Lady Rebels Head Into New Week After Statement Win

As the calendar turns to February, the games only get bigger for the local high school teams. For basketball squads such as the Lady Rebels, the Shore Conference Tournament is just a week away and the state tournament not far past that.

This past Friday the Howell girls had a big game against the Jackson Memorial Jaguars and showed they were up for the challenge with a 52-40 win.

The game started well for the locals as they picked up an impressive 16-5 lead after the first quarter. Coach William Gallacher said the team was helped by the work of several players, including Lauren Kolacki, who had 11 points in that quarter alone as part of 15 points on the night. The senior got nine of her points from long range to help push her team to the win.

Holding a squad like Jackson Memorial to five points is no easy feat, and the coach said that was a tribute to his team's efforts. "Our defensive effort was the best of the year," he said. "It seems like every time Jackson got something going, we'd come right back with a big play on defense and turn it into a bucket."

With Sarah Olson and Alex Milne getting into early foul trouble, the coach said he got to see just how far his bench has come since the beginning of the season. "Sarah sat out seven plus minutes of the second quarter and Alex missed four to five minutes," he said. "The bench maintained the lead during this crucial time."

That bench included work from Marina Lukianov, Ally Moreland and Christina Justiniano who combined for eight points and played strong on the defensive side of the court. Justiniano had four steals and two assists while Moreland had five rebounds and Lukianov made two foul shot opportunities.

Point guard Kaitlyn Schmid got six of her nine points from long range and also had three assists and three rebounds while Olson scored six of her eight points in the final quarter alone. 

Although the two teams do not play in the division, Gallacher said it certainly had the feel of an important game for both squads. "The game had a playoff atmosphere to it right from the start." With Coach Rachel Goodale leading the Jaguars and Christa Evans being one of the top players in the conference, there is no such thing as an easy game against the Jackson squad. 

Gallacher said he believed last year Evans had 19 points in the game against the Rebels and went off for 27 as a sophomore. This time around the Howell squad adjusted their defense to make things a little harder for the star of the visiting team. "We provided help from the week side and made things difficult," he said. "Christa still scored 17 points, but she had to work hard and earn all her points."

The girls were supposed to be home on Monday night, but with the Rebel wrestling team earning a home match to start the same tournament, the Lady Rebels were forced to move their game against Manalapan to Tuesday. A win over the Braves will clinch the A North title outright for the local team.