SP-F Girls Basketball Team Shows Promise, Despite Loss of Key Players

For a change this year, the Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School girls’ basketball team will not be the hunted.

A young Raiders squad will start the season more as the hunters.

Although Scotch Plains is coming off another fine 18-8 record, the Raiders were hit very hard by graduation.

“I only really have three kids returning from varsity and all played limited roles,” said first-year head coach Jennifer Ryan.

Those three players are this year’s lone senior, Lyndsey Douglas, and juniors Evie Klotz and Aysia Peterson.

Although the expectations may not be as high as recent years, there is still a lot of promise among this year’s group.

Ryan is a 1984 Plainfield graduate who played on a dominant Cardinals team that won the county championship all four years she was in high school. Ryan was then a standout player at Pace University and is still the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder and was a two-time Kodak All-America selection there.

When Ryan played at Plainfield, the Cardinals were a difficult team to beat in the area. Scotch Plains became a pretty tough program to get past beginning earlier in this decade.

The Raiders won the UCT for the first time in 2004 and repeated in 2005, behind standout player and 2005 graduate Hillary Klimowicz, who was the Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Year in 2006 at Division 1 St. Joseph, Pa. Klimowicz transferred to The College of New Jersey in Ewing Township and enjoyed much success there as well on the Division 3 level.

 Allie Zazzali, now a member of the women’s soccer team at Johns Hopkins University, led the 2007 Scotch Plains squad to its third county championship when the Raiders defeated arch rival Westfield in overtime in the UCT final.

This year’s squad is minus the talents of 2008-2009 seniors Kaylin Jaichon, Jackie Law, Laura Degnan, Nikki Mineo and Katherine DeCataldo.

The past six years Scotch Plains has either won the UCT (2004, 2005, 2007) or at least reached the semifinals (2006, 2008, 2009). The last two years Scotch Plains lost to the eventual champion in the semifinals, falling to Westfield in 2008 and as the top seed to Roselle Catholic in 2009.

The expectations will not be as high for this year’s squad, at least not at the onset.

“We’re young, and hopefully we’ll mature together and bring something a little different each game,” Ryan said. “I have to be flexible with who I am playing. I can’t force a style on a team if they’re not ready for it. I’m still trying to find our style.

Now a member of the Watchung Division of the newly formed Union County Conference, Scotch Plains has a 21-game regular season schedule that includes two December holiday week contests and games against Somerset County foes Bridgewater-Raritan and Watchung Hills.

“We want to be able to press and run man-to-man defense and have a threat inside and outside, which is every coach’s dream,” Ryan said. “I hope to help everybody find their strength and run an offense where the girls are playing basketball, where they can find the shots they want to take. Defensively, we need to pressure people. We have the athletes in order to do that. Right now I’m still trying to find what our lineup will be.”

After opening against Plainfield, which finished 17-9 last season and has one of the top returning seniors in forward Chanel Johnson, Scotch Plains will play two games in the four-team Joe Pepe Tournament at Dayton High School in Springfield.

Scotch Plains will play Dayton Dec. 28 at 3 p.m. and then on Dec. 30 will play its second tournament game against one of the other two teams in the event. 

Conference play will resume Jan. 5 at home against Westfield.

“We have a tough schedule and will be facing a lot of competitive teams,” Ryan said.

NOTES: Plainfield lost at Roselle Catholic 55-50 in double overtime in a classic UCT final last year. Scotch Plains fell at fourth-seeded Roselle Catholic 51-43 in the semifinals. Klotz scored six points and Peterson five in that contest.

Also last year, Peterson had 10 points and six rebounds in a 51-34 win at Irvington.

Douglas netted nine points in a 64-20 triumph at home over Newark East Side.

Klotz, along with Jaichon, scored a team-high 13 points in a 66-33 non-conference triumph at Essex County opponent Nutley.

Scotch Plains fell at West Morris 49-43 in the North 2, Group 3 quarterfinals. 

FURTHER NOTES: The SP-F boys basketball coach could not be reached for a preview story. Stay tuned for coverage of their season soon.

2009-2010 SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD RAIDERS:

Lyndsey Douglas, senior guard (5-4)

Erin Brown, junior forward (5-8)

Evie Klotz, junior guard (5-6)

Becca Kreyer, junior guard (5-5)

Aysia Peterson, junior forward (5-11)

Linsey Phelan, junior guard (5-5)

Liz Gallo, sophomore guard (5-7)

Renee Oliver, freshman center (5-11)

Tara Sweeney, freshman center (6-0)

Taylor Sebolao, freshman guard (5-7)

Christine Monroy, freshman guard (5-5)

Kelsey Meisch, freshman guard (5-6)

2009-2010 SCOTCH PLAINS-FANWOOD SCHEDULE:

Dec. 18 Plainfield, 4 p.m.

Dec. 28 at Dayton, 3 p.m., Joe Pepe Tournament

Dec. 30 Joe Pepe Tournament game at Dayton, TBA

Jan. 5 Westfield, 4 p.m.

Jan. 7 Bridgewater-Raritan, 4 p.m.

Jan 9 at Linden, 4 p.m.

Jan. 12 Hillside, 4 p.m.

Jan. 14 Summit, 4 p.m.

Jan. 16 New Providence, 1 p.m.

Jan. 23 at Rahway, 4 p.m.

Jan. 26 Elizabeth, 4 p.m.

Jan. 29 Union, 4 p.m.

Jan. 30 at Planifield, TBA

Feb. 2 at Westfield, 4 p.m.

Feb. 4 Linden, 4 p.m.

Feb. 6 at Summit, 1 p.m.

Feb. 9 Rahway, 4 p.m.

Feb. 11 at Elizabeth, 4 p.m.

Feb. 13 at Union, 10:30 a.m.

Feb. 16 at Johnson, 4 p.m.

Feb. 18 Watchung Hills, 4 p.m.