Tag: Ryan Shellhammer

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 8 Mount St. Mary wins second straight over No. 6 Bound Brook, 61-50

The tenor of Tuesday night’s Skyland Conference crossover game between the best two small schools in the league changed twice in the span of about 20 minutes of real time.

Neither team could find the basket in the early going, and it looked like 6th-ranked Bound Brook and No. 8 Mount St. Mary would be headed for a 15-10 halftime score, or something of that ilk.

After things settled in, the teams traded buckets with increasing frequency, and swapped the lead nine times by the first few minutes of the second stanza.

But once the Lions jumped ahead that last time, they never looked back, extending a seven-point halftime lead to as much as 15 in the third quarter, and 17 in the final period, to come away with a 61-50 win over the Crusaders.

Eventually, Mount found its touch from beyond the arc, burying eleven treys in the game, five of them from sophomore Rachel Castela, who set a new mark for buckets from downtown in a single season of 55, thanks to her quintet of treys in the game, four of which came in the second half, three in the third quarter alone.

Mount improved to 13-7 on the season, while Bound Brook dropped to 15-6. That’s the most losses for the Crusaders in a season since 2016 – which wasn’t a bad one by any stretch; they went to the Central Jersey Group 1 final and lost to University of Newark.

It was also the Lions’ second straight win in the series after Bound Brook had won the previous eight.

Click below for postgame reaction:

Sophomore Rachel Castela, who set a new single-game school record for threes of 55
Mount St. Mary head coach Ryan Shellhammer
by Mike Pavlichko

No. 6 Bound Brook to square off with No. 8 Mt. St. Mary in battle between Somerset County’s best small schools

The game is a challenge every year, even if long winning streaks have been the norm over the last decade or so.

When Bound Brook was down on the early 2010s – as in 0-23 down in 2013, the Crusaders were getting walloped by scores like 53-18.

Enter coach Jen Derevjanik, a stellar player on Staten Island in high school who later won a WNBA ring, and the tide turned, with Brook winning 8 straight from 2016 until Mount turned the tables last season with a 47-38 victory.

That should make tonight fun in Bound Brook, where the Crusaders and Lions will do battle.

Brook (15-5) – the Mountain Division champion six years running now – is led by a pair of experienced players who aren’t seniors, though one will be out tonight.

Junior Casey Miller leads the team with 13.4 points per game, a whopping 116 assists and 86 steals. But sophomore Brenae Jones, averaging a double-double of 10.7 points per game and a team-leading 11.4 board, won’t be available.

Derevjanik says she’s not injured, and should be back for the county tournament, in which Bound Brook picked up a 5th-seed last night and will open at home Saturday against either 13-seed Bridgewater-Raritan or 12-seed Somerville.

On the other side is a young Mount St. Mary team (12-7) which is in first-place in the Valley Division of the Skyland Conference by a half-game over Voorhees (a win over the Vikings on Feb. 24 would give them the title outright, lest they share it). Rachel Castela – whom Derevjanik coached in 7th-grade AAU ball – can hit the three, 50 of them to be exact, and leads the team with 13.6 points a game. She’s just a sophomore, and freshman Mia Gestosani is next up at 11.1 points a game.

Click below to hear from both coaches as they preview tonight’s game with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

Bound Brook head coach Jen Derevjanik
Mount St. Mary head coach Ryan Shellhammer
by Mike Pavlichko

Mount St. Mary’s stellar season continues as Lions face big challenge in Skyland Blue semis

There’s Rutgers Prep. There’s Franklin. There’s Bound Brook.

Now, there’s Mount St. Mary.

The Lions might not be the surprise team in the Skyland Conference to anyone in the locker room, which they can’t use because of COVID-19, but they’ve turned more than a few heads this year.

And for a small school in its first year in the Mountain Division, to have the year they’re having – one of 13 undefeated teams left in the final week of this wacky season in New Jersey, sitting at 13-0 – is a major accomplishment.

They’re No. 17 in the NJ.com statewide rankings.

They have their sights set on something bigger, though. Throw out the record, because they just knocked out – in the first round of the Skyland Conference Tournament’s top pod, the “Blue Division” – the mighty Franklin Warriors.

Next victim? Might be second seeded Gill St. Bernard’s. Sure, they’ve got Ella Fajardo and big Caileigh Walsh, but 13-0 is 13-0.

Click below to hear Mount St. Mary Head Coach Ryan Shellhammer and senior point guard Natalie Mathern talk about the Lions, and their stellar season so far: