East Brunswick girls’ hoops rallies past South Brunswick, stays undefeated

The East Brunswick High School girls’ basketball team kept its slate spotless, but the Bears had to work hard to do so.

East Brunswick kept it’s season undefeated going when it rallied to defeat South Brunswick High School, 40-37, in East Brunswick on Jan. 22.

The Bears improved to 12-0 with their victory over the Vikings. Senior center Krystin Goodman sank a crucial layup with 16 seconds left to play to give East Brunswick a 39-37 lead.

Senior point guard Nicole Johnson put in a foul shot with less than a second left on the clock to ice the victory that was achieved after the Bears had to rally from a double-digit deficit. The Bears trailed, 24-13, at a point in the third quarter.

Johnson led all scorers with 17 points, and she also pulled down 10 rebounds. Senior forward Lauren Krinsky hit for eight points, and Goodman ended with six points to contribute to the victory.

Senior Alexis Adams led South Brunswick with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while Sydney Coleman and Onoseta Ufuah each scored eight points.

For Goodman and Johnson, the game symbolized the fight the Bears have had all year and why they stand unblemished so far.

“It was all about keeping our poise and staying mentally focused,” Johnson said. “We knew we had to get stops on defense and from there, it’s just about getting one bucket at a time.”

“I think our team really pulled together,” Goodman said. “We worked together. Nobody was selfish with the ball. And when we had our opportunities, we took it.”

Goodman hit the key basket, but she shared the credit.

“It was great, but it wasn’t just me,” Goodman said. “Brianna Sliwinski got a great steal and passed me the ball, so she got that assist. She deserves a lot of the credit for that play. But it is very exciting.”

“I knew it was all about my team,” Johnson said. “We’ve worked as hard as we can to keep our undefeated record. We want to finish strong, and hopefully pull out the [Greater Middlesex Conference] Red Division.”

The Bears improved their division and overall records with two additional victories in their next two games. On the road for both matchups, East Brunswick defeated Perth Amboy High School, 58-29, on Jan. 23 and Old Bridge High School, 70-55, on Jan. 25. Those results brought the Bears’ record to 14-0 overall and 11-0 against Red Division opponents.

East Brunswick lost its first game of the season in a non-division defeat, 57-42, against Bridgewater-Raritan High School at home on Jan. 27.

South Brunswick coach Jeff Johnson looked at the positive results for his team in its loss to East Brunswick.

“The girls played really hard,” the coach said. “If we do that every night, we will win a lot of games.”

Jeff Johnson was disappointed with the loss, but he said that contests like that are the nature of division games.

“I don’t know what I would change,” he said. “You’re on the road in the division. [In] games like that, no lead is safe. If you’re able to walk out of there with a one-point win, then you’re happy because it’s a big deal. We just need to finish. That’s four losses by a combined like 15 points. I don’t want to make excuses, but they’re learning. I have no problem with [the loss to the Bears]. It’s the way it should feel, and hopefully more times than not, you come out with the win.”

Adams believed the Vikings had everything going for them in the first half, but she felt everything changed once the Bears made a push in the third quarter.

“I think our first half was great,” Adams said. “We had everything going. Our defense was on. Our offense was on. We just started to break down in the third quarter, and that just can’t happen. If we want to be the team that wants to win and wants to go far in the tournaments, we can’t have these let-ups.

“And even if we do, teams are going to score. That’s just how basketball works. It’s a game of runs. We can’t put our heads down when they score because it’s a game of runs. If they make a run, we just have to pick our heads up and make a run too.”

South Brunswick bounced back in their next game at John P. Stevens High School in Edison with a 39-37 victory on Jan. 23. The Vikings suffered a setback on Jan. 25 when they fell on the road to Piscataway Township High School, 39-21.

The Vikings lost again on Jan. 27 at home against Allentown High School by a final score of 64-36. They are 9-6 overall on the season with a 7-4 mark in Red Division play.

The Bears and Vikings face each other again on Feb. 1 in South Brunswick at 6 p.m.