University beats Shore Girls for Group Title

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

William Wishart is in his eighth season as head coach of the Shore Regional team. This year he reached his 100-plus victory and was the only three-peat NJSIAA Sectional basketball champs. He also coached in his third consecutive Group 1 final.

Sunday, March 10, the NJSIAA Group 1 girls basketball finals were held at the RWJBarnabas Health Center arena in Toms River. It was the third time in three years that the same two schools were facing off for the crown. And for the third consecutive year, University High School took the trophy back to Newark.

It was a three-peat for University, as they dominated the game winning 85-55. Last year they beat Shore 57-47, and 66-31 in 2022. The Phoenix of University High School finished the season with a near perfect 27-3 record, their only defeats were to Montclair Immaculate; 68-55 on December 19, 2023, 71-55 on January 23, 2024 and 75-65 in the final round of the Essex County Tournament on February 17, 2024.

Shore Regional ended their season with their third consecutive NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 Sectional title. They entered the Group 1 final against their current nemesis, University High School, with an 18-11 overall record.

The entire first half was a highlight reel for the Phoenix players as they dominated Shore in every aspect of the game.

University, which had a big advantage in height, speed and enthusiasm just pummeled the Blue Devils in the first eight minutes taking a 22-5 lead. That was the worst offensive and defensive quarter of the entire year for Shore, but, the second quarter was worse. The Phoenix players outscored Shore 19-4, taking a huge 41-9 lead into the halftime break.

During that first half the Blue Devils were plagued by unforced errors, just making bad passing decision and allowing Phoenix players to steal the ball.

However, William Wishart, who just completed his eighth season as head coach at Shore, took his squad into the break and had them settle down. They went over what worked for them all season, and got back to basic Blue Devil basketball.

It worked, as Shore had an amazing second half, outscoring University High School 21-17 in the third quarter. But overcoming a 32-point first half deficit against a team as skilled and talented as University, was not going to happen. In the final eight minutes, there was only a two-point difference between the two schools, University had a 27-25 advantage and went on to take the 85-55 victory.

Besides the lopsided points total, Phoenix players controlled the boards. They used their height to outrebound the Blue Devils 67-18. Wishart had known that was going to be a problem and actually asked players from the boys’ varsity squad to practice with his girls this past week. Unfortunately, one week was not enough to learn how to box out and time their jumps against taller opponents.

Shore did settle into their game in the second half and proved they deserved and belonged on the court. They made better shot selections, didn’t rush shots or passes, and played their swarming defense.

Leading the Devils in scoring was Conley Smolokoff, senior co-captain, and junior Kimi Sayson with 15 points each. Sayson, the smallest Devil, had the most rebounds with five. She also finished with three assists and one steal. Smolokoff had two rebounds, one assist, one block and three steals.

Reese Fiore, junior who scored her 1,000th career point this season, finished with 13 points, three rebounds and three steals. Antonette Russo, the other senior co-captain, had five points, four rebounds, two assists, and two blocks. Ava Coyle, sophomore, had five points also, with two rebounds, one assist, and four steals.

“First and foremost, we are from four or five little beach towns,” said William Wishart, head coach of the Blue Devils. He was referring to the fact that University High School, which is a public school in Newark, gets to pick which city students can attend. “I’m not trying to say about the whole charter or non-charter, but they have a group of 3,000 people they can pull from, right?” The coach also hinted that they can recruit players from outside the City of Newark.

Group 1 in the NJSIAA consists of the schools with the smallest enrollments. However, charter schools and selective schools, have a big advantage. This year in the boys Group 1 final it was won by College of Achieve, a first year charter school from Asbury Park. They scored 2,071 points this season and had 842 rebounds, 423 assists, 128 blocks and 282 steals. They had two players at 6’10”, three at 6’8”, seven players that ranged between 6’2” to 6’7” which is just unfair to Group 1 programs. They had two games this season where they scored 100 points or better.

Hopefully, the NJSIAA will adjust this, as Shore Regional loses only two players to graduation and has goals on returning to the Group 1 final. And the way the program is setup now, it might be a fourth straight year where they face University High School.

Please visit www.Facebook.com/TheLinkSports for additional photos of this game and many others.