South Brunswick Girls Basketball Building on Nucleus

With four returning players back from last year's winning squad, the 2010-11 season figures to be a good one for the South Brunswick High School girls basketball team.

South Brunswick returns starters Danielle Roberts, Bianca Celi, Danielle Padovano and Kelly O'Brien. They were part of a South Brunswick team that went 13-12 last year and made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the county tournament.

"We have a good nucleus to build around," said South Brunswick Coach Beth Barrio. "There are still a lot of new faces. It's going to take a lot of commitment, practice and experience for the other girls to become part of the core group."

South Brunswick got a chance to see how it works as a team as it scrimmaged against two different squads on Tuesday at home. John F. Kennedy and Hillsborough were at South Brunswick High School for the action.

In this setup, two of the squads play a 10-minute period. At the end of each period, a new team rotates in. When it was all completed, each team had played six of the nine periods.

"It's a great format because you play and then you get to debrief  the girls," Coach Barrio said. "You don't have to wait until halftime. You can implement the changes right away."

Because this is the pre-season, the opponents are even willing to help each other out as both teams prepare for the new season.

"We do talk to the other coaches," Coach Barrio said. "If you're friendly with them, they'll say, 'Do you want to see a zone? Do you want to see a press?' We try and show each other different looks. That way the coach can see how the girls are doing. They can go into the ensuing practices and try and fix things."

While there is always something to work on, South Brunswick had a strong showing. Even though there were no official winners or losers, SBHS outscored its opponent in four of the six periods it played and held a 63-43 scoring advantage.

Playing with the core group of four were Ashley DeGroff, Trish Walsh, Danielle DeGroff, Jackis Harrison, Vicky Jackson, Vanessa Perdomo and Hailey Hendrickson.

"Everything is looking good," Coach Barrio, who is assisted by Pam Amendola said. "We're just trying to get the offenses and defenses in place."

South Brunswick will start playing games that count on its record on Dec. 17 when it travels to Old Bridge for the season opener.