Watchung Hills girls take a rare, much-needed break to gear up for postseason

Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger often says the regular season is just the preseason. It’s what her teams do in the Somerset County and NJSIAA State Tournaments that matter, at the end of the day.

Perhaps Watchung Hills head coach Reese Kirchoffer is of the same mind-set.

Eagle-eyed followers of the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten for Week Eight that not only did the Lady Warriors hold in seventh place, but their record was unchanged as well, at 16-4.

That’s because Kirchoffer gave his team a week off, rather than schedule some games against non-conference opponents. The reason? Both physical and mental.

They’ve had some bumps and bruises, a season-ending injury, and an intense run through the first 20 games of the season.

After a 60-33 win on Friday, January 28th at Hunterdon Central, Hills took the next week-plus off, and didn’t play again until this past Tuesday, February 7th, the night after the coaches voted to make them the third-seed in the upcoming Somerset County Tournament.

With a double-bye, they will begin postseason play with the SCT quarterfinals at home on Tuesday, February 14 against the winner of #6 Mount St. Mary vs. #11 Bernards/#14 Manville.

Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko talk with Watchung Hills girls’ basketball coach Reese Kirchoffer after the Somerset County Tournament seeding meeting: