Central Jersey Group 2: Semi-Final Preview

<em><span style="font-size: 8pt">Photo by Asbury Park Press</span></em> Central Jersey Group 2 will begin their semi-final round on Saturday night. It was an extremely entertaining quarterfinal round that featured two big upsets. Here is a full preview of the action to come on Saturday. <strong>1- Rumson-Fair Haven vs. 12- Raritan</strong> Rumson was given a game by No. 8 Shore in the quarterfinal. They ended up avoiding an upset with a 53-48 win. [player_tooltip player_id="134605" first="Paige" last="Slaven"] led the way with 20 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Sophia Passalaqua added 12 points. They will be up against a team that has perfected the upset. Raritan took down No. 4 South River 42-34 on Thursday. This is after they blew out No. 5 Metuchen in round one. Lucy Alberci notched a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Joei Tarrazi added 15 points. So what does this mean? Rumson needs to be careful. They are the better team on paper in all areas. They have experience, depth, and a ton of talent. But Raritan has proven that they know how to win games and Rumson was tested last round. The stars for Raritan will have to show up once again if they want to pull off the major upset. This would be a surprising game to see Rumson lose, but anything can happen in one game. <strong>2- Manasquan vs. 6- Holmdel</strong> Manasquan kept rolling along with their second straight 23-point victory. Mary Elizabeth Donnelly had a strong game with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists, and four steals. [player_tooltip player_id="134632" first="Georgia" last="Heine"] was right behind her with 13 points. They will face familiar Shore Conference foe Holmdel after their 54-40 win over No. 3 Hillside. Abbey Ferguson was not ready for the season to end and she poured in 22 points. This is an intriguing matchup of two teams from the same conference. That always makes for excitement in a state tournament. Holmdel will look for their second straight upset but it will not come as easy. Manasquan is hot right now. They have not been tested yet winning both tournament games by 23 points. Manasquan is a big team that can score at will inside. Holmdel will not shy away as they just dominated the three-seed. For what it’s worth, these teams met three times this season and Manasquan has won all three.