Woodbridge girls trying to avoid slow start
Barons open 2007-08 campaign this weekend
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer
After struggling out of the gate last season to a 1-13 start, the Woodbridge High School girls basketball team turned the ship around and won six of its last 10 games.

"We're looking to build on where we finished last year," Woodbridge head coach John Moyer said. "We return one of the tallest teams in my seven years here, and we have a nice balance of youth and experience that should make us competitive in the Red Division."

The Barons will get their first test when the new season tips off at 7 p.m. Dec. 14, when division foe South Brunswick pays a visit.

Woodbridge will rely on its leading scorer from a year ago, Kourtney Brodniak, to help fill the void left by Brittany Brodniak, Danielle King, Courtney Cuevas and Rachel Weidele.

"Losing point guard Brittany Brodniak will be tough, and she's probably our biggest loss," Moyer said. "We'll have a junior-dominant team this season and really rely on Kourtney to lead us."

Kourtney Brodniak returns just 261 points shy of reaching the 1,000-points milestone after leading the team with 14 points per game last season.

"She's a four-year starter that has increased her scoring every season," Moyer said. "She also averaged close to seven rebounds for us and basically did it all."

Junior D'Aisha Smith returns to the lineup after gaining valuable varsity experience as a sophomore. Smith will bring a lot of speed to the power forward position and should average close to eight points per game.

Senior Beth Fenton returns to the lineup after missing all of last year due to injury.

"Beth always brings a lot of hustle to the floor," Moyer said. "She's a strong leader and someone the rest of the team looks to for motivation."

Three-point specialist Ranique DeCibus brings athleticism to the Baron backcourt. DeCibus averaged six points per game in her junior year last season. Also expected to see plenty of action from the point is freshman Alex Nardoza.

The junior-heavy lineup is led by center Cristina Jordon and forward Danielle Stanski.

Fellow juniors Danielle Hrabinski, Kelly Waters and Christina Kraczkowski are also expected to see plenty of playing time, along with senior Kelly Walsh and freshman Emily Fenton.

"We don't want to get ourselves in a hole the way we did at the start of last season," Moyer said. "It will be important for us to get off to a strong start."

After opening the season against South Brunswick, the Barons will travel to Whippany to play in the Whippany Park Holiday Tournament. Woodbridge is scheduled to open tournament play Dec. 26 against Newton.