ATLANTIC CITY – The Atlantic City High School girls had the height and power to get their shots off against visiting Mainland Regional Friday night, but the Mustang defense kept them off balance all game so too many of those shots turned into near misses.
The last time around, the Mustangs had to come from behind to beat the Vikings 55-51 after trailing them through three quarters. This time, Mainland led from start to finish after coming off only their second loss of the season.
“Atlantic City is a unique challenge because of their size and their guard play,” Mainland head coach Scott Betson said. “I just really liked the way we held defensively tonight.”
Mainland won, 45-27, and after Saturday’s 54-25 defeat of Oakcrest improved to 19-2 on the season. The Mustangs remain unbeaten in the Cape-Atlantic League – 14-0 – as Atlantic City (10-9, 9-2) suffered only its second loss in the CAL this season, both of those losses coming to Mainland.
Friday night’s game was a nice bounce-back for the Mustangs who were coming off a 64-39 loss to top-10 power Paul VI (18-3) three nights earlier. Mainland’s only other loss this season was a close one, 51-49, to Manasquan in early January.
Kasey Bretones was a force for the Mustangs Friday night, leading her team with 14 points.
“We knew we had to come out hard after getting a tough loss to Paul VI,” Bretones said. “We wanted to stay dialed in and run all of the stuff Betson has been talking about.
“We just had to play tough defense, rebound and box out, and we knew the rest would go our way because when we get our rebounds on defense we run. That’s our best way to play. It was just awesome to come in here and play good.”
“I know it’s a weird thing, but I feel like we have two point guards, two kids who can really handle the ball,” Betson said when asked about Bretones’ play. “The biggest evolution for her (Bretones) is she is getting more aggressive going and getting to the rim. I thought one of the takeaways from the Paul VI game was that second half she was just fearless attacking and I told her, that’s your expectation from now on. You’ve got to play that way and she did that tonight.
“Everyone who watches her knows that it’s in there,” the coach added. “She just has to let it rip, just let it go and that’s what she’s been doing the last couple of games.”
Comparing it to the last time the two teams met, Betson said it “was two totally different games. The tempo was totally different. This was more of a slow, walking-it-up type of game. It wasn’t like fast or out of control. I thought we did a better job of taking care of the basketball.
“We missed a bunch of shots early,” he said, “but I kept telling them when you’re in good spots defensively it doesn’t hurt you that bad. I thought we defended and really rebounded well tonight.”
The game was marked by physical play.
“Atlantic City is always going to be super physical so if you don’t come ready for that you’re going to be in for a long night,” Betson said. “I liked the toughness that we showed but that is a credit to how physical and tough they are too.”
Camryn Dirkes scored 9 points for the Mustangs, Bella Mazur 8, Ava Mazur 7 and McKenna Pontari 4. Teammates Kasey O’Brien (2) and Sydney Stokes (1) rounded out the scoring for Mainland. Dirkes scored 7 of her points from the line in the physical game.
Mainland was able to keep all of the Vikings players out of double digits. Naysha Suarez-Rivera had 9 points, Quanirah Cherry-Montague, who was dominating in the first matchup against the Mustangs, was limited to 6 points. Sanai Garrison Macon and Cea’anal Jackson had 4 each and Zashirah Jackson and Alexis Gormely had 2 each.
“I think we’re doing well,” Bretones added. “This was a good win. We’re going to keep building off of it. We’ll put this in the past and never slow down. The playoffs are coming up so we’re all feeling good about how this season is going.”
The Mustangs travel to Holy Spirt for a 5:30 p.m. game Wednesday.
Story and photos by DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
