By Jim Hague
Toni Roselli was introduced to basketball at the age of seven. It didn’t take long for the Rutgers-Newark senior to realize that she truly loved the game and wanted to play as much as possible.
“I was always playing since I was little,” Roselli said.
But at the age of nine, playing basketball meant playing with and against the other gender.
In her native Garfield, Roselli played for a Boys & Girls Club team that didn’t feature any girls.
“I was the only girl on the team,” Roselli said. “I did that for two years.”
As far back as she can remember, Roselli always had this awkward looking shot, one she still possesses today. She holds the ball to the side instead of over her head and launches it up from her mid-section. It’s definitely not a thing of beauty and certainly won’t be shown in basketball textbooks and manuals.
“I’ve heard that all my life,” Roselli said. “I really don’t listen to what other people say about it, just my coaches. But I really don’t care.”
Her high school coach, Kerry Dressel, also didn’t want to alter Roselli’s shooting style.
“A lot of other people have tried to give me advice and a lot of people have made fun of me when I shoot.”
But you can’t argue with the results. Her shots go in _ and on a very regular basis.
“That’s exactly what I say,” Roselli said. “I just keep shooting. It’s part of my mentality.”
“She puts the ball in the basket,” Rutgers-Newark head coach Kevin Morris said. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I don’t think you can change a shooter at this stage. You don’t re-invent things. They’re pretty much set in their ways. Especially if the ball is going in. You don’t mess with success.”
When Roselli was playing high school basketball and soccer at St. Mary’s of Rutherford, she was an All-Bergen County Scholastic League performer in both sports. But she was not highly recruited by many colleges.
Except one.
“You could see right away that she could shoot the basketball,” Morris said. “That was her biggest skill in high school. She had the ability to make threes (3-point shots) and we liked that a lot. She also came from a good program which was successful all the time and made the state playoffs every year, so she knew how to win. She also played hard all the time, was a highly competitive kid who played well under pressure. We were quite interested in her.”
“I liked that Coach Morris came to see me play a few times,” Roselli said. “He came very early into my senior year. I was very comfortable with him. I liked Rutgers and I liked the atmosphere. It was close to home. It was perfect.”
Roselli has been a perfect addition to the R-N women’s basketball program since her arrival three years ago. She entered R-N with four other freshmen and those five have helped to bring the Scarlet Raiders to respectability.
“We all came here at the same time and I’m happy we made such an impact,” Roselli said. “I was hoping something like this could happen.”
Roselli has become the best long-distance shooter in the school’s history, connecting on 159 3-pointers during her career.
But this year, Roselli has improved her game to include other facets, especially defensively.
“Her most improved area has been her defense,” Morris said. “It happened mostly between her sophomore and junior year. We got her to understand the concept of team defense and where she had to be. She guards better and gets her hands on the ball more.”
“I’m not so quick on my feet, so I have to do a lot of different things to be a better defender,” Roselli said. “I get my hands up and slap at the ball. I hustle more to get to the ball. I did whatever I could to become a better defender. I just go after the ball and sometimes, I don’t even realize I’m getting it.”
In a recent win over Stevens, Roselli collected three steals in a seven-minute span of the first half.
Morris said that Roselli has been a major reason for the ascension of the Scarlet Raiders’ women’s program from also-rans to contenders.
“It’s not real hard to figure out that we’ve had three straight winning seasons and great success since Toni has been here,” Morris said. “All you have to do is look at the results.”
Morris believes that Roselli has evolved into a leader on the team, but isn’t the most vocal player on the floor.
“Her leadership comes in different ways,” Morris said. “Some of the best players I’ve ever coached were not vocal. Toni is quiet, but she has the ability to get us going, especially when she hits her shots.”
“I think we all have our roles,” Roselli said. “We have great chemistry. We’re really close. We feed off each other. I only speak when someone really gets me mad.”
Morris likes Roselli’s work ethic.
“Whenever she can, she’s in the gym working on her shot,” Morris said. “She’s always on time and she works hard. She’s been an excellent representative of our program. Toni is respectful and enjoyable to coach.”
Morris has only one gripe with Roselli.
“There are times I wish she would shoot more,” Morris said. “I keep telling her to shoot. That’s my only frustration with Toni. It’s when she doesn’t shoot. Others don’t need that encouragement. She does. That’s the kind of player she is.”
Roselli is averaging 6.1 points per game this season, as the Scarlet Raiders have jumped out to a 6-2 record overall.
“I just hope that her best basketball is still ahead of her,” Morris said.
Roselli will earn her degree in finance at Rutgers-Newark in the spring. She doesn’t have immediate plans for the future.
“I honestly don’t know,” Roselli said. “I will try to go to graduate school after graduation. I’m just going to hold off on trying to find a job for a little longer.”
Now, if she can only hold off on leaving the Scarlet Raiders for a little while as well, because the team needs as many of those awkward-looking 3-pointers for the remainder of the season.
“I don’t care how they look,” Roselli said. “As long as they go in.”
