Bengals Committed to Strong Off-Season

The catchphrase for the Bloomfield High School girl’s basketball team will be “finish’’ as they head into the post season.

The Bengals recently completed a 2-19 season. But like any team that endures a difficult season, there are always places where progress was made, and areas where significant improvement needs reaching if the team is to make that next step.

The Bengals have a solid core of players that will return next season with the drive to have productive off seasons of work.

Junior guard Megan Hanna, sophomore forward Theresa Buscaino and freshman guard Brianna LaFiura will lead the returners. Juniors Shirley Quimi, Bria Antoine and Cristina Velez also return.

Hanna led the team in scoring and hit more than 35 three-point buckets. She finished with 217 points and averaged 11 points per game.

The Bengals lost their first nine games before beating Belleville, 45-20, lost four more, then knocked off Barringer, 46-17. Six of the first nine games were decided by 10 or less points, including a 43-42 loss to Glen Ridge.

“We’ll take as many positives out of the season as we can,’’ said coach Mike Sceurman. “There were multiple games where we held leads of double digits. But we gave them up. We have to learn how to play for a full 32 minutes.’’

Buscaino said she can’t wait until next season. But she hopes the team will be committed to doing what their coach preached all season long – finish an entire game.

“I think the problem was finishing out games, and playing the whole game insead of playing 32 minutes we were playing 27 minutes hard, or 28 minutes hard instead of the whole game,’’ she said. “Instead of the whole game, there were spurts where we played well. We would have possessions that were good, but we didn’t finish.

“It’s not a lack of effort, it’s more of trying to finish out and closing,’’ she added. “We have to overcome the little things and win.’’

The Bengals will play in summer and fall leagues.

“We all need to be committed to being better,’’ Sceurman said.

Though Hanna turned into a serious threat from the perimeter, the Bengals will have to improve their inside game.

“We can’t be a one-trick pony," Sceurman said.

The Bengals will miss senior center Anika Dunbarm who was a consistent player in the paint.

“Commitment goes a long way,’’ Sceurman said. “We need kids who are hungry who want to compete.’’

Count Buscaino as one of them.

“I’m just waiting for basketball to come back,’’ she said. “”I might try to get to a clinic and go to the gym and try to keep my condition. I think not being conditioned enough hurt our mental game. Once we got tired, it would effect us mentally and we’d make errors. We have to work on our conditioning for that final push so we can finish.’’