Lady Mustangs Best Braves 42-41

The spirit of Senior Night was unable to propel Manalapan to victory.

On a night which commemorated seniors Alli Luttrell and Christina Minneci for their four years as members of the Lady Braves basketball program, it was the Marlboro Lady Mustangs that exited the hardwood in celebration.  Marlboro was able to overcome an early deficit and avenge a January 10 loss against their Class A North rival.

Manalapan raced to a first quarter advantage behind the long distance shooting of Debra Razzino.  The junior guard converted on three shots from beyond the arc, the last coming on a feed from Christina Minneci as time expired in the frame.  After eight minutes, the Lady Braves claimed a 14-9 lead.  It proved to be the only quarter in which they outscored the opposition.

Marlboro whittled the deficit to two at halftime.  Junior Ally Weinberg contributed all nine of her points in the first half as the Lady Mustangs forced the score to 20-18.

After missing her first eight shots on a rare off night, Mustangs senior Sam Hermans opened the third with a basket to even the score.  By the end of the quarter, Manalapan had seen their lead vanish as the two teams were deadlocked at thirty.

After a Manalapan bucket, Marlboro freshman Haley Unger connected on four free throws on consecutive possessions to give the Lady Mustangs the lead.  Marlboro stretched it to six before a Minneci basket cut the deficit to four.

With under forty seconds remaining, Cat Traina gave the crowd reason to erupt, stealing the ball from Sam Hermans and taking it cross court for a layup to push the score to 38-36.  The Braves elected to foul, but Rachel Neuman knocked down both attempts making it a two possession game.

Following a timeout, sophmore Sara Perkins knocked down a three from the right corner to bring the Braves to within one.  Off the inbounds pass, Manalapan fouled Brittany Fallon.  The junior proceded to score the game's decisive points, converting on each of her free throw attempts to give the Lady Mustangs a three point advantage.

Christina Minneci answered by driving the lane and drawing a foul.  The captain connected on both shots from the charity stripe to make it a 42-41 game.  Coach Scott Horton praised his point guard for her late game efforts after the game.

"She's a pressure player.  Christina's not that great of a foul shooter, but if you look at her in the fourth quarter, she's phenomenal," Horton said.

Manalapan was given a glimmer of hope in the game's final seconds.  The Braves again fouled Brittany Fallon, who was unable to connect on either of her free throw attempts.  But the Lady Braves failed to box out Marlboro's Haley Unger, who grabbed the rebound to seal the road victory for her squad.

Unger's board was a fitting end to the game.  The freshman poured in a game high 17 points, sinking 4 of 6 shots from the field while hitting on 9 of 12 attempts from the charity stripe.  As a team, Marlboro tallied 16 points on 21 attempts from the foul line.  Unger also grabbed 7 rebounds to go along with her season high scoring effort.

Manalapan's Samantha Meier registered a double double, scoring 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting from the field while pulling down 12 rebounds.  Debra Razzino contributed 12 points on 4 of 11 shooting from beyond the arc.  Captain Christina Minneci added 6 points, dished out 6 assists and grabbed 5 rebounds.

The victory raises Marlboro's record to 9-6 overall, and 4-5 in the Class A North.  Manalapan's sixth consecutive defeat drops the Lady Braves to 10-9 and 3-6 in divisional play.  Both squads will resume their schedules next week with games against divisonal opponents.  The Lady Mustangs will host Freehold Townshp on Monday while Manalapan visits the Howell Rebels on Tuesday.

Following the defeat, coach Scott Horton spoke about his team's play.

"I thought their effort was fine. I thought they played hard.  I don't think they played particularly smart. But I thought they played hard," Horton said.

Manalapan's coach cited missed coverages on defense, coupled with foul trouble, that lead to his team's downfall.

"There were too many plays we missed during the game.  Not just the box out at the end, but we had a lot of plays where one kid missed their assignment.  And we picked up some dumb fouls.  Our foul trouble always hurts us," the coach remarked.

The Lady Braves will look to rebound in Howell Tuesday at 5:30 P.M.

Manalapan will host Jackson Memorial in its final home game of the season on Thursday, February 10 at 5:30 P.M.