Two years ago, Bill DeFazio was proudly sitting at the top of the heap. The veteran Marist girls’ basketball coach had just enjoyed winning the NJSIAA Parochial B state championship, with Marist having become only the second Hudson County girls’ basketball team ever to capture a state crown. Things couldn’t have been better for DeFazio and the Lady Knights.
However, in the world of high school athletics, fame can be sometimes fleeting. The Knights graduated two All-Area fixtures, two all-time greats in Tara Walker and Makeda Gleaton. Winning was never going to come easy ever again. Or so it seemed, especially after the Knights started the 2001-2002 season with a 1-7 record.
“Nothing went right,” DeFazio said. “We rebounded nicely, but it was a tough start.”
The Knights finished last season with a 14-10 record, which was a fine comeback from a nightmarish beginning.
“The middle of last year, we started to win,” DeFazio said. “That really helped this team start to grow. I had a good feeling about this season.”
Especially with two talented freshmen enrolling at Marist in Janelle Biamonte and Christina Smith.
“I didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that these two kids could play,” DeFazio said of Biamonte and Smith. “I knew they were good players, but it all depended on how well they would fit into the system, sharing the ball. I also didn’t know how they would react to playing Hudson County basketball. We had to see how they would adapt.”
One thing DeFazio didn’t have to worry about was the play of junior forward Angela Fitzgerald, a two-time honoree on the Hudson Reporter’s All-Area team. Fitzgerald struggled somewhat a year ago, having to endure some injuries as well as an academic suspension. But her play has never been suspect, averaging nearly 17 points and 10 rebounds per game in each of her two seasons with the Lady Knights.
“We had some question marks to begin the season,” DeFazio said. “We had the freshmen coming in and we had to have Angela become the leader of the team. She had to become our boss. That was the big thing. Angela had to mature into that role. It’s hard to put into words, but she is starting to come into her own.”
Fitzgerald has matured into the Lady Knights’ leader, doing everything DeFazio could ask of her and more. While her scoring totals may be a little down, her rebound totals are higher. Fitzgerald recently scored her 1,000th career point in a victory over Memorial, becoming only the second Marist junior to reach the milestone (Walker being the other).
Another key to the Lady Knights’ success is sophomore point guard Renee Vales, who keys the offense.
“She plays defense like a gnat at a picnic,” DeFazio said of Vales. “You know when you’re just about to sit down and enjoy the hamburger in the summertime and the bugs start to fly around your face? Well, that’s Renee. She is the most annoying defender.”
Incredibly, Vales had surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in June, but she’s back playing already. Rehabilitation for a torn ACL usually takes about nine months.
“She made it back fully in six,” DeFazio said. “You would never know that she had surgery.”
Senior forward Tiffany McQueary and junior Catherine Mariano also play along the front line with Fitzgerald. They’ve accepted the roles that the talented newcomers bring to the team.
“Tiffany knows her role and comes in off the bench,” DeFazio said. “Catherine knows how to win and knows what to do.”
Another key performer has been senior Beth Amadeo, who has transferred to Marist from Bayonne High School, but has fit in very well with her new surroundings.
However, the buzz is all about the two fabulous freshmen, who have definitely more than made their mark with the Lady Knights.
The 5-8 Biamonte starts at the shooting guard and is averaging 14 points per game, second on the team behind Fitzgerald. The daughter of former North Bergen football great Nick Biamonte, Janelle has emerged as a solid, consistent scorer for DeFazio.
“Janelle has learned what she’s needed to do,” DeFazio said. “She has to be able to create off the dribble and she’s doing better with that. Standstill shooters are a dime a dozen. She has to be able to create and she’s doing that.”
The 5-9 Smith is just a raw talent, according to DeFazio.
“She makes moves in the air that are just amazing,” DeFazio said. “She’s very athletic and very quick. We’ve gone to a totally different horizon with Christina.”
Smith is averaging nearly 10 points per game this season.
With all the changes, newcomers, and question marks, one might have figured that the Lady Knights would have been hard pressed to improve on last year’s 14-10 mark. But they have – and in a huge way.
They are currently 12-4 overall, after a solid victory over a good Middlesex team last Sunday. Last week, the Lady Knights upended HCIAA Coviello Division frontrunners Snyder and Bayonne in consecutive games. The Lady Knights are 7-1 in the HCIAA, right behind first-place North Bergen.
“I definitely thought we would be in the middle of the pack, so they’re really surprising me with the way they’ve come together so quickly,” said DeFazio, who is in his 24th season of coaching girls basketball in Hudson County (12 at St. Anthony and 12 at Marist). “After we played [state power] Immaculate Heart and hung with them, I knew we could be better than expected. The chemistry is there and that’s a key. The kids play well together. Once we beat Snyder at Snyder, that gave our kids the idea that they are a good team.”
And a team that can only get better – and has to be reckoned with down the stretch of the HCIAA campaign.
“I think the kids realize that now,” DeFazio said. “I think we’re putting it all together at the right time. We’re so young that we have to respect everyone, but they’re doing all the little things that winning teams do.”
Those little things are definitely showing up in the win column, because Marist is back where it belongs, in the hunt for the county and state playoffs. – Jim Hague
Pictured:Bottom row, from left: Tiffany McQueary, Beth Amadeo, Tamara Wilkins, Renee Vales, Alison Jones, and Alexis Frazier. Back row, from left: Assistant Coach Angela Henderson, Jazmyn Hinton, Angela Fitzgerald, Janelle Biamonte, Christina Smith, Catherine Mariano, Shirronda Stewart, Assistant Coach Karen Threatt, and Head Coach Bill DeFazio.