Sports

Lady Rebels Bounce Back, Hold on For State Win

Will return to action on Wednesday night

When it comes to the Shore Conference season, there is a lot of familiarity for the teams involved. For the Howell Lady Rebels, when they take on the schools from Middletown, Freehold and Jackson, they pretty much know what to expect from their opponents.

On Monday night, in the opening round of the Central Jersey Group IV Tournament, the locals had no such comfort level as they welcomed the Pirates of West Windsor Plainsboro South to town. And while the game had a rough start and a bumpy finish, the girls held on for a 55-50 win.

Whether it was facing a new foe, or the excitement of being home for a state tournament game, Coach Bill Gallacher said the first quarter was not indicative of the kind of game his team can play. "We were awful in the first," he said. "When we were missing it looked like alley-oop passes." 

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While the first quarter ended with the Lady Rebels trailing just 14-12, the second quarter was closer to what the coach has expected to see from his A North championship squad. "We slowed down, we got a couple of steals and we ran them. Then they made an adjustment in the second half to slow us down a little bit," he said.

The Pirates definitely found themselves in trouble to start the second half after the Howell squad more than doubled their scoring with a 19-8 second quarter. Another strong quarter coming out of the half helped the Howell girls build a 43-26 lead, but it was by no means a comfortable margin. 

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Gallacher said the Pirates started forcing the issue under the basket, and when his team stopped them there, they kicked the ball outside for what at times appeared to be lucky bank shots that banked off the back board and in. "We had a nice lead, but I felt like we were just trying to stop the ship from sinking," he said. 

One of the reasons the Lady Rebels were able to hold off their guests was the free throw shooting of guard Kaitlyn Schmid. The Mercer county squad put Schmid on the line six times in the fourth quarter and the senior made five of her attempts. 

Schmid said after the game she was glad her team had won, but knew there was more work to be done. "We won, but we could have done a lot better," she said. The senior said one of the areas the team will need to work on before their next game is their defense, to ensure that there are no more late rushes at the end of the contest. "I just don't think our heads were in it. We had a so-so practice, so I guess when you don't practice hard it comes through in the game."

The Howell squad also had added motivation to win on Monday. In their foray into the Shore Conference Tournament, the Lady Rebels were bounced in the first round, after an overtime loss to Jackson Memorial.

Schmid said they wanted to make sure that did not happen this time around. "It was hard for us because it was our first loss at home and we weren't happy about that, so we want to take our revenge out on states and just win it."

For fellow senior Sarah Olson, Monday's win was a good early birthday present, and also gave her something to look forward to after the big day. "I thought we came out kind of sluggish but then we picked it up in the second and third quarter," she said. 

Despite what she described as an "ugly," fourth quarter, Olson said all that matters is that her team prevailed. Olson said for the four seniors on the team, it was nice to have the state tournament come to them. "We can win away, but it's easiest to win home," she noted. "You're on your baskets, you have your fans and your cheerleaders and you don't have to get on a bus and travel."

Olson proved that she was ready to play as she led her team in scoring with 20 points. Of those, 12 came from 3-point range, while six came from the free throw line. 

Another senior who was happy with the win was Lauren Kolacki who said playing a new team presented different challenges for the team. "We knew we had to come out and play as hard as we could and just expect them to be good," she said. 

For the game Kolacki had six rebounds which was second only to the fourth senior on the roster, Alex Milne who had nine. Milne said she was confident going in that her team would win and was glad to see that she was proven right.

She also knows that their next game could be their last as members of the Rebels. "It means we have to come out as hard as we can every single game and not take any of them lightly and that's what we're trying to do," she said. "It's a challenge, but it's good." 

Next up is a game on Wednesday night against the sixth-seeded squad from North Brunswick. A win on Wednesday would then set up a semifinal battle against either Rancocas Valley or West Windsor North. Meanwhile on the other side of the bracket the fourth seed from Freehold Township will host the fifth seed from Jackson Memorial. The winner of that game will more than likely face the top seed from Trenton in the semifinals.


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