Girls Basketball – No. 10 Red Bank Regional upsets No. 3 Manasquan 42-41

After several years with the same teams sitting on top in the Shore Conference, everything got thrown in a blender and turned upside down this week with the fall of No. 1 St. John Vianney and No. 3 Manasquan. Manasquan handed SJV their first Shore Conference loss since 03/05/2019 and would have become the new No. 1 team in the Shore Conference on Monday, but No. 10 Red Bank Regional ruined those plans and defeated Manasquan 42-41 in the Coaches vs Cancer Showcase at Donovan Catholic High School.

After defeating SJV 46-40 Thursday, Manasquan showed no signs of a let down after they got out to a 14-2 lead over RBR. After RBR coach John Truhan called a time-out, the Bucs went on a 15-0 run that carried over into the 2nd quarter. Senior Camryn Gardner and sophomore Zoe Gulley each knocked a 3-pointer to bring RBR to within three points at the end of the 1st quarter. 

“I thought it was more of us getting too involved in the moment,” Coach Truhan said. “The magnitude was starting to get to them and I only needed to call one time-out during the 14-2 stretch and they settled in. I would like to remember what I said because we went on a 15-0 after that.”

The Warriors started the second half on a 5-0 run to go up 25-21, but Gulley knocked down two 3-pointers in a row to put the Bucs back up 27-25 with 3:52 left in the 3rd quarter. Gulley finished the game with four 3-pointers and a team-high 12 points.

“Our past few games have been a little rough,” Gulley said. “Everyone is getting back from sickness and we are starting to mesh especially in this game. We have been trying to find the next person and look for the right pass and play really good team basketball.”

The Bucs started the 4th quarter on a 4-0 run to go up 31-25 with 5:53 left in the game. Senior Katie Collins responded with a 3-pointer to start a 7-0 run for the Warriors to give them a 32-31, but Gulley responded again with a 3-pointer to put RBR up 34-32 with 3:17 left and did not look back.

“Zoe is a gamer, but what makes her special is that her demeanor does not change no matter of the magnitude of the game,” Truhan said. “The biggest shot of the game was the three to put us up 34-32.”

RBR kept Manasquan in the game the final two minutes, shooting 3 out of 6 from the foul-line. The Bucs went 9 out of 19 throughout the game from the foul-line. With 5.2 seconds left trailing 41-38 Collins missed a foul shot on purpose, but Snyai Blychanton chased down the rebound and hit one of her two foul shots to seal the win.