Zone 17
No. 14 Vol. 6
New View Media Group • 1-800-691-7549
March 27, 2018
Montville Girls Basketball Make History With Winning Season
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By Jason Cohen ontville girls’ basketball had many losing seasons. But, earlier this month, it became the first girls’ team in school history to make it to the semifinal round of the state tournament. On March 3, the second-seeded Montville girls’ varsity basketball team lost to third-seeded Old Tappan, 54-42, in the semifinal round of the NJSIAA North Jersey, Section 1, Group 3 state tournament. Additionally, the Lady Mustangs’ set the record for most wins in a season with 22. “I know our seniors were proud of the 22 wins,” said Head Coach Derek Lynn. When Lynn, 36, became head coach nine years ago the team had lost 72 straight games. In fact, his first year as coach, the team went 0-24, which he described as a “humbling experience.” “It was a challenge,” he said. “When I took over the job the team was very bad.” Lynn was the fourth coach in four years, therefore there was never a consis-
tent coach that was able to build a rapport with the girls and help them become better players. At 27-years-old, he felt it was imperative to not only help the team win, but to turn around the program as well. “There wasn’t much of a commitment from the players to play basketball or get better at basketball,” he recalled. “Back then, it was unfortunate that losing was always contagious.” He knew he had to start from scratch, so with rigorous practices and drills, the program slowly began to head in the right direction. According to Lynn, his third year as coach was when things began to click. They finished that season 14-12 and have been .500 or above since. “I joke with the team that we hadn’t been over.500 since I was born,” he said. As he worked to build their morale up and teach them skills, the girls began to buy in and eventually the wins came. Lynn explained that the turning point
of the season was in January, when the girls beat High Point and Morris Catholic, schools it normally lost to. Three games later, however, things took a turn for the worse when starting point guard Bella Vito tore her ACL in early February. They played the last 10 games of the season without her and never made any excuses. One girl who was part of this magnificent season was senior Amanda Gorski. After all of the losing in the team’s history, Gorski is proud her team helped change the perception about the program. “Being on the most successful team in Montville history was such an amazing experience,” Gorski said. “Going into the season, we knew we had the potential to be really good, because although we lost two starters last year, we had a lot of strong returning players as well as two very athletic freshmen. She explained that with high expectations, the girls set tough goals. Some of continued on page 2