By Jeff Appelblatt
Sierra Strong had a fantastic game in the Freehold High School girls’ basketball team’s season opener Dec. 16 against Freehold Township High School. However, the problem for Freehold was both teams expected that.
Freehold Township made it clear early that it had no problem living with Strong’s top-notch performance. The 16 points and 14 boards Strong supplied couldn’t help stop the Colonials from being blown out, 55-33, on their home court.
Freehold head coach Jen Brzucki knew the start of the season would likely be rough, no matter what Strong did on the court.
“She was our leading scorer last year. She’ll be our leading scorer this year. She played a lot of ball in the offseason,” the coach said about Strong. “We look to be competitive with the [Shore Conference] A North [Division]. We’re going to try to put our best foot forward to achieve our team goals.”
Team goals this season don’t include winning the division.
“It’s another rebuilding year for us,” Brzucki said. “Just like any team, you got to mesh together and gel together, and I think we’re doing that within all of our scrimmages. We’re working to limit our turnovers.
“And we’re working on getting the ball inside and [working on] shooting from the outside. We need to work on all those things.”
Brzucki expected to see Freehold Township also struggle with all of those things.
“They’re rebuilding with their squad, too,” the coach said before the game.
Little did the Colonials’ coach know that the Patriots were more prepared for the first game than her team was.
Freehold kept things close in the opening quarter, only trailing by three after the quarter, but the team’s crosstown rival ran away with the game from there when five girls on Freehold Township put up at least seven points. Brianna Cucinelli and Theresa Sanzone netted 11 points each.
Meanwhile, all Strong had to complement her play was seven points from Sydney Przygoda, five from Kayla Fletcher and four from Olivia Duffy.
Still, Brzucki is eager to see her team play the Patriots again — and hopefully it gives one of its top rivals more of a game. That will be Jan. 19 in Freehold Township, which gives the Colonials about a month to improve. And Freehold Township won each time the team’s met last year, so there couldn’t be a game Freehold’s coach was more eager to see her team win.
Though the Colonials will take any win, the sooner it comes, the better. They were scheduled to play Dec. 20 against Manalapan High School. The Braves (0-1) also defeated Freehold in each of its contests last season.
