Robbinsville falls short against Brick Memorial
ROBBINSVILLE >> Three days into a new season, teams are still learning what they have to do to make things go right.
Sometimes those teams are still working through kinks that early in the campaign.
The Robbinsville High varsity girls’ basketball team may or may not be one of those teams. It’s too early to tell.
And that’s the good thing about scheduling a tough test for your squad in the beginning of the campaign.
Coming off a good opening win at West Windsor-Plainsboro South, second-year head coach Justin Schmid gave his Ravens another challenge Saturday with a non-league matchup versus Brick Memorial.
Like any game against a Shore Conference team, the matchup with the Mustangs was more rigorous, leading to a 37-25 setback, which hopefully showed the R’ville players what they will need to do better against certain teams.
Five-foot-seven senior guard/forward Caroline Walls, for one, believes the Ravens will continue on the right flight path.
“I think we just have to stay positive,” Walls said. “We came in today with a good mindset.”
Walls talked about how the Ravens played with the kind of energy that will help them get better. And Robbinsville brought that energy despite the fact that it only had seven players available for a second straight game.
“Some of our shots didn’t drop, but we just have to stay positive and work through it,” said Walls, who is headed to
Fairfield University to play softball. “Mainly, our energy and our mindset have to stay positive.”
For the better part of four quarters, the Ravens were able to do that against the Mustangs by simply keeping the margin to single digits, therefore within striking distance.
They were still within single digits until Brick Memorial sophomore Liana Lopena (12 points) hit a 3-point field goal with 1:40 left in the third quarter. It was the third 3-pointer of the game for the reserve guard.
But Walls hit a pair of treys of her own in the fourth quarter to keep the home team as close as 33-25 with just under three minutes left. Problem was Brick’s senior forward Gianna Livio (nine points, 10 rebounds) put back a shot at the other end to regain a 10-point lead the rest of the way.
With Livio’s classmate in the frontcourt, Kayla Herzer, hauling down a game-high 12 rebounds, and guards Lexi Caruso, a senior, and Brooke DeAlmeida, a junior, coming up with eight and six steals, respectively, it showed R’ville’s resolve to stay in the game.
“We need to come together as a team,” said Walls, who led the Ravens with 10 points.
She also had seven rebounds, which tied her with sophomore guard/forward Ava Aldarelli for the team high in that category. Aldarelli added nine points.
Schmid, Walls, Aldarelli and the rest of Robbinsville’s roster will try to work a little harder and hope more players return as they prepare to make things better for a Colonial Valley Conference matchup with West Windsor-Plainsboro North Tuesday.