December 23, 2011

Sophomore Jesenia Montalvo had 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists for Bayonne. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Marist at Bayonne Girls Basketball Photo Gallery

BAYONNE – Even with his team up by 10 at the halftime intermission, Bayonne head coach James Turner made it clear to his team they could easily keep this a competitive contest or put this game away for good.

It didn't take long to figure out which path the Bees decided to follow.

Bayonne met the challenge with 25 unanswered points to start the third quarter to cruise pass in-city rival Marist 65-32, quickly turning a hotly-contested showdown into a one-sided affair.

"We just came out and told them look, this can go from 10 (points) to six and a game or it can go from 10 to 18 and game over," Turner said. "They just made the decision that they wanted to go from 10 to 18 to go over."

Tara Flynn started the surge with a put-back and a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second half. Bayonne (3-0) continued to pour it on, scoring on seven-of-eight possessions midway through the period. Aneia Williams increased the lead to 20 with a layup and a pair of Amanda Novielli free throws made it a 30-point game. Flynn would cap off the surge with a deep 3-pointer to make it 53-18 with 1:38 left in the period.

Alexis Wilson put a stop to the drought with a drive towards the hoop for a basket with 1:18 left in the third. By that point it was a hole far too big for the Royal Knights (2-1) to overcome as they never cut the deficit lower than 31 points.

"Basketball is a game of runs and they have a real propensity to go on those kind of runs," Marist head coach Alice De Fazio said. "There's not enough timeouts allowed for me to stop the bleeding. We're young, but we're going to learn from it."

Flynn led the way with 12 points, three rebounds, three steals and an assist in Bayonne's near-seven minute assault. In total, five different Bees scored in the run.

The roots of Bayonne's staggering run took place in the final minute of the first half. Leading 19-15, Flynn buried a 3-pointer and Montalvo followed with six unanswered points in less than 50 seconds. Montalvo, a sophomore, nailed a 15-foot jumper then promptly stole the inbounds pass and laid it in to make it 28-15.

"I just felt like I needed to do it to help our team," said Montalvo, who has replaced her older sister Luisa as Bayonne's starting two-guard."I came through with the points."

"Everyone's focused on Lisa (Rovatsos) and Tara and then all of a sudden there's Jesenia with six-straight points and it's like 'wow, they got another weapon,'" Turner said. "I look for her to be consistent throughout the season, that's how she plays in practice."

In just her third career start, Montalvo finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists. Flynn led all scorers with 17 points. The Bees would have four players finish in double figures as Williams and Rovatsos scored 10 points apiece.

Wilson and Angela Randle paced the Royal Knights with 12 points apiece. Randle drained a trio of 3-pointers and had four rebounds for a young Marist squad which hopes to learn from the lessons provided in this loss to its Peninsula City rivals.

"The good thing is that we're having this talk and it's December and not February. It's not the end of the season, it's the beginning," De Fazio said. "I promised them that there will be a commitment now to fix the mistakes and they're all fixable. Bayonne's a very, very good program and we have the utmost respect for them. We're going to use this as a lesson and we're going to get better. We're going to get better over the course of the season by playing good teams like this on a regular basis. "

Junior guard Alexis Wilson scored 12 points for Marist in defeat. (Photo: Jason Bernstein)

Marist at Bayonne Girls Basketball Photo Gallery