By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP — If you’re a fan of the Mainland Regional High girls basketball team, it might be time to start playing the lottery. It seems like the girls in Kelly green and white can do no wrong these days.
The Mustangs got everything they wanted and then some at the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament championship at Egg Harbor Township High on Saturday afternoon. They got the postseason test they were looking for in a gritty Wildwood Catholic Academy opponent; they got the win — their third straight league championship trophy; and senior Bella Mazur scored her 1,000th career point, joining twin sister Ava and point guard Kasey Bretones as the third Mainland player to reach that coveted career mark this season.
It may have sounded easy and looked easy — this group of players has made a habit of making winning look easy throughout their careers — but it was anything but a walk in the park. Wildwood Catholic got to within 38-37 late in the third quarter and trailed by just six, 49-43, midway through the fourth quarter. But Mainland was steady enough from the free-throw line in the final few minutes to pull away for a 61-52 victory.
The loss was only the third of the season for Wildwood Catholic (22-3, 10-2 Cape-Atlantic American) — all of which have come against Mainland (25-1, 12-0 CAL American), the No. 8 team in the state. And the Mustangs have now won 51 of their last 55 games. Their only loss this season came against No. 5 St. John Vianney in a regular-season game back on Feb. 3. The CAL title could have been the fourth straight for Mainland, but there was no tournament due to the Covid-19 pandemic when this year’s seniors were freshmen.
“It feels really good, to be one of three starters on this team (with 1,000 points) feels amazing. We’ve been playing together since second grade, and this is one of our biggest accomplishments. I’m so happy that I could do it in front of this big crowd. It feels great,” said Mazur, who scored the memorable basket on an acrobatic up-and-under layup along the baseline in the fourth quarter. “This is so special. Being the third person on this team to score 1,000 points shows that it’s not just one person scoring for us. Including Ava Sheeran and Sydney Stokes in our starting five — it’s so special to be a part of that group, and I’m so happy for all of us.”
Mainland jumped out to a 20-14 first-quarter lead, going on an 8-2 run after the game was tied at 12 early on. The Crusaders continued to whittle away at the lead until they closed to within a point, 38-37, when freshman Lola McGonigle hit a jumper off an inbounds play. But then Mainland did what it does best — get to the free-throw line by driving the lane — and the Stangs converted six straight from the stripe to push their lead out to 44-37. Mainland struggled a bit from the line, shooting just 52 percent for the game, but the Stangs got there so often that nearly one-third of their 61 points came from freebees.
“They play the way they play and sometimes that can put a game away, and sometimes it can keep a team in it, like we did today a little bit. But we always have faith in our players. They’ve played so many minutes during their careers and they’ve never lost a CAL Tournament game in their careers, these seniors,” said Mainland coach Scott Betson, who recorded career win No. 250 earlier this season. “This was tough, (Wildwood Catholic) is really good and it’s our third time playing them. They hit a bunch of shots and we left a bunch of points on the free-throw line. We could have cleaned some things up, but it’s supposed to be hard. It wouldn’t mean anything if it wasn’t hard. I was happy we figured it out.”
Wildwood Catholic closed to within 49-43 when Destiny Wallace converted a traditional 3-point play with 5:19 remaining in the game, but moments later Bella Mazur scored her 1,000th career point to give Mainland a 51-43 lead, and the Stangs were never really threatened in the final five minutes. The Crusaders got it down to 55-48 when Kaci Mikulski, who led her team with 20 points, converted a pair of free throws. But on Wildwood Catholic’s next possession, Ava Mazur stole the ball at midcourt and cruised in for a layup that made it 57-48 with less than two minutes to play.
McGonigle nailed a three with 1:03 left to make it 57-51, but Mainland hit on four free throws in the final minute to seal the game.
“This shows a lot about our program and this team,” Bella Mazur said. “I’m so proud of us, we’ve been working so hard. It’s hard to beat a team three times (in a season). I’m just overwhelmed with happiness. I can’t believe it’s over and I won’t be back here next year, so I’m just glad that we could end it off on a good note with our third time winning it.”
Mainland came in with the No. 1 seed and all the pressure that entails, but Betson said this team has consistently answered the bell in big games for years now, and his players know how to handle pressure situations.
“I think a lot of (the pressure) gets alleviated if you just focus on defense. You can account for a bad shooting day. As much as we talk about pressure not being a thing, I’m sure they feel it. Everyone kind of picked us to be the best team in the league. It’s a bit of a burden, I guess, but these kids never felt any of that,” he said. “The key was getting that early lead because then we could just play defense. We could make them come out and play us. In the third quarter I thought we did that — we got to the rim a couple times and got fouled. I thought that was kind of the difference in the game.”
Added Bella Mazur, “we were feeling a little bit anxious (in the third quarter) but we’ve been through this a lot (in our careers) and I knew that if we just settled down and worked together, it would all turn out our way.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Wildwood Catholic hosts Woodbury on Monday at 12:30 p.m. Mainland hosts Toms River South on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the opening round of the South Jersey Group 3 state playoffs.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays
