Steinert’s surge stopped by Brick Memorial in fourth quarter
HAMILTON >> Emily Hardiman, Brenna Riddell and Brooke Sinay have known Steinert High girls’ basketball head coach Kristin Voorhees Jacobs since they were middle schoolers.
So they were all excited about the chance to help the Spartans advance in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Tournament, something that hasn’t happened since the 2018-19 season.
With a chance to return the favor to the team which knocked them out of last year’s tournament, Brick Memorial, Thursday, Hardiman, Riddell, Sinay and Voorhees Jacobs were delighted when seventh-seeded Steinert came from behind to take the lead on the 10th-seeded Mustangs in the second and third quarters despite not hitting a 3-point field goal all game.
Yet, just when the Spartans matched their biggest lead early in the final stanza, fate played an ugly trick on the home team as the visitors switched their defense and came away from a game that was tied with 2:30 left with a 44-35 victory.
The loss ends Steinert’s season after a 13-13 campaign, while sending 16-10 Brick Memorial on to play at second-seeded Ocean Township (225) Tuesday after the Spartans defeated 15th-seeded Brick Township, 64-35, yesterday.
“I was really feeling good, especially at halftime,” Hardiman said. “We came back from a first-quarter deficit and really got rolling in the second and third quarters. In that last quarter, they were double-teaming everyone and it threw us off.”
The Mustangs’ “scramble” defense changed everything after Riddell (five points) gave the Spartans a 31-26 lead to start the fourth quarter, then Hardiman made it, 33-31, with a 16-foot jump shot with 6:30 to play after the visitors rallied. The home team did not score again until sophomore Mia Pope put in a layup with 29.3 seconds remaining.
Still, Steinert’s tough defense did not make things easy. Brick Memorial did not tie the game at 33 until midway through fourth quarter, then did not take the lead until 1:40 later. Perhaps that is what made the Mustangs’ 13-2 closing run the toughest to take.
“These are the games we’ve been in all year,” Voorhees Jacobs said. “We knew about their scramble. But if you want to win, you have to hit some shots.”
With Pope matching her season high with 15 points, and Hardiman putting up a season’s best eight points, it looked like that might happen until the smaller Spartans got a little flustered.
“I’ve known Brenna, Brooke and Emily since they were in seventh grade,” Steinert’s 12th-year head coach said. “I also have to give a shoutout to our fourth senior, Rayonna Daniels, who didn’t play as much as the others, but was the quintessential teammate. Because of players like them, we thought this could be the year when we advanced.
At the end is when you want your seniors to be out there.”
With a senior-heavy lineup of its own, Brick Memorial understood that, which is why it probably surprised some when sophomore guard Liana Lopena scored eight of her nine points in the fourth quarter to give the visitors their first lead since the second quarter with 2:21 remaining.
Senior Kayla Herzer led all scorers with 17 points (12 in the second half), while her classmates Alexis Caruso and Gianna Livio added nine and seven points, respectively.
“I like being busy,” said Hardiman, who was also the Spartans’ soccer goalkeeper where she had encountered The College of New Jerseybound talent Caruso before. “I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t play three sports.”
With soccer and basketball behind her now, Hardiman will focus on lacrosse as she closes out her busy senior year, while also deciding on a college.