MRHS girls top Absegami 64-40 for title
LINWOOD – For the second time in three years, the girls basketball team at Mainland Regional High School is the South Jersey champion.
The Mustangs trounced Absegami High School 64-40 and claimed the 2024 South Jersey Group III sectional title Saturday, March 2.
Mainland last won the sectional title in 2022 while four of the current Mustang starters were still sophomores. They made it to the state finals that year before falling to Sparta.
Now, as seniors in their final season – along with one junior, Ava Sheeran, who also had time in the state title game – they earned another South Jersey title.
“It feels amazing,” senior Sydney Stokes said. “I think we all came in feeling confident just because we controlled every single game that we played against them. It still feels amazing and we knew the energy would be high.”
The number one seeded Mustangs took care of business and led from the opening tipoff. An 11-point lead at halftime expanded to 27 in a blink of an eye after Mainland outscored Absegami 22-6 in the third quarter.
Stokes led all scorers with 21 points and was closely followed by fellow senior Ava Mazur with 19 points.
With their 29th win of the year, the Mustangs have won the most games in a single season in school history. They continued their dominant season by winning their four playoff games by an average margin of 24 points.
Mainland’s season is not over yet, as the Mustangs advanced to the Group III state championship tournament. The Mustangs’ first game is 7 p.m. tonight (Wednesday) against Central Jersey champion Ewing High School at Deptford High School.
The game will be a rematch of the 2022 Group III semifinals in which Mainland beat Ewing 54-50. Two years later, Mainland must go through Ewing once again for another chance at the state title.
RWJ Barnabas Health Arena in Toms River will host the Group III final at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, March 10. The other teams vying for the state final are the two North Jersey squads, Teaneck High School versus Chatham High School.
Mainland’s title run was more of a sprint as their last three playoff games were won in a five-day span.
In the quarterfinals on Feb. 27, the Mustangs dominated Hammonton High School 69-30. They outscored Hammonton 31-5 in the first quarter and put the game out of reach immediately.
The closest game of the tournament for Mainland was in the semifinals against No. 4 seed Cherry Hill West High School on Feb. 29. Only three Mustangs scored in the game as they pulled out a close 44-39 battle. Ava Mazur led the way with 17 points while twin sister Bella Mazur added another 12 points.
Mainland faced a rare deficit at halftime, but Kasey Bretones and the rest of the team were not ready to see their season ended. Mainland outscored Cherry Hill West 27-18 in the second half thanks in part to Bretones, who finished with 15 points.
Finally, the Mustangs capped off their South Jersey title run with the 64-40 win over the Absegami Braves.
It was the fourth meeting between the two teams this season. Mainland won the regular season matchups 61-44 and 58-37 and later beat the Braves again in the Cape-Atlantic League Tournament 66-52.
Mainland had an early lead in the game thanks to aggressive rebounding. Stokes and Ava Mazur had plenty of shot opportunities off Mustang rebounds. The two girls combined for all 15 of Mainland’s first-quarter points.
The Braves dared Stokes to take three-point shots as they left her wide open beyond the arc. She accepted their challenge and made two three-pointers in the second quarter.
“I didn’t shoot it the first couple of times I noticed I was wide open because we were trying to hold the ball,” Stokes said. “But I heard the crowd saying shoot it and I had to. I was too wide open.”
Mainland played the second quarter slowly and entered halftime up 25-14. Stokes ended the quarter with a buzzer-beating three-pointer that sent the home crowd fans to their feet.
After halftime the Mustangs enforced their will onto Absegami the entire third quarter. A quick three-pointer from the Braves was the only shot from the field they made in the quarter.
The rest of the third quarter saw the Mustangs go on a 22-3 run which put the game to rest. Ava Mazur hit another two three-pointers which gave her five on the day. Bella Mazur had a highlight play with a crazy fade away shot in the middle of the run. Sheeran snuck in to score on a number of nice back-door plays.
The Mustangs led by as much as 33 points before pumping the brakes in the fourth quarter. With a minute left in the game the Mainland starters were pulled to a standing ovation.
By WILLIAM TRUITT/For the Sentinel
