After clinching the Shore Conference A North Division earlier in the week, the Howell Lady Rebels travelled to take on their local rivals in Freehold Township, picking up a 49-37 win despite a slow start.
Through the first quarter, Howell put up just three points. The Lady Rebels picked up momentum in the second quarter, exploded in the third. Led by Lauren Kolacki’s 18 points, the Lady Rebels pulled away.
Howell coach Bill Gallacher tried to explain the reason for the slow start the game.
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“I don’t know if it was the TV cameras, the excitement of the crowd but I was afraid we were going to break backboards,” Gallacher said. “They gave us some problems with the press all first half and even in the second half at times. But luckily our shots started falling and I think the key was that we handled the pressure and slowed down on our offense.”
For Freehold, it was a case of running into a hot-shooting team in the second half.
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“I think what happened is that the physical-ness that they are so much are better at really came to light,” head coach John Sciarappa said. “They are just a physical team and that’s exactly what we are not. We are the completely opposite of what they are. We got away with it in the first half but to their credit they came back and used it."
Freehold came out firing in the first quarter, making almost every shot they took, including a basket by Brittany Incoruria, who led the Patriots with nine points. At the end of the quarter it was 10-3 in favor of Freehold.
Howell started hitting its shots in the latter portion of the second quarter, including jumpers from Christina Justiniano to cut the halftime deficit to 5.
The third quarter is when Kolacki turned it on. She opened the quarter with a three, then added another one that tied the game at 20 with 6:15 left in the third quarter. After some back and forth she hit another three to put Howell up for good when the lead became 29-26. They ended the third quarter ahead, 36-28.
The fourth quarter was much of the same with Kolacki adding four more points to her total of 18 as Howell pulled away.
Looking forward, Gallacher talked about the importance of the win.
“We were kind of using it as a benchmark. I guess you can make a case that we improved in some ways and in some ways we haven’t [versus the first game against Freehold.] In the Shore Conference Tournament we’re going to see intense pressure against some of those teams.”
Before they get to the conference tournament next week, the Lady Rebels will welcome Wall on Friday night.
