March 15, 2006
Absegami girls keep CAL season going
By TOM WILLIAMS
Sports Columnist
Not very many Cape-Atlantic League girls basketball programs have won two
straight state basketball championships.
Dave Troiano did it with Wildwood three straight times at the turn of the century.
Gary Barber's Middle Township teams did it twice back in the mid-1990s. And Joe
Fussner won two straight with Atlantic City back in the early 1980s.
Greg Goodwin and the girls from Absegami joined that group over the weekend.
Krissy Rosario, Connie James, Alysha Taylor, Tara Booker, Sara Mostafa. Those
names will be special to future generations in the same way Valeria Jones, Dinean
McBride, Monica Johnson, Shea Matlock, Pam Elliott, Merri Jones and others from
earlier state champions are to us.
Fussner's teams never got to play in the Tournament of Champions. It didn't start
until 1989. And, in the 17 years of TOC play, only two teams from the CAL have
reached the championship game.
Sam Botta did it in 1992 with the Egg Harbor Township girls. His group of juniors,
who suffered their first loss as sophomores in the state final the year before,
upset Jefferson by one point and surprised St. John Vianney in overtime before
losing to St. Peter's of New Brunswick, featuring the state's all-time girls
scoring leader, Kristen Somogyi, in the final.
Tom Feraco's Middle Township boys team made it the next year, losing to St.
Anthony in the final. The Panthers defeated Perth Amboy Tech in the first round
and upset Irvington in the second round. LaMarr Greer was a junior on that team.
He had a triple-double in the state final, getting 14 points, 10 rebounds and 15
assists. And a young sophomore with a full head of hair named Van Cathcart was
also part of that team.
Not too many other CAL teams have won games in the TOC.
The two wins in 1993 are Feraco's only wins, and are the most by a CAL boys coach.
Ken Leary had a win at Pleasantville and Gene Allen got one last year with
Atlantic City. That's it. A total of four wins by three boys teams.
On the girls side, Botta's two wins is the best. Troiano, Barber and Sacred
Heart's Steve DiPatri each have one win.
The most points scored by a CAL player in the TOC was 36 by Greer in his senior
year (1994) against Piscataway. Monica Johnson's 32 against Willingboro in 2002
is the most by a CAL girl.
Absegami hopes to improve the CAL's record in this battle for New Jersey's
ultimate championship. To do it, the Braves have to beat a tough Shore Conference
team (Rumson-Fair Haven) then probably meet two undefeated teams - Shabazz and
Camden Catholic.
If it came down to Absegami-Camden Catholic in the final (March 22 at the
Continental Airlines Arena) it would make the girls at Gami very happy. Last
month, they faced possibly the toughest regular season week ever for any girls
basketball team. They played the No. 1 team in the country (New York's Christ
The King), the No. 1 team in South Jersey (Camden Catholic) and then Holy Spirit
for the CAL championship - all in six days.
They lost that game to Camden Catholic with Rosario, the 6-2 senior with over
1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, out with a sprained ankle.
Absegami wants another shot at Camden Catholic at full strength.
If they get it, great. It would mean two South Jersey teams would decide the
battle for New Jersey's finest. If they don't, it won't change the fact that
these girls have elevated themselves into rare company.
They have proven over the past two years that they are one of the finest
basketball programs the Cape-Atlantic League has ever produced.
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Tom Williams' columns