtz, Morgan Barry and Samantha Clark, has battled tough opponent after tough opponent all season, including beating St. John Vianney, a perennial TOC contender, three times. Vianney, for the record, has made 15 trips to the TOC and has won it six times — more than any other girls team in the state.

While St. Rose (29-1) tries to replicate the victory from three weeks ago, Manasquan (30-2) will be looking to erase the bad memories of a night gone wrong.

Michaela Mabrey admits Manasquan wasn’t really ready for that game.

“We barely prepared,” the Notre Dame-bound guard said on Sunday, after Manasquan won a hard-fought game against Teaneck, 78-65, in the NJSIAA Group III championship, to earn the spot in the Tournament of Champions. “That loss really hurt us.”

Manasquan won’t make that mistake twice, she said.

“We have to prepare much better this time,” she said. “We have to change things up a lot.”

In the SCT final, St. Rose pushed the tempo and was aggressive on both ends of the floor. The Purple Roses were able to keep Manasquan off-balance, their 3-point shooting and solid contributions from Kurtz, Malanga and Barry forcing the Warriors to cover everyone, which enabled Clark to get free under the basket. Clark finished with a game-high 28 points, including shooting 7-of-10 from the field.

Defensively, St. Rose challenged Michaela Mabrey and her sister, Marina, on every possession, and while the pair finished with a combined 26 points, St. Rose forced enough turnovers to keep them from scoring more.

St. Rose’s players refused to look ahead to a possible rematch, even after beating St. John Vianney for the third time this season, arguably one of the most difficult challenges the Roses faced all year.

“We aren’t thinking about that yet,” Kasey Chambers said. “We have to concentrate on the next game.”

As cliché as it sounds, that “one game at a time” focus has gotten St. Rose to this point. In a season full of challenging opponents – few teams have ever beaten St. John Vianney twice in a season, let alone three times, and Immaculate Heart is a perennial favorite – the focus has enabled St. Rose to shut out the potential distractions and the chatter that goes with being in big games.

Thirty-one games into their season, the Roses are still playing, because of that focus. Manasquan, at 32 games in, is still playing as well, as the Warriors have learned to tune out the critics who have been harsh on a team that hasn't been perfect in a season when it was viewed from the start as the team to beat.

"People set such high expectations for us," Manasquan coach Felix Romero said. "We weren't allowed to have a bad game. We've had to block out the criticisms and just focus on our work in the gym."

Tonight, the two teams will duel to see which team reaches the TOC championship game, set for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Izod Center in East Rutherford. If the SCT championship was any measure, it will be a game that will live on in girls Shore Conference history for years to come.