The Rutgers Prep girls basketball team with its 2022 Somerset County Tournament trophy, their second in a row, and fifth in the last 7 tourneys. (Photo: Justin Sontupe)
When you think about how good the Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team was Saturday in the Somerset County Tournament final against Gill St. Bernard’s, it makes you realize how good St. John Vianney is.
They’re only the No. 1 team in the state, and blew out Prep on Super Bowl Sunday up at Kean, a “wake up call,” Argos head coach Mary Klinger told CJSR this week as to what her team needed to do to win a championship.
Lesson learned, goal achieved.
After a tight first quarter, where second-seeded Gill actually led 10-8 after the first eight minutes, the next eight were in a different stratosphere, leading top-seeded Rutgers Prep (23-2) to a 64-35 win over Gill St. Bernards (16-5).
Super sophomore Maikayla Blakes hit a trio of treys in a 30-6 run by Rutgers Prep, with their stifling defense fueling their high-powered offense, and all of a sudden, the teams went to the locker room with Prep ahead 38-16.
Rutgers Prep may be a bit on the young side, but GSB head coach Mark Gnapp’s team is, too. And he admitted this week maybe his team was a year ahead of schedule. Sunday’s result bore that out.
It was the second straight Somerset County Tournament title won by Rutgers Prep, which won the 2020 championship over Watchung Hills. They’ve now won five of the last seven tourney titles, having taken three in a row from 2015 to 2017.
Gill also has dropped three straight meetings with Rutgers Prep in the finals, losing in 2016 and 2017 as well.
Blakes led Rutgers Prep with 25 points, while junior Katie Ledden added 16. Sophomore Jennah Johnson led Gill in defeat with 17.
Click below for postgame reaction from the Rutgers Prep girls’ Somerset County Tournament win: