Allentown girls hoops looking for postseason success
Redbirds will face Spotswood in first round of state tourney
BY DOUG McKENZIE Correspondent
With a 14-10 record heading into Tuesday's Mercer County Tournament consolation bracket game against Hightstown, the Allentown girls basketball team has got to be considered a dangerous team in the upcoming state tournament.

The Redbirds are the 10th seed in the Central Jersey Group II bracket, and as such will travel to nearby Spotswood to take on the seventh-seeded Chargers in the first round on Monday.

While both teams sport relatively young lineups, Allentown third-year head coach Linda Weise thinks her team has the talent and experience needed to be successful in the state tournament.

"We qualified last year as a Group III school and lost to Willingboro in the first round, despite playing well," she said. "They were a seventh seed, but they wound up winning the whole thing, so that was a tough draw.

"This year we're excited to be back in the state tournament as a Group II school, based on enrollment. I think that's (Group II) where we really belong, anyway."

As for her squad's first-round opponent, Weise thinks, on paper at least, it looks like a good matchup for her team.

"I've scouted them and also have a game on film, so we should have a pretty good idea what we're up against," she said. "We'll be okay. We played them last year in December so we're somewhat familiar with what they try to do.

"They supposedly start three sophomores and two juniors, and are guard-oriented. We should have a little more of an inside presence, so we'll need to take advantage of that."

Allentown starts a young line-up as well with juniors Bea Pesciotta, Amanda Turowski, Haley Wilhelm and Angela Scibilia teaming with freshman Heather Gurdon to make up the Redbirds' starting lineup. Off the bench, Weise has sophomore Lindsey Bacovia and junior Kelsey Glover to turn to as well.

This Redbird squad has been a Jekyll and Hyde team at times, and Weise is doing everything she can to convince her girls of what type of effort will be needed to be successful in the state tournament.

When they're playing well, the Redbirds are an explosive, up-tempo team that can frustrate opponents with their defensive intensity. When they're not on their game, however, they tend to lose focus a bit and struggle defensively.

In the Mercer County Tournament, Allentown showed both sides of their play, much to the chagrin of its coach.

"We lost to Pennington in the first round, then came back to beat Hamilton West in the consolation bracket, which was nice because that was a team that beat us earlier in the year.

"We just have to play our game, and it's about being focused and giving a consistent effort," Weise added. "We talked about that little bit after the Pennington game because I felt that was a bad showing from this team.We just didn't show up to play that game."

However, Weise said the team has had some solid showings in the weeks leading up to the postseason, and she is hoping the Redbirds can harness a few more strong efforts in the coming games.

"We had a good game against Sayreville recently where we pressed them and caused a lot of turnovers, which led to us scoring a lot in transition," she said. "Then we did the same thing against Hamilton West. We seem to be successful when we can pressure the opponent and get some easy baskets. It just makes things easier on our team to play that way."

NowWeise is hoping to see the focused, intense team against Spotswood on Monday.

"If that team shows up, we have a great shot at doing well in the state tournament," she said. " And I think we've got a good shot of upsetting Spotswood."

The winner of that first-round matchup will certainly have its work cut out for it, as second-seeded Rumson-Fair Haven will be waiting. The Bulldogs are once again one of the best teams in the state, led by All-State forward Kate Miller and a sharp-shooting cast of teammates. RFH is seemingly the team to beat in this bracket every season, and this year appears to be no different.