By Scott Stump – Senior Editor
*The Shore Coaches’ Association Girls Senior All-Star game is at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 19th, at Freehold Township, followed by the boys game at 8 p.m.. Leading up to the game, DigitalSports will feature many of the seniors who will be participating on the boys and girls sides.*
When asked how she dealt with the pressure of being circled in bright red ink on opposing scouting reports after leading the Shore Conference in scoring last season, Red Bank senior guard Deanna Mendelson could only laugh about the fact that her newfound popularity among opponents maybe wasn’t the best thing.
“Needless to say, I liked last year a lot better when they didn’t know,” Mendelson said before chuckling. “Honestly, I couldn’t get frustrated because the team gets frustrated. I had to act like it didn’t bother me. I had to find new ways to score. It was a lot tougher all around.”
It would have been easy to get frustrated during an 8-18 season in which 13 of Red Bank’s losses were against teams that either qualified for the state playoffs, reached a state sectional final, won a division title, won a sectional title, or captured an overall state title. While many other players in her division were splashed all over the headlines, Mendelson toiled in relative obscurity, a gem of a talent lost in the sea of big-name teams.
Mendelson kept a positive attitude throughout and gave it everything she had until the end, remaining one of the Shore’s top scorers by finishing with 16.7 points per game while playing in the state’s hardest division, Class A Central, where Red Bank Catholic, St. John Vianney, Rumson-Fair Haven and Raritan lurked at every turn. Red Bank’s nondivisional schedule included Class A North co-champion Howell and Central Jersey Group III champion Neptune as well as Class B South champion Point Boro, the latter of whom they nearly defeated in losing 50-48.
“I described our season as fun, but frustrating,” said Bucs coach Frank Mohler. “You want them to enjoy the high school experience, but we’re going against these monsters all the time.”
“We just tried to use those games to get better,” Mendelson said.
During the season, Mendelson zoomed past the 1,000-point scoring mark for her career on her way to finishing her career ranked eighth all-time in school history with 1,350 points. This was on the heels of a junior season in which her 23.2 points per game led the Shore, which was a huge jump from the 9.6 ppg she averaged as a sophomore.
She also was a defensive ace, an athletic 6-footer who averaged a whopping 7.3 steals per game as a junior and followed that with 174 steals this season to lead the Shore. With more double and triple teams coming her way this season, she boosted her assist total to five per game, ranking her among the top five in the Shore in that category. She recorded one triple-double and nearly posted the extremely rare quadruple-double with 23 points, 10 steals, 8 assists and 7 rebounds in a win over Manasquan. Her 435 career steals are also a school record.
“It was exciting and a great experience,” she said. “I’ll definitely never forget it.”
She will take the court one final time at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at Freehold Township for the Shore Coaches Association Senior All-Star game, where Mohler will be one of her coaches on the North All-Stars in their game against the South All-Stars. Mohler plans to start Mendelson along with fellow Class A Central standouts Kristina Danella (Red Bank Catholic); Candice Green (Rumson-FH); Dana Graziano (Holmdel) and Kim Fiorentino (Holmdel).
“I’m really excited that Coach (Mohler) gets to coach me,” Mendelson said. “I’ve never gotten to play with players like that in the (high) school league, so it will be a good change.”
“When she’s out there with players like Danella and Candice, hopefully she can show everybody that even though we’re 8-18, she’s a legitimate talent,” Mohler said.
A big sign of respect toward Mendelson is that the Class A Central coaches picked her for first-team All-Division for two straight seasons, which is a nice honor in a division packed with a who’s-who of Shore players.
In an age when many players often opt to transfer or quit when their team is not one of the top teams in the Shore, Mendelson elected to stay at Red Bank and play multiple sports. She also played on an AAU basketball team that featured some players from Howell.
“I like playing soccer and softball as well,” she said. “If I wanted to go to RBC or St. John Vianney, I couldn’t play all those sports. I really wanted to play all three.”
However, Mendelson, who is undecided on her college choice, said that her athletic career might only just be part of her overall college life.
“I’m kind of glad (basketball) is over,” she said. “There’s no more pressure. I’ll probably just play club for soccer and basketball (in college). I’m just excited for life in college.”
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