Three-Peat, repeat for Blue Devils Girls’ Basketball

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

With just seconds to play Conley Smolokoff (13), senior co-captain of the Shore Blue Devils, seals the deal with a foul shot as they beat Middlesex 44-38. Watching are her teammates KimiSayson (3) fellow co-captain Antonette Russo (22), Reese Fiore (1) and Ava Coyle (3).

March 2, the lady Blue Devils of Shore Regional entered into the record books as the first basketball team in the school’s history to win the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 3 sectional championship for three consecutive years. It was also a repeat of last years sectional finals, where the Blue Devils faced the Blue Jays of Middlesex High School.

This year, Shore Regional entered the tournament as the two seed and had to travel to top seed Middlesex High School. Shore started off a bit shaky, they were tight and were mishandling the ball and missing easy buckets. There is a huge benefit when a school has a homecourt and home crowd advantage. The Blue Jays crowd was large and loud, which partially contributed to the Devils start.

William Wishart, who is in eighth season as head coach of the Blue Devils, was able to get his players settled into their game plan. And when the first quarter ended, Shore was up 10-7 and looking more relaxed.

The second eight minutes of the game were the best played for Shore Regional. They outscored Middlesex 14-8 in the second quarter and took a 24-15 lead into the halftime break. When the Blue Devils took the court to start the second half, they were much more confident and outscored the Blue Jays 10-7 in the third quarter. The final eight minutes had Middlesex taking a 14-10 advantage, but it was not enough to overcome the Devils who won 44-36.

Leading Shore in scoring was Kimi Sayson, who transferred to Shore this year from Long Branch, with 13 points. She also pulled down four rebounds, had four assists and two steals.

Conley Smolokoff, senior forward for Shore, played one of her best games all season. She drove hard to the basket, took shots from outside and finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Junior Reese Fiore who scored her 1,000th career point last week, had nine points, nine rebounds, two blocks, one assist and one steal. Sophomore point guard Ava Coyle, who has no fear on the court as she will drive hard to the hoop, finished with six points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The sixth girl off the bench is Angela Christopher, junior, who can play guard or forward. In the win over Middlesex, Christopher had three points and two rebounds. Senior Antonette Russo didn’t have a big offensive night, but she was a force to be reckoned with on defense.

Last year, Shore was the number one seed and Middlesex was the number two. The Blue Devils easily won 62-31. Back in 2022, Shore was the number five seed and beat South Hunterdon 67-48 for their first of the three consecutive titles.

According to Wishart the best two words he ever heard was “three-peat.” When asked what made this group of players so special the coach reflected on the 2023 season. “When Rylee Drahos graduated, a lot of people wrote us off and put down on our kids, saying she was a one woman show,” said Wishart. Drahos is number two on the all-time leading scorers at Shore Regional with 1,660 points. The top scorer is Patricia Delehanty with 2,534. “This group of girls showed that we were a special team last year and they are a special team this year. It is a team, not one player, not five players, but the entire team, everyone had a place in our success.”

Shore will graduate only two of the starting five, but they are a big two. They are co-captains Antonette Russo and Conley Smolokoff. “Their freshman year was the COVID year, so we were a three-win team, got shutdown a few times as a result of COVID and they stuck with the program. They will both be hard to replace,” said Wishart.

When the coach was asked what was the highlight of the season, he didn’t pick his 100^th career win, or the fact that for a second consecutive year a player scored their 1,000 career point, he picked a loss. “Back on February 17, we played J.P. Stevens and we didn’t show-up. That was by far our worst effort,” said Wishart. After the game he gathered his players in the lock room with his staff and had a heartfelt discussion. “I told them here is the deal, we have three weeks to figure it out and come together as a team. Our very next practice they worked their tails off and from that moment on, I knew we had a championship team.”

Shore will now advance to the four team NJSIAA Group 1 Tournament. They will face Wildwood, the South Jersey champions on Wednesday, March 6, at Deptford High School with a 5:00 p.m. start time. The other half of that bracket has Park Ridge facing University.

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NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 Sectional Final had Shore Regional beating Middlesex 44-36. It is the third consecutive sectional title for the Blue Devils, and second consecutive year they beat Middlesex.