By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
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PISCATAWAY — For the past four years, Moorestown has been one of the top girls basketball teams in South Jersey, but the Quakers didn’t have much to show for it. Former coach Matt Emerson guided the Quakers to more than 20 wins in each of the last three seasons, but each ended in heartbreak.
Three years ago, the Quakers lost to Mainland in the South Jersey Group 3 championship game. Two years ago, it was a crushing overtime loss at home against upstart Absegami in the sectional final. Last year, the Quakers ran into eventual state champion Cherry Hill West, losing once again in the sectional title game.
But all that frustration echoed away down the halls of Jersey Mike’s Arena at Rutgers University on Sunday afternoon, as Moorestown took down Old Tappan, 50-37, to capture the program’s first state championship in history.
Moorestown, under the direction of new coach Jeb Howley, got some revenge on Cherry Hill West by winning this year’s South Jersey title, then the Quakers beat Colts Neck in the state semifinals. Tonight, they get to call themselves state champs for the first time ever.
“It’s unreal. We knew we had a lot of good players coming back this year. We knew we could do it, but we didn’t really know we would get this far. Getting this far, and winning, is amazing. Obviously, losing the seniors we had last year was a big hit for us, but the seniors we have this year really stepped up and the juniors had an insane year. Everyone pushed each other all year in practice,” said senior Julia Blong, who scored 10 points and added three rebounds and a pair of steals. “Our defense puts a lot of pressure on teams, so coming out with a good defense and putting pressure on them set the tone in the beginning. After those first few minutes we started to hit some shots.”
“It’s such an unreal feeling. All the seniors made so many sacrifices — we’ll be arriving at the senior trip late — but we’ve made sacrifices all year and have been through so many ups and downs. I think winning this shows all the hard work we’ve put in this season. Our coaches have pushed us so hard in practice and it paid off today,” said fellow senior Analyse Intenzo, who led all scorers with 24 points while adding a team-high 11 rebounds. “We played so many good teams this season — Red Bank Catholic, Lenape, Gloucester Catholic — and we had a long losing streak, but we never gave up on each other and I think that’s what led us to getting to this point. We knew what we were capable of, and when we’re confident in each other, and ourselves, it shows what we can do.
“Coach Emerson did a great job, and coach Howley built off of that,” she continued. “He’s done a great job of scouting, preparing us for practice and pushing the pace. We’ve never had a bad practice — we have such high energy at practice — and that prepares us for the games and the atmospheres we faced (this season).”
Neither team got off to a hot start, as Old Tappan (23-7, 6-4 Big North National) managed just a 2-0 lead through the first three minutes of the game. But then Moorestown (23-9, 6-1 Olympic Patriot) went on a 14-2 run to close out the quarter and take command. The Knights closed the gap to within 20-12 by halftime, but then Moorestown outscored them 18-8 in the third quarter to blow the game open.
“Throughout the playoffs we’ve been turning the ball over in the first few minutes, getting our nerves out,” Intenzo explained. “Today, we knew it was going to be our last game either way, so we might as well go out on a win. My team does a great job feeding me the ball, and vice versa.”
“That’s sort of been our thing, turning the ball over the first three possessions and maybe airballing two shots,” Howley said. “We got down 2-0 (after three minutes) and we were looking at each other like, ‘OK, can we start playing now?’ And then we begin. That’s what we’ve done all season, but we weathered the storm.”
Intenzo was her usual outstanding self. She hit 246 three-pointers during her career and scored 1,773 points, and she drilled a long-range shot to start the second half. That gave the Quakers a 23-12 lead, then she fed Renee Takla in transition as the lead reached 25-13. She hit a jumper in the lane and scored on a driving layup later in the quarter as part of a run that gave Moorestown a 38-20 lead heading into the final frame.
“She’s awesome,” said Blong. “She’s unselfish, a great teammate and so easy to work with.”
“It’s fun to call sets when she has the ball in her hands, sets without the ball in her hands; her rebounding is outrageous,” Howley said of Intenzo, who finished hear career with nearly 800 rebounds. “She shares the ball and gets people open shots. She makes winning plays, talks us through everything. She’s a special player.”
Takla added eight points and Tess Murphy and Elyse Antsey combined for eight more, and the Quakers combined for 10 steals.
“We’re making history for the high school, which is awesome, and all the younger girls are looking up to us, which is so cool,” Blong said. “Now we’re going into lacrosse and looking to do the same. It’s an amazing feeling. We didn’t make it here during our freshman, sophomore and junior years, but getting here now — we knew what had what it takes and we went all the way. It was awesome.”
Added Intenzo, “looking back now, to when I was a freshman, I would have never guessed we would win a state championship, especially with a new coach. It’s such a crazy feeling right now.”
Howley was quick to deflect credit from himself, saying instead that it took a whole village to guide his players to the point where they could hoist the coveted blue trophy.
“This is far from easy. (Coming into this game) we were on practice No. 49 with this group, and we were talking about how fortunate we are to be tired from this situation. When you’re exhausted and trying to reach your dreams, it’s easy to lose sight of that,” he said. “As a staff, we continued to push ourselves every day to try to get better, and, fortunately, our seniors raised the standard at practice every day. Our practices got better as the year went on, more intense. The girls got after it and wanted to get better, over and over. I can’t say enough about these girls, they’re fantastic.
“It’s cool for the community to be able to embrace getting this win. It was so much more than just the people in our room. It was our administration, the community rallied around us all year and pushed us through it. We’re on senior trip right now and the underclassmen came out and gave us a great student section. And our community members were absolutely tremendous. We don’t get it done without all those people behind us who continue to drive these girls to be successful. It’s a credit to the parents, they’ve been forced to be there and give up a lot of time and nobody complained. It was a group effort and I’m super happy for everyone. It’s been a special season.”
