By Rich Chrampanis | rchrampanis@tworivertimes.com
WEST LONG BRANCH – You could have said it was going to be a rebuilding year for girls basketball at Saint John Vianney. After all, four senior starters departed from last year’s 23-4 team. But coach Dawn Karpell’s current roster embraced the “no seniors, no problem” philosophy. Playing in front of a large crowd at Monmouth University, the young Lancers were unflappable while knocking off defending SCT champ Manchester Township 57-50.
“This group plays free and easy and we just keep the goals very small,” Karpell said. “We didn’t talk about winning this game, we talked about how we’re going to prepare for this game and how we’re going to stop Manchester and when we won it was like a bonus.”
The Lancers have been in the Shore Conference finals for the past five years, winning in 2016 before suffering three straight losses at Ocean First Bank Center. Last year, Manchester Township won its first Shore crown in a convincing 58-42 win over SJV. The rematch saw Saint John Vianney set the tone with an 8-0 run to start the game highlighted by three straight transition layups by talented sophomore Madison St. Rose.
St. Rose, the player, had one of the top individual performances of the entire season with her 36-point outburst against the team matching her surname, the Purple Roses of Saint Rose, in the semifinals. Her emergence as an elite player in just her second year of varsity basketball has accelerated the Lancers return to the top of the Shore and the entire state.
When Manchester came back from an early deficit behind Destiny Adams (25 points and nine rebounds), one of the top national recruits in the class of 2021, Saint John Vianney showed the poise of a champion. When the Hawks took a 1-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Lancers were able to have an immediate response. When the stakes were the highest, St. Rose got aggressive and took the ball to the basket. Her offensive rebound and putback with under 1:49 to go gave SJV a 49-48 lead. She would add four free throws following outstanding Saint John Vianney defense to put the game away.
“The fourth quarter was a bit crazy,” St. Rose said. “When it starts to get crazy my coach tells me to relax and I tell my teammates to relax. I was not going to lose. That loss last year really hit me. I didn’t want to feel the same way we did last year.”
St. Rose finished the game with 23 points and junior Katie Hill added 15. Like her sophomore teammate, Hill has a knack for stepping up when her team needs her most.
“I think we’ve been preparing to get here all year,” Hill said. “We all play together and have each other’s backs and that helps us stay calm at the end of the game because we know we have each other.”
SJV did all the little things that add up to winning a title. Katie Whitehead dropped a key 3-pointer during the back-and-forth fourth quarter and Ashley O’Connor grabbed a key rebound on Manchester’s attempt to take the lead late in the game.
Saint John Vianney is the gold standard of Shore Conference girls basketball and that’s saying a lot in a league that consistently produces multiple teams that occupy the top 10 in the state rankings year in and year out.
With that comes pressure and high expectations.
Last year’s 23-4 squad saw heartbreak in the SCT finals and the state finals. One year later, the Lancers head into the state playoffs with a 25-1 record, the No. 1 slot in the state polls and national rankings thanks to their rugged out-of-conference schedule. But winning the Shore Conference will always be one of SJV’s top goals.
“Maddy (St. Rose) and Katie last year were a little overwhelmed by the moment,” Karpell said referring to last year’s loss in the SCT finals. “I felt confident that wasn’t going to be the case today and I think those two would pull the other kids through and their leadership was huge in this championship.”
It’s now 14 Shore Conference championships for the Saint John Vianney girls basketball program and it’s quite possible they could meet Manchester again in the upcoming Tournament of Champions. While the young Lancers might have been under the radar in December, they are now the undisputed top team in New Jersey, ready to face the challenge of March and end the season holding two more trophies in the state finals and the T of C.
The article originally appeared in the March 5-11, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
