Steinert’s Sinay MVP of CYO Senior All-Star Game

TRENTON >> The way things started and continued Sunday in the Mercer County Catholic Youth Organization’s Girls’ High School Senior All-Star Basketball Game at the CYO Center, it was easy to understand why so many figured University of Michigan-bound Te’Yala Delfosse was going to be the Most Valuable Player.

From the get-go, she was dominant. Two minutes and 40 seconds into the contest, she had all nine of the Navy Blue team’s points. Every time she was on the court, the 6-foot-2 Ewing High senior was dropping in buckets like she had played at this facility all her life.

“No, this was my first time here,” Delfosse said. “I just love playing basketball.”

As for what happened next, Delfosse, still dealing with not being in yesterday’s NJSIAA Group III state final, was a little more matter-of-fact.

“They just made more shots than us,” Delfosse said, reflecting on the Red team’s 7368 victory in the 23rd annual CYO Classic, a high-octane contest at the John “Mincey” Manczak Memorial Gymnasium.

Head coach Mike Kostinas’ Red squad rallied to overtake head coach Joe Smiegocki’s Navy Blue side in the first quarter when Lawrence’s Asia Wooding hit 1 of 2 free throws to knot the score at 15 with 55.7 seconds left, then Kennedy Havens led her Hopewell Valley High classmate Carina Estrada for a layup 32 seconds later to give the visitors the lead to stay.

Led by the spirited play of Hopewell’s 6-foot-1 Havens and Steinert’s 5-foot-10 Brooke Sinay in the paint, the Red team held off the Navy Blue squad despite 34 points by Delfosse, the most she had in any game this season.

“I was shocked,” Sinay said. “I was expecting (Delfosse) to get it.”

Instead, the Sandra Valeza Oropel MVP award for the girls’ game was presented to Sinay by CYO Executive Director Tom Mladenetz after she also posted her most points in a game this season with 19.

Sinay, who is headed to Millersville University to play lacrosse, became just the 2nd Spartan to win the trophy, along with 2010 grad Dana Jeter.

She was joined by her classmates, Brenna Riddell and Emily Hardiman, on the Red team, where they were playing for Kostinas, who was one of their assistant coaches under Kristin Voorhees Jacobs.

“It was nice to have us all on the court together,” Sinay said. “We’ve been playing together since we were in sixth grade.”

Similarly, Havens (16 points) got to play one more time with her classmates, Carina Estrada and Gillian Magner, recipient of the 32nd annual Renee Keister Award.

“Gillian is the most unselfish player I’ve coached,” the Bulldogs’ sixth-year head coach Coleen Ross said in a statement read by the CYO’s Patrick Hardiman since Ross was unable to attend.

Those in attendance saw Trenton Catholic Preparatory Academy’s Saniyah Spell drain a 3-point field goal with 15 seconds left in the first half to give the Red side a 39-31 lead at the break.

But then the Navy Blue team returned to the court and trimmed the margin to a basket when Notre Dame’s Cameron Beetel passed backwards between her legs to her Irish classmate Julia Fraticelli, who drained a 3-pointer from just inside halfcourt 15 seconds into the third quarter. Fraticelli came back to hit another trey 20 seconds later, and Smiegocki’s team drew as close as 39-37.

But Emily Hardiman and Sinay scored on the break before Sinay came back with an old-fashioned three-point play to stretch the lead to 46-39. The Navy Blue club, which also received 12 points from Hightstown’s 6-foot-4 Le Moyne College-bound Abby Misier, never got closer than five points after that.

Hopewell Valley’s John Michael Vlasac was named as the recipient of the 54th annual Jack Cryan Award.

“Each year, he has shown great improvement and growth on and off the court, while also playing two other sports (football and baseball) and excelling in the classroom,” Bulldogs’ head coach Matt Stein said of Vlasac, who was set to receive a football award from the state later in the day.

Jim Lamarca was also honored as John “Mincey” Manczak CYO Referee of the Year, an award presented to him by CYO Athletic Director Quincy Walzer.