RAHWAY, NJ- The Arthur L. Johnson High School Crusaders girls varsity basketball team took on the Rahway High School Indians, focused on bouncing back from a 53-43 setback in their home opener to Cranford on Tuesday.
In a game where every player saw action on the floor, the Crusaders defeated the Indians 41-10 Thursday afternoon in Rahway.
For the final three minutes of the second quarter and the entire fourth quarter, the Crusader starters remained on the bench as the second unit of players took the floor.
Freshmen Alison Wysocki (6 points), Peyton Collings (2 points) and Amanda Aromando (6 points), along with sophomore Amanda Messina (2 points) took to the floor and saw extended minutes on the floor, accumulating about 11 minutes of playing time.
“The nice thing is we’re trying to develop [the younger players],” Johnson head coach Joe Marino said. “A lot of the girls are freshmen and we have a sophomore. So, hopefully they’re picking up on what we are trying to do [in the games].”
Wysocki added her first four varsity points near the end of the second quarter, two straight baskets before the teams went into halftime. The starters played the entire third quarter before being taken out of the game for the younger players in the fourth quarter.
The starters re-entered the game in the third quarter and added more points, courtesy of three points from senior Bailey Rosenmeier (one basket, one free throw) and junior Lily Gull, increasing the advantage to 33-4 Johnson heading into the third quarter.
With the game plan having to change with how the game unfolded, Johnson remained on their plan, wanting to build off Tuesday’s effort.
“We just had to play hard, play as a team, play as one and play at our pace,” Johnson senior Bailey Rosenmeier said. “So, we sped up the game and ran like we can, like we worked for.”
The starters would watch the younger players have a chance to develop in the final eight minutes of action. Overall, the second unit of players scored 18 points, led by Wysocki and Aromando, a perfect day for the younger players to show what they could do with the starters cheering on from the bench.
Overall, the second unit of players scored 18 points, led by Wysocki and Aromando, a perfect day for the younger players to show what they could do with the starters cheering on from the bench.
“It was good to see everyone get a little piece of [game action],” Rosenmeier added. “We have, ‘One Team, One Dream,’ here. We need those younger girls to get out there and work hard. They did [just that] and they did a great job.”
Johnson wasted no time getting right to work. The varsity starters got the team going early, starting out an 11-0 run, jumping to a 13-3 lead after the first quarter.
The second quarter was where the second unit of players saw time on the floor. Junior Ally Bowen, seniors Bailey Rosenmeier and Cecilia Puentes , along with junior Lily Gull each scored a basket to build a sizeable lead, not allowing one basket in the second quarter.
After racing out to a 22-4 lead, Johnson called a timeout and took a few starters out of the game, allowing the younger players into the game for the final minutes of the first half.
“Our main thing was to come out and play hard and play fast and [the girls] did, [along with] working on fundamentals,” Marino said. “That’s basically what our goal was today, working on fundamentals and playing fast. The girls did well.”
With two seniors on the roster of about 11 players, the Crusaders are a fairly young team. Despite that, they now have two wins under their belt against county rivals in Governor Livingston and Rahway.
This also includes a battle with 2017-18 Union County Tournament semifinalist Cranford, which featured the Crusaders turning a 16-point deficit into a two-point deficit before the Cougars pulled away for the win.
“It’s great. We’ve been working hard at practice,” Gull said. “We know we were short on girls [on the roster] this year and we knew it was going to be tough. We’re not giving up [as we keep on going this season].”
The Johnson Crusaders (2-1) return home to take on Elizabeth HS Saturday morning at 11:30 a.m.
POINT TOTALS:
- Bailey Rosenmeier (Senior): 3-0-0: 6 points
- Cecilia Puentes (Senior): 1-0-0: 2 points
- Lily Gull (Junior): 2-0-1: 5 points
- Ally Bowen (Junior): 2-0-0: 4 points
- Domenika Kosiek (Freshman): 1-0-0: 2 points
- Chelsea Kessock (Sophomore): 3-0-0: 6 points
- Amanda Messina (Sophomore): 1-0-0: 2 points
- Allison Wysocki (Freshman): 3-0-0: 6 points
- Amanda Aromando (Freshman): 2-0-2: 4 points
- Peyton Collings (Freshman): 1-0-0: 2 points
- Sophia Rodriguez (Freshman): 0-0-0: 0 points
