Sunday,
March 15, 2015
By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer
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Kat Phipps scored a game-high 25 points for St. Rose, which repeated as Non-Public B state champ with a 56-49 win over Immaculate Conception on Saturday in Toms River. |
TOMS RIVER – The start was everything that Immaculate Conception could have possibly asked for. Led by McDonald's All-American Samantha Fuehring, the Blue Wolves were gunning for an upset in Saturday's Non-Public B state final against defending state champ St. Rose (Belmar) and executed the blueprint for it early on. Immaculate Conception got the ball to Fuehring and she got them off to a hot start. However when Fuehring cooled off and St. Rose started dictating the pace of the game, IC was left searching for answers.
The end result was the best season in school history coming to a close. Kat Phipps finished with a game-high 25 points, including a personal 7-0 run to end the first quarter that gave St. Rose the lead for good, as the Purple Roses defended their Non-Public B state title with a 56-49 victory at Pine Belt Arena in Toms River.
“We were concerned in the first quarter but we never panicked,” said St. Rose head coach Joseph Whalen. “We've been preaching patience both on offense and defense this entire season. Seeing so many different types of teams and being in so many different situations this year prepared us well for this type of game and the atmosphere that goes along with it.”
Immaculate Conception took an early when Jordan McLemore's 3-pointer was followed by Fuehring's 3-point play the hard way for an 11-5 lead. It was still a six-point lead until Phipps scored seven points in the final two minutes of the opening stanza to put the Purple Roses in front, 16-15.
After scoring 16 points over the first 5-plus minutes, the Blue Wolves went nearly eight minutes before scoring their next point. Immaculate Conception was still within five with less than three minutes to play. Turnovers proved costly all game long but particularly in the final two minutes of the second quarter. Three turnovers all turned into layups on the other end as St. Rose stretched its lead out to double-digits by halftime, 32-20.
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IC's Sam Feuhring finished her career with 2,188 points, the most in school history and the sixth most for a Bergen County girls hoops player. |
“We didn't get off to the start we wanted to but it definitely woke us up,” said Phipps. “We always feel like we're in the game and we play in the moment. When you play with confidence like we have all season, good will eventually start going your way. We're such a balanced team. I felt like once we started forcing some turnovers and getting layups off of them that we'd settle down.”
The Purple Roses led by as many as 14 on a Phipps 3-pointer but the Blue Wolves hung around. They cut the lead to nine going into the fourth and had four straight possessions with chances to cut into it even further. But six shots over those four possessions were all off the mark and St. Rose scored five quick points to bump the lead back up to 14. IC's last chance came with less than two minutes to play down seven. Khay'la Latimer was open in the corner for a 3-pointer that, if made, would have chopped the lead down to four. That shot never went up, though, as the pass went over her head and out of bounds.
Phipps finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, and three steals for St. Rose. Jess Louro added 15 points while her sister Jen (6 points) did an admirable job shadowing Fuehring all game.
Fuehring's incredible career came to an end. She shined as she has throughout her four years with 22 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. The 6-foot-2 Fuehring, who will play at perennial national power Louisville next year, finished her four-year varsity career as Immaculate Conception's all-time leading scorer with 2,188 career points, good for sixth best in Bergen County history. How the Blue Wolves react to playing without Fuehring next year is a question that head coach Jeff Horohonich has to find the answer to.
“We're disappointed that we came up short but it doesn't take away from what we've done this season,” said Horohonich. “It's awesome to do what we've done this season, getting to a county final and getting to a state final. We really ramped up our schedule and it got us to this point. Today we just turned the ball over way too much to win. Now we have to prepare for life after Sam, but we're going to increase our schedule even more and we'll come into next season with the same goals of winning county and state titles.”
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