A new wave of players will be called on to continue the success of the Sayreville War Memorial High School girls’ basketball program.
Sayreville enters this winter after the Bombers fashioned a magical 2016-17 season.
The Bombers finished with a 29-3 record and advanced to the NJSIAA Group 4 state tournament’s championship game, where Sayreville fell to Franklin High School, 68-36.
Under coach Janet Cook, Sayreville won the program’s first Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship — a feat that was achieved when the Bombers defeated South Brunswick High School, 59-52, in the finals.
Sayreville thwarted South Brunswick’s revenge bid when the Bombers beat the Vikings, 44-37, in the Central Jersey, Group 4 state sectional finals, 44-37.
Cook thinks that even though a lot of her main contributors are not on the team this year, she still has assembled a group that will compete this winter.
“This year is a little bit of a rebuilding year for us,” Cook said. “We graduated five players who contributed significantly for us. We lost another senior to winter track this year. So we’re definitely replacing a lot of points on the floor and a lot of steals and quickness. So we’re pretty inexperienced at this point, but this is a hard-working group, and they had the opportunity to play against those kids every day in practice. So, they’re looking forward to their opportunity to get on the floor.”
Cook also praises the mixture of veteran and youthful talent.
“We have junior [point guard] Lyssandra Delacosta,” Cook said. “She’s a returning varsity player. We have senior Alyssa Pipitone, who is another returning player. And then we have [sophomore shooting guard] Jackie Ventricelli. She has the most experience on the floor for us. She was our seventh man last year. We also have a freshman coming in named Steph Van Note, who we’re looking for big things from.”
Ventricelli and Delacosta both believe that the 2017-18 season can be a successful one, despite the loss of so many key players.
“I think that if we put our minds into it, we can win the division again,” Ventricelli said. “We just have to give it our all. I think I can be a good leader on the court.”
“We have a lot of good shooters,” Delacosta said. “We just need to play together, and we can definitely come out with another division title. Me and Jackie will be the leaders. We’ll lead them and bring the intensity to the court.”
The girls also believe that their offense will carry the Bombers.
“We’ll be a good shooting team,” Ventricelli said.
“We should be able to hit a lot of shots this year, which will help a lot,” Delacosta said.
Sayreville opens its season on the road at North Brunswick Township High School on Dec. 15. Tip off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
