Coming off of a win against New Brunswick, the Colonia Patriots defeats the North Brunswick Raiders at Colonia High School.
North Brunswick has five solid wins against big GMC threats including JP Stevens High School, and South Plainfield. Colonia had only three wins against township rivals, JFK and Woodbridge High School, more recently, New Brunswick. Colonia has not beaten Woodbridge since 2009 so that started their season off on a positive note. This is the first year North Brunswick has been a real GMC threat in two/three years since they graduated Durva Bhandare, Nicole Montalbano, Jasmine Walker, and Marylynn Muldowney.
This game had an unusually slow start. Both teams played outstanding defense holding each other to only two points each in the first quarter. Coach Drew Biri during a timeout said, “We are going to win this game with our defense. Holding a team to two points in a quarter is outstanding, but our offense needs to step it up.”
The Colonia girls took his advice and lots of shots were taken, but none started falling until later in the game. Freshman Patriot, Caitlyn Hroncich ended the first half with a buzzer beater jump shot. The halftime score was eight to five, Colonia up by three. Both teams adjusted and made a huge change in the score after the half time break. Junior Patriot, Ayanna Abdulahad took many trips to the free throw line, and dominated the boards along with senior, Hannah Doyle. Both Abdulahad and Doyle are key assets in the team dynamic, it really showed in the third quarter. Abdulahad exclaimed how excited she was that her rebounds were finally turning into points.
Abdulahad said, “It’s a great feeling, knowing that you’re busting your butt on the rebounding end and can outlet the ball to the guards on the outside so they can finish. Makes the fight for the ball worth it.”
Although the Patriots ended the third quarter up by ten (28-18), they were still concerned with Junior Raider, Alexzandra Walker. Offensively, Walker is a true scorer and a serious threat. Walker left the game as the highest scorer on her team with eleven points, but it still wasn’t enough. Junior Patriot, Noelle boost had four key rebounds that turned into points while Abdulahad had a total of ten. The Patriots took the game by thirteen points. The final score was (38-25) giving Colonia another win towards their record, and a huge win in their division standings. The win secured Colonia’s spot in the NJ state tournament.
