THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Middletown High School South Athletics

MIDDLETOWN, NJ. - Defense has been the key to success this season for the Middletown South girls basketball team and its defense came up big when it needed it the most against Toms River North in the second round of the Shore Conference Tournament on Thursday. Leading 53-52 with 2.4 seconds to play, the task at hand to advance in the tournament for Middletown South was a defensive stand and the Eagles got the stop they needed thanks to a double block by both Kayla Richardson and Eve Pirie. Off the Toms River North inbound pass by Brielle Bisogno to Jenna Paul, Pirie swarmed over Paul, allowing Richardson to come from the back side as both players blocked Paul’s last second shot to give Middletown South its 18th victory of the season. “We knew that we couldn’t let (Paul) shoot it there,” Pirie said. “All of us gave it our all in those final seconds. We stuck together to the end to get the win.” Isla Brennan helped pace the Eagles to begin the back-and-forth affair with the Mariners. The senior couldn’t miss from three-point range in the first quarter for Middletown South. Brennan knocked in four three-pointers to help give Middletown South a 16-14 lead going into the second quarter. “The credit goes to my teammates for passing me the ball when I was in an open spot to make shots,” Brennan said. Brennan made a great all-around play for the Eagles in final seconds of the first half. Securing the defensive rebound, Brennan made a great outlet pass up the court to Richardson who weaved her way to the basket for a layup to give Middletown South a 27-24 lead going into halftime. Brennan nailed her 5th three-pointer of the game to start the second half to put the Eagles up 30-26. Toms River North came back to take a 34-33 lead with a little over two minutes left to go in the third quarter before Brennan struck again from downtown. Dead on from the right corner, Brennan banged home her sixth three-pointer of the game to put Middletown South back in the lead and sparked a 9-2 run going into the fourth quarter that helped give the Eagles a 43-36 lead with 5:22 left to play. Brennan added seven rebounds and four steals to her team-high 18 points in the win. Middletown South had 10 three-pointers in the contest and hit four shots from downtown in the third quarter. “We worked a lot in practice on understanding where the open spaces on the floor will be, so we can take those shots,” Brennan said. “We kind of knew where we were throwing it to before we even turned. That helps you get in rhythm shooting three-pointers.” After stealing the ball at half-court, Pirie sparked a huge three-point play to extend the Eagles lead to 10. Driving in for the layup and then going on to connect on the free-throw to extend the Middletown South lead to 46-36 with just over 4 minutes to play. A spot in the quarterfinals looked all but sealed up for the Eagles, but Toms River North had another run in them. In one minute, the Mariners went on a 6-0 run to cut the Middletown South lead to four and made it a 46-44 game with 2 minutes to play off a fastbreak layup by Kristina Johnson. Leading 48-47 with 1:08, the three-point ball again came into play for Middletown South as Stephanie Mayerhofer rose up from the left wing to knock home her second three-pointer of the game to give the Eagles a four-point cushion. Bisogno came up with a huge steal for Toms River North and drove in for the layup to cut the Middletown South lead to 51-49, but Mayerhofer extended the Eagles’ lead back to four with 16 seconds to play by making both free-throw attempts. Mayerhofer finished with 12 points in the game. Back down the other way, Paul came up with a huge three-point play for Toms River North to cut the Middletown South lead to 53-52 and put Mayerhofer back on the free-throw line. This time, Mayerhofer missed the front end of the one-and-one, but lucky for her, Richardson was there for the offensive rebound and put herself to the line with nine seconds to play. Just like Mayerhofer, however, Richardson also missed the front end of the one-and-one and the Mariners were able to get the rebound and push the ball up court where they were forced to call a timeout with 2.4 seconds play. Missing out on a chance at the free-throw line to help her team win, Richardson came through in a big way on defense to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals for the Eagles, coming from the back side to team up with Pirie for the huge double block on Paul’s last-second shot to help Middletown South hang on for the win. “This game meant a lot to us,” Richardson said. “There’s some history here between us and Toms River North. We didn’t make it into the Shore Conference Tournament last year. We knew this game was going to come down to who makes the hustle plays when it counts.” Richardson scored eight points and had seven rebounds and four steals in the win for Middletown South. Pirie scored seven points and had four steals and a team-high eight rebounds in the win. Paul finished with a game-high 24 points for Toms River North. Middletown South is now 18-4 on the season and will face the No. 2 ranked team in the state St. John Vianney in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Making it to the quarterfinals of the Shore Conference Tournament this season and earning the No. 1 seed in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 4 Tournament, Tom Brennan is very happy with what his team has been able to accomplish so far this season. “Getting to the quarterfinals of the Shore Conference Tournament is special,” Coach Brennan said. “We left more skin on the floor in this win than we have had all season. That’s a testament to the effort our team put out on the floor. Playing in the quarterfinals will benefit us win or lose. We’re going to play hard and see what happens. Worst case scenario, facing St. John Vianney will be a real good test for us in preparing for the state tournament.”

THE OFFICIAL SITE OF
Middletown High School South Athletics

NEWS

HUGE DEFENSIVE STAND KEEPS MIDDLETOWN SOUTH ALIVE IN SHORE CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT