Girls Basketball – Middletown South Wins First Group III Title

TOMS RIVER – There was a point early in the 2014-15 basketball season that Middletown South girls basketball coach Tom Brennan and his players would have had a hard time believing they could win the program’s first  NJSIAA Group III championship.

At another point – more specifically, with eight minutes left in Sunday’s Group III final against Northern Valley-Old Tappan at Pine Belt Arena – it appeared that first championship was a lock.

The truth almost always lies somewhere between the extremes, but after the final buzzer, the truth was plain and simple: Middletown South is headed to its first NJSIAA Tournament of Champions thanks to its first Group III championship.

The Eagles stormed out to a 20-point first-half lead, took an 18-point lead into the fourth quarter and held off a fourth-quarter surge by the Knights to win 50-42 and capture the first overall Group title in the history of the program. Middletown South is the No. 5 seed in the T of C and will play Tuesday at Pine Belt Arena against Group IV champion and No. 4 Franklin.

“This means everything to us,” junior Stephanie Karcz said. “It’s been tough to be the underdog for the last few years, but we knew that if we put everything we had and put all our energy into reaching this goal, we could do it.”

Karcz scored a team-high 16 points, pulled down a game-high 16 rebounds and added three assists and five steals to lead the Eagles before fouling out with 2:07 left in the game. Old Tappan cut its deficit to 42-36, 33 seconds later, but Middletown South never let the Knights get closer.

Sophomore Alexandra Balsamo knocked down two free throws with 1:24 left to push the lead back to eight, and against the Old Tappan press, senior Angela DeBartolome found fellow senior Madison Curtis for a lay-up as she was fouled to make it 46-38 with 1:14 left.

Junior Ariana Chipolone hit a long two-pointer from the right wing - two of her game-high 17 points - to slice the Middletown South lead back to 46-40 with 1:08 left, but Middletown South again pushed the lead back to eight on two free throws by DeBartolome with 43 seconds left.

Old Tappan once more cut the Eagles' lead to six on a putback by Kailyn Sytsma, but junior Julia Valkos finished a layup off a pass from Balsamo with 19 seconds left to cap the scoring.

Sophomore Haley Dalonzo added 10 points for Middletown South, including a layup to push the lead to 42-32 and end a 9-0 Old Tappan run with 2:28 left. Dalonzo had just re-entered the game after being hit with a technical foul at the 4:31 mark of the fourth quarter. The ensuing technical foul shot cut Middletown South’s lead to 40-30.

“The game was very chippy early,” Dalonzo said. “I got a warning early on and I just lost my cool a little bit and gave her (Emily Crivani) a little shove. I felt like I owed (something) to Mr. Brennan. His team’s never had a technical foul in 19 years and we’ve had two this year, so I definitely wanted to make it up to him.”

Middletown South took a commanding 37-19 lead into the fourth quarter, and after the Knights trimmed their deficit to 37-23, Balsamo hit a three-pointer off an inbounds play to stretch the Eagles' lead back to 17, 40-23. With her team up 40-25, Karcz picked up her fourth foul with 5:04 left and came out of the game. In the 33 seconds that Karcz was out of the game, Old Tappan made up seven points, cutting Middletown South’s lead to 40-32.

“It’s always a little uncomfortable being on the bench when you could be out there helping your team,” Karcz said. “Any time I have to sit with four fouls, though, I know other people are going to step up and today, I thought we did a great job executing down the stretch when they were making a run.”

Although Middletown South got off to a slow start shooting the ball, the Eagles held Old Tappan without a field goal over the first 9:04 of the game. Over the opening 14:05, Middletown South outscored the Knights 25-5 before Old Tappan closed the half with a 6-0 burst. During the 25-5 run, Old Tappan made just two shots in its first 20 attempts.

“We’ve been on both sides of it before,” Dalonzo said. “”We’ve come back against teams, and teams have come back against us. We knew they could make a run and we just had to stay calm and keep looking to execute.”

Middletown South’s first state championship comes one year after the Eagles lost to Woodrow Wilson by one point in the Group semifinals. The Eagles expected to return three starters from a year ago, but six-foot senior center Jill Falvey suffered a torn ACL just before opening night.

Despite losing one of its key players, Middletown South rallied to reach the Shore Conference Tournament semifinals for the second time in three years and win a second straight Central Jersey Group III sectional title on the way to the first girls basketball state title in school history.

“I’m happy we just won a state title, but it’s definitely a little bittersweet,” Brennan said. “Whenever you see a kid lose her senior year to an injury, it just crushes you and you feel for her.

“Jill was a big part of this team and we knew losing her was going to be a big hit. She’s been phenomenal for us all year. She’s never missed a practice, she goes over scouting reports for us. She’s stayed a big part of the team and I think the rest of the team responded.”

Box Score

Middletown South 50, Northern Valley-Old Tappan 42

Middletown South (50): Angela DeBartolome 3 2-2 9, Haley Dalonzo 5 0-0 10, Alexandra Balsamo 1 4-4 7, Stephanie Karcz 7 2-8 16, Julia Valkos 3 0-0 6, Madison Curtis 1 0-1 2. Totals: 20 8-15 50

Three-pointers: DeBartolome, Balsamo

Fouled Out: Karcz

Old Tappan (42): Emily Crevani 2 2-4 7, Ariana Chipolone 8 1-2 17, Kailyn Sytsma 1 1-2 3, Alexie Piccinich 5 1-6 11, Kelsey McLaughlin 1 0-0 2, Ashley Sullivan 1 0-0 2, Maia Levenshus 0 0-0 0, Ana Fernandez 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 5-14 42

Three-pointers: Crevani