By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @GDsullysays
SEWELL — The Washington Township High girls basketball team got off to a slow start on Friday night against visiting Kingsway Regional, but that wasn’t all that unexpected. Coach Jennifer Natale has a young roster — senior guard Alaina LaMonica is the only returning player with more than 100 career points — and putting the puzzle pieces together with new starters takes time.
The Minutemaids took a modest 16-9 lead into the halftime break, but scored nearly as many points in the third quarter to pull away for a 45-33 victory that puts them out in the early lead in the Tri-County Conference Royal Division race.
Township led by as much as 35-19 early in the fourth quarter after a couple of free throws from Kate D’Ottaviano and a putback from Tessa Reilley. Kingsway made a little bit of a run midway through the fourth quarter, but by then the lead was simply too large to overcome.
“I thought we played great defense (in the first half). We held them to nine points in 16 minutes. They had more size, but I was confident in our kids. It’s the second game of the season and we’re pretty young, but I thought we played great. We hung tough and stuck to our game plan,” Natale said. “We told the team we were kind of passing and standing, settling for outside shots in the beginning of the game. We told them (at halftime) to start getting more aggressive and when you see openings, take them. Shyla (McLean) stepped up, Kate stepped up and Alaina did a great job leading us.”
“I think our energy changed at halftime. We talked about the things we were doing well and what we needed to work on. They were easy fixes, we knew what we had to do, we just went out there and did it,” LaMonica said. “We had better communication, we settled down and relaxed. We knew what we had to do.”
Added McLean, “our communication got better and we started making smarter passes. Communicating more on defense (was the key). We had good communication and energy from the bench, too.”
Both teams scuffled offensively in the first quarter, but in the second Township got a couple of big 3-pointers from Elena Dabrowski and McClean to jump out to a 16-7 lead. The Minutemaids also got a buzzer-beating three to end the first quarter from D’Ottavaviano — a freshman making the first start of her varsity career. She led all scorers with 15 points, including 10 in the second half, when Township outscored the Dragons 29-24.
“She’s one of our new players. One of our girls (Lena Giannini, 17 points in season opener) got hurt, so Kate definitely stepped up for us,” LaMonica said.
“She’s extremely talented. She’s so versatile and I think that’s one of her biggest strengths. We’re very lucky to have her,” Natale said of her standout rookie. “She started, so there are those nerves, and I believe she just needed that first half to settle in. We count on her. It’s only the second game of the season, but she gives us so much. She started to figure it out. She takes direction really well and she’s so talented. She’s not afraid to go to the basket and she can post up if we need her to.”
Kingsway (1-1, 0-1 Tri-County Royal) shaved the deficit down to 39-27 with 2:33 left in the game and seemed to be on the verge of one last run, but Washington Township (2-0, 1-0 Tri-County Royal) had the answer as McLean hit 1-of-2 from the line and Dabrowski stole the ensuing inbounds pass and scored on an easy layup to stretch the lead back out to 42-27 and put the game on ice.
“I’m really happy with our progress right now. The kids are still learning the system. They are young, we don’t have a ton of varsity experience, so we just want to get better every game,” Natale said. “We’re not going to be the same team in February that we are now, so as long as we learn and continue to grow, I’m very excited to see how we’re going to finish.”
Added LaMonica, “we’re off to a good start right now, so we just have to keep our energy up and see what happens.”
WHAT’S NEXT: Washington Township hosts Pennsville on Monday at 11:30 a.m. Kingsway travels to Cape May Tech on Sunday at 12:30 p.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com
