GMC Girls Basketball preview/Top 10: Metuchen's Farrell returns as state's leading scorer

During the flow of a basketball game, a one-on-one situation occasionally develops. For Brynn Farrell, that aspect of hoops might as well be curling, hurling or another foreign sport.

One-on-one?

Last season, opponents routinely double-teamed the Metuchen High School sophomore. Or as Bulldogs coach Kathy Glutz puts it with a laugh, “Double-teamed. Triple-teamed. Sometimes, quadrupled-teamed. She’s used to playing with kids hanging on her.”

It didn’t seem to slow her down much. As a freshman, she averaged 28.1 points per game, which led New Jersey, according to NJ.com, which keeps statewide stats. Her 12.8 rebounds per game is the sixth-highest of any returning player, per the website.

Her astonishing numbers as a freshman include 23 double-doubles and 758 points. Repeat: As a freshman.

“Brynn Farrell is a legit competitor,” Woodbridge coach Bobby Timinski said. “She can play inside. She can play outside. She’s tough as nails, and she’s got a burning desire to win. So she’s got the whole skill set.”

Now, Farrell returns as a veteran sophomore and team captain as Metuchen looks to contend in the Greater Middlesex Conference Blue Division. Metuchen, which finished 16-11 last season, moves from Group I to Group II based on enrollment.

The double-teaming started around midseason once opponents saw her for a second time.

“As the season continued, I just found openings, and I realized I could get around people,” Farrell said. “And my teammates helped me, always passed the ball in and were always supporting me every game, so that’s what I hope to happen this year, too.”

But she’s no longer an early season secret.

“This year it’s going to be harder because now all the teams that we’re playing in our division, they know,” she said. “They saw me last year. They saw Metuchen, so it’s going to be harder to adapt to it, but I think we’ll be fine.”

The 5-foot-11 Farrell will have plenty of help. The versatile Bulldogs have two other 5-11 players manning the post in Sam Antin (4.3 rpg last season) and Bridget O’Connor. Senior guard point guard Rory Josell returns after a year off and junior Rachel Wyetzner had 72 steals and averaged 4.6 rebounds in 17 games last winter.

Expect Metuchen to give different looks depending on the opponent. One thing the team possesses is a winner’s mentality. For example, O’Connor and Wyetzner were part of Metuchen’s softball team that won the Central Group I title last spring. While seniors Melonnie Esguerra (G/F) and Lydia Lepinski (G) were on the Bulldogs’ GMC field hockey championship team this fall. That attitude rubs off whether you’re trying to swing at a softball or swat a basketball.

“When kids come in as winners, that’s the expectation when they step on the floor,” Glutz said. “So I think things like that make a difference.”

Glutz knows about those types of intangibles as she begins her second stint as Metuchen’s head coach. She guided the Bulldogs from 1984-1992. Before then, Glutz was a four-year starter at Rutgers and became the school’s second woman to score 1,000 points, finishing with 1,415 points and 835 rebounds. She was inducted into the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame in 1993.

And what’s her assessment of Farrell?

“She’s the full package,” Glutz said. “She has the skills. She has, I think, developed lots of different aspects of her game. She can shoot. She can rebound. She’s an excellent shot blocker. She can steal and she sees the floor very well. She makes everybody around her better. If kids are cutting to the right spots, she’ll get them the ball.”

Farrell calls her position “forwardish.” Meaning, she can play small forward, shooting guard or even run the point in a pinch. But she notes that she likes driving to the basket with a nifty move here or there.

By now, Farrell is used to the double-teams, perhaps the ultimate compliment an opponent could give you.

“I’ve learned to break through them and get to the basket,” said Farrell, adding she has no problems passing to an open teammate.

Farrell, whose father Mike played at Montclair State, started in leagues around the fifth and sixth grade. She was hooked. Now, she trains almost every day, whether it’s with a shooting coach, doing agility work or playing on her AAU squad, Team Miller Lightning.

There’s no way that Farrell is going to rest on her freshman season's successes. She noted she’s been working on creating space and stepping back in her shooting, as well as her ball handling.

“She continues to improve each day,” Glutz said. “She’s a kid who is never satisfied with her play. She wants to elevate it, and she works hard every time out. She’s played against some really high-caliber players. So she knows what she needs to do to keep advancing and to keep excelling. She’s not content with what she’s accomplished so far.”

HNT/GMC GIRLS BASKETBALL PRESEASON TOP 10

1. Bishop Ahr (21-7)

2. Edison (17-11)

3. Piscataway (14-12)

4. South Brunswick (24-5)

5. East Brunswick (13-12)

6. Sayreville (29-3)

7. Metuchen (16-11)

8. Woodbridge (13-12)

9. Spotswood (15-11)

10. Middlesex (15-10)