N.B. girls hoops team still trying to find its way
New coach perplexed by team's mediocre start
BY GEORGE ALBANO Staff Writer
Halfway through her first season as head coach of the North Brunswick High School girls basketball team, Pam Sagehorn is still waiting for the real Raiders to stand up.

JEFF GRANIT staff South Brunswick's Susie Miller (No. 32) goes up for two of her 10 points in the Vikings' 44-27 win over East Brunswick on Jan. 8.

Is it the NBHS team that burst out of the gate fast and won its first four games of the season? Or is it the Raiders squad that has struggled and lost its last four contests?

Or, is the answer somewhere in between?

"We were doing really well at the start of the season," Sagehorn said after a 67- 54 loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South on Saturday. "But lately we've kind of been in a slump."

And, she said that before Tuesday night's game against New Brunswick, which the Raiders lost 56-32 to fall to 4-4 heading into Friday's home game against Woodbridge at 7 p.m.

The difference between the first four games and the last four?

"We played all four quarters in the games we won," Sagehorn said matter-offactly. "We didn't do that in our last few games, but we've been working on that."

Sagehorn, a former standout player at Fairleigh Dickinson, certainly couldn't have asked for a better start to her coaching career. The Raiders beat Sayreville 64-55 in their season opener, then posted back-toback four-point victories over Carteret and Colonia, followed by a two-point victory, 46- 44, over Roselle Catholic, in the opening round of theRoselleChristmas Tournament.

But North Brunswick then lost by two points, 60-58, to Linden Township in the tournament finals.

"They had two big girls and we didn't have too much height," Sagehorn noted. "We did pretty well against them in the second half, but they did most of their damage in the first half. We only lost by two after being down by a lot."

That loss, however, started a downward trend, as the Raiders dropped their next game, 43-39 to South Plainfield last Thursday.

"I thought we should have beaten them," Sagehorn said, "but we just weren't there mentally the whole game."

Then came the double-digit losses to WestWindsor-Plainsboro South on Saturday and New Brunswick on Tuesday, the Raiders' most one-sided loss to date.

"New Brunswick is one of the toughest teamswe'll face this season," Sagehorn said.

The last two games notwithstanding, North Brunswick has been in a battle every time out, with three games decided by four points, two more by two points, and the other by nine points.

"I was beginning to wonder, can we ever win one game by a lot for a change?" Sagehorn joked.

It certainly wouldn't be a stretch to suggest the Raiders could be 6-2 at this point. Then again, they could also be 1-7 if a few close games hadn't gone their way.

So maybe 4-4 isn't such a bad place to be the second week of January.

Despite their recent struggles, Sagehorn has been pleased by the play of some of her players, most notably senior Jamie Tucker, one of only two starters back from a year ago. In Saturday's loss to West Windsor-Plainsboro South, the 5-10 Tucker scored a team-high 20 points, and two nights earlier against South Plainfield she had 10 points.

"She's been stepping it up for us," Sagehorn said. "She can shoot outside, she can drive to the basket, and when our point guard was hurt and out for a few games, she ended up playing point guard. So she can play everywhere."

That point guard, senior Tylere Simpson, the other starter back fromlast year, has also been a key to theRaiders' successwhen she's on the floor directing the offense.

"She was hurt for a couple of games," the NBHS coach said, "but she's back now and doing pretty good."

A healthy Simpson scored 11 points in Saturday's loss, while Jess Crouch, another senior guard, had 10 points. Coming into the season, Tucker, Simpson and Crouch were the only three players with significant varsity experience.

"We needed some other players to grow and get experience in a hurry," Sagehorn said. One such player is Jasmine Malone, a 6-foot junior who has done a nice job at center for the Raiders.

"She's really the one and only center we have, and she brings a lot to the table," her coach pointed out. "She changes the game.When she's not in there, we have no height on the floor and we have to become an outside shooting team."

Meanwhile, Jasmine Phelps is a sophomore guardwho, according to Sagehorn, has also stepped up. In Tuesday's loss to New Brunswick, she shared team-scoring honors with Tucker with eight points apiece.

The Raiders will get even more help at the guard position next week when Samara Kennedy, a junior transfer from Bishop Ahr, is eligible to start playing.

"She can start playing on Jan. 14 [Monday] and her first game will be against Monroe on the 15th," Sagehorn said. "So we're excited about that. She should definitely help a lot."

Her addition to the lineup is coming at just the right time, too, as North Brunswick tries to stay over .500 by the early-February cutoff date to make the state tournament. After Monroe on Tuesday, the Raiders' next three games are against Sayreville, Carteret and Colonia, three teams they've already beaten.

"I think we can make it," an optimistic Sagehorn said of her team's postseason chances. "We have a couple of games that could go either way, but if we stay focused, we can definitely do it. I know we have the talent to do it."