HOLMDEL – The Red Bank Catholic-St. John Vianney girls basketball rivalry has had some memorable games over the years, but Sunday’s NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A semifinal matchup wasn’t one of them.
The much taller Lady Lancers used their size, especially 6-3 sophomore Kim Evans, along with an effective full court press to trim the Caseys, 61-35. and reach the sectional finals against Camden Catholic Tuesday.
“We knew that we had a mismatch inside with our size,” said SJV coach Dawn Karpell. “We didn’t play that well in the first half, but we calmed down in the second half and executed better.”
RBC never led in the game after falling behind, 8-1 in the first quarter as Evans was dominant underneath. She scored 17 points overall, including eight in the first quarter.
RBC, whose tallent player is 5-11, did make a comeback in the second quarter and closed to 23-19 on a drive by Alex Barazotti, the only senior on the floor for either team.
SJV then took over in the third quarter with 13 straight points to put the game out of reach. RBC’s Josie Larkins drilled a three-pointer and Maureen Coakley followed with a layup to narrow the lead to 36-24, but that was as close as the Caseys could get.
“Their size really hurt us inside,” said RBC assistant coach Joe Pingatore (varsity coach Joe Montano missed the game because of a death in the family).
“We were right in the game in the first half,” said Pingatore. “We trailed by only four points near the end of the half, but they wore us down in the second half.
“SJV is very good,” he said. “They shot pretty well and we didn’t make some easy shots.”
Both teams are young with SJV having no seniors while RBC played mostly sophomores and freshmen.
–By Jim Hintelmann
