When the 2008 girls basketball season was over, St. Mary’s head coach Kerry Dressel could not be more prouder for her Gaels team.

On March 3, St. Mary’s missed an opportunity to get a chance at winning the school’s first girls basketball state championship.

The Gaels stayed with Marist in the first half, but the second-seeded Bayonne school started to pull away in the second half. Third-seeded St. Mary’s would finally succumb, 68-48, in the Non-Public North B state sectional semi-final.

With the loss St. Mary’s finished with a 23-4 record. Marist would end up being the Non-Public North B sectional winner in defeating Gill St. Bernard’s a couple days later.

"Last year we were 18-8 and we shared the league championship," said Dressel. "Last year we lost the first game in the counties and first game in the states. This year we were 23-4, 17-0 in the league which we won, fourth in the Pascack Valley holiday tournament and in the Round of 8 of the county tournament. If that’s not improvement, I don’t know what it is."

St. Mary’s did not get a chance to make the state finals this season, but they did get it as a spectator. Lady Gaels sophomore center Martina Ellerbe went to the Non-Public North B and A finals and got a taste of what they want next year. "She just called me on the phone and was so excited at the finals," said Dressel late last week. "She wants to feel like that next year and playing in the final."

Gaels sophomore point guard Shanice Hawkins had a quality night with 18 points while junior forward Afreyea Tolbert added 11 points.

"For me to complain about these kids, it would be ridiculous," said Dressel. "There was not one game where they worked hard."

While St. Mary’s was only down 29-27 at halftime, they still were in firing distance in the fourth quarter when they were down by nine, 48-39.

But the Lady Gaels received bad news in the early part of the final stanza when Hawkins fouled out. "Shanice is 90 percent of what makes our team go," said Dressel.

This cause the St. Mary’s offense to stall later in the fourth quarter and Marist took advantage of it. "The score is not indicative of how close the game was," said Dressel.

Ellerbe was limited in the contest going up against Ebony Thomas, a bigger girl, who had 27 points and 20 rebounds. "She was going up against a girl that was 40 pounds heavier than her and they were double teaming her inside," said Dressel.

In terms of the seeding, St. Mary’s was heading for a second seed with Marist as the third seed, but the NJSIAA took away the victories of Bloomfield Tech. Marist lost to Bloomfield Tech and instead received a win with the verdict which in turn gave Marist a better record than St. Mary’s at the state cutoff date. "I think it would have been closer if we were at home," said Dressel.

In terms of the 2008-09 season, plenty will be expected of the Gaels and the hope is that the experience in the last two years will result in the first St. Mary’s girls basketball state title in the history of the school.