HOWELL – It was a historic season for the Howell High School girls basketball program.
The Rebels, who began play in 1972 (Howell opened in 1964 as Southern Freehold), won their first NJSIAA sectional title in program history. The second-seeded Rebels downed top-seeded Hightstown 48-25 in the Central Jersey Group IV championship game.
“Our section has historically been extremely competitive,” ninth-year coach Joseph Santopietro said. “It’s the second time in school history that Howell has played in a sectional final.”
Senior Gabrielle Carpenter paced the Rebels with 14 points and added two assists, two steals and one rebound in the final. Led by freshman forward Kylee Beam, who scored the game’s first six points, the winners were up 12-0 after eight minutes.
“Kylee’s play started to let us know we could score inside – even against Hightstown’s dominant bigs,” said Santopietro, assisted by Mathew Coulson and Brian Blood. “It was a rowdy environment and we wanted to play villain, too. We pressured their guards and utilized the physicality of our bigs. As a coaching staff, we sat down when the seeding was finalized and felt we could compete in any matchup thrown at us. We felt really good about how we were playing in the weeks leading up to states.”
The Rebels bested 11th-seeded West Windsor-Plainsboro South 55-11 in the first round. They ousted 10th-seeded Middletown South 45-39 in the quarterfinals. They beat sixth-seeded South Brunswick 45-42 in the semifinals in which the fire alarm went off. Everyone was evacuated. Huddling in the parking lot, Howell stayed focused and survived a final shot attempt from the Middlesex County team.
Howell fell 64-31 to Lenape in the Group IV semifinals. Howell (22-8) tied the program’s single-season wins record and won Shore Conference Public School Class A North at 3-1.
“We were excited for the opportunity of solidifying the second seed and meeting our goal of the possibility we could have the home court advantage for the first three games of the state tournament,” Santopietro said. “We shared the idea with the girls that opportunities like these don’t happen often and we should consider it a privilege. We did not want to waste the chance. We also knew we had a fighter’s chance and really started to lock in on each game plan one by one.”
Junior center Kiera McCown averaged 11.9 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. She added 91 blocks, 51 steals and 18 assists. The three-year varsity starter has scored 724 career points and added 692 rebounds, 117 steals, 203 blocks and 54 assists. The Rebels have posted back-to-back 20-win seasons. Santopietro’s teams are 127-90.
“She helped build the culture to what it is now,” Santopietro said. “She’s one of our main post players on offense and has continued to evolve her game with an outside shot. With hard work during the offseason, she has become more of a threat down low. Defensively, she can stretch outside and cover the perimeter, but we love to have her guarding the rim.
“She does a great job of using her 6-foot frame. She contests inside shots on the drive without fouling and has become a consistent offensive and defensive rebounder. She served the role of big sister and mentor to Beam.”
Beam averaged 8.4 points and 7.0 rebounds per game and added nine assists, 12 blocks and 23 steals.
“We knew she had the talent and a great personality early on,” Santopietro said. “Originally, she played key minutes off the bench as our main sub for McKown and (senior Gabriella) Bambo, our starters in the post. Gradually throughout the season, we saw how physically dominant she could be in the post. Her newly gained varsity experience allowed the game to slow down for her and really allowed her game to flourish. After Bambo went down, she stepped into a starting role and never looked back, posting seven double doubles.”
Bambo averaged 5.2 points and 2.9 rebounds per game in 18 outings before being lost for the remainder of the season to a knee injury suffered on Senior Night against Manalapan.
“She was a good inside-out threat, a post player who could shoot a jumper,” Santopietro said. “The girls really wanted to finish the year strong in honor of her not being able to finish what she helped start.”
Senior Gabrielle Carpenter averaged 5.8 points per game and netted 21 treys. She missed the first few games of the season because of a concussion. She will play for Mercer County Community College and study aviation.
“She has also been a great leader in solidifying our culture,” Santopietro said. “Even when her shot wasn’t falling – she was usually one of our main three-point threats – she did many of the extras, including hustling, rebounding and playing defense.”
Sophomore BellaRose Marino averaged 6.2 points and 3.3 boards per outing. She canned 33 shots from deep and added 25 assists, 22 blocks and 18 steals. She played limited varsity minutes as a freshman.
“With more experience and hard work during the offseason, she solidified herself as a starter,” Santopietro said. “She always gave effort on offense and was one of our better man-to-man defenders as she marked the other team’s stud. She can drive to the basket and hit some big three-pointers in a few games.”
Sophomore guard Veronica Nieves, who averaged 4.1 points per showing, was a key reserve.
“She was a great spark all season,” Santopietro said. “She ran our offense as an extra point guard and went to the wing and knocked down clutch three-pointers throughout the season.”
Junior Ashley Smith averaged 3.3 points and 3.6 rebounds per game. She paced the club in steals (54). Sophomore Payton Smith averaged 4.6 points per outing.
“Ashley is our lunch pail kid,” Santopietro said. “She’s the only player I have never had to question as far as effort each day in either our games or practices. She is the heart of our gritty culture. She was the engine of our team.
“She proved this season that she could take the reins at point guard, taking over for the graduated Kerry DeStefano, who was our point guard for 2 1/2 seasons. Ashley handled the pressure and became a great leader and facilitator on offense. She was one of the top ball handlers in the Shore Conference and always had the task of dealing with the other team’s top guard, holding them to season lows in points in many games.”
Another key reserve was Payton Smith.
“Payton and Veronica were known more as our Bench Mob,” Santopietro said. “They were our sixth and seventh players, either stepping in to give energy to our defense or knocking down a three to change the momentum of the game.”
There were also contributions from sophomore forward Kendall Bleakley, junior MacKenzie Maloney and sophomore guard Angela Nieves.
“This was one of my favorite groups of kids to coach,” Santopietro said. “Always in a good mood, getting along, dancing, etc. All solid academic kids. Proved multiple times they can weather the storm and always have a chance. We always talked about the highs and lows that will be in every game and about having a short term memory, having the ability to move on and continue to fight back.
The Rebels were unified.
“During the last few seasons, we have been pushing the idea of we over me,” Santopietro said. “It means everyone pitches in from the main scorers all the way down to the end of the bench … supporting and cheering or giving the team great looks in practice to prepare.”
