South Brunswick’s Alexis Lease-Springer goes up for a layup as a freshman in the 2022 GMC Tournament semifinals at Monroe High School. (Photo: Dom Savino)
Storylines about as the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament gets ready for its girls’ semifinals Tuesday night, with no surprises among the four teams vying for the two spots up for grabs in Friday night’s 2023 championship game.
We’ll start with the top-seed, St. Thomas Aquinas. The Trojans have been the team to beat all year long in the GMC, and so far nobody has. In fact, they haven’t lost to a GMC opponent since January of last season, a 29-game streak.
Of course, the last team to beat them was Monroe, and now here come the Falcons, getting to play in the semifinals on their own floor with a solid coach in veteran Leigh Vogtman – now in her tenth season at the helm – and with a chance to play giant-killer once again.
There’s South Brunswick, who had a fantastic run to the GMCT final last season, but came up short against the behemoth that is Aquinas. But that squad was young. They’re back, with a whole lot more experience.
READ MORE: GMC’s first girls’ semifinal is set, as Colonia and South Brunswick advance
To get that crack in the finals again, they will have to beat a Colonia squad that’s led by two of the best players in the league, but has had a hit-or-miss campaign in 2022-23 after having a program year last season. In the GMC Tournament, though, consider them a hit, since they’re once again a win away from the county finals.
Central Jersey Sports Radio will broadcast both semifinal games Tuesday night – presented by Dayton Toyota Service and Dayton Collision – with second-seed South Brunswick taking on third-seed Colonia at 5 pm, and top-seed and three-time defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas facing fourth-seed Monroe at 7 pm. Full coverage begins at approximately 4:45 with our pregame show, as Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas call all the action.
Click here to listen to every minute of the live play-by-play!
Here’s a closer look at both of the GMC Tournament Girls’ Semifinals, complete with preview interviews with all four coaches:
#2 SOUTH BRUNSWICK (17-6) vs. #3 COLONIA (13-10), 5:00 pm
It hasn’t been the easiest transition for Colonia, moving up from the White to the Red Division. Forget having to play St. Thomas Aquinas twice a year, their other four division losses were heartbreakers: to Monroe by five and East Brunswick by seven in late January, and in their first game of the New Year by seven to Old Bridge. The other of those four defeats came to South Brunswick, 43-40 back on December 22nd, which left the Patriots 2-3 at the time, a humbling experience after the best season in program history last year, including their first-ever division title of any kind. The Patriots were able to avenge the losses to the Vikings and Knights, but the losses to the Bears and Falcons came after earlier season wins.
Prior to a 55-52 win by Colonia in February of 2021, these teams had not met for at least a decade. Now, it’ll be their fifth meeting in three seasons, so there’s a lot of familiarty here. The teams have split their last four matchups. But last year in the GMC Tournament semifinals was a biggie, and a shocking win by South Brunswick, 57-40, the largest margin in any of those four games.
Last year was a Cinderella run for South Brunswick. The Vikings were the seventh-seed, and pulled off two upsets to get to the finals, over two-seed Monroe in the quarters, then over third-seed Colonia in the semis. Now, they are one of the next-best favorites behind the team-to-beat, Aquinas.Back are key players like leading scorer and senior Katie Rausch (13.6 ppg) and sophomore and fellow sharp-shooter Alexis Lease -Springer (12.9 ppg), not to mention Leilani Pinder and Meher Vig, who played out of her mind in last year’s GMCT, averaging 13.3 points per game in four tourney contests, and pouring in 18 to challenge STA every step of the way in the final.
READ MORE: Price, defense help No. 4 South Brunswick girls stifle No. 5 Colonia at home
They will have to deal with Colonia’s dynamic duo of Mattie Chiera and Taylor Derkack, of course. Derkack, a junior, is leading the team in just about every scoring category – all except three pointers made. She’s scoring at a 21.3 point per game clip, averaging 12.7 rebounds, and has made 129 free throws, 66 more than the next best on the team, Chiera. She also leads with 75 assists, 46 blocks and 93 steals. Chiera is averaging 14.7 points a game, and has a team-leading 38 treys.
The Patriots don’t always look to shoot from beyond the arc, but they’ll have to defend that against the Vikings, who have hit 139 times from downtown, almost double Colonia’s total. Rausch has 45 treys on the year to lead the team, Lease-Springer 33, Meher Vig 26 and Leilani Pinder 21. Three players average in double figures, and two more no fewer than seven points per game. And that’s another difference with Colonia. After Derkack and Chiera, Isabel Gidado is the third-leading scorer on the team at 4.5 points per game.
How they got here:
South Brunswick walloped 15th-seed Metuchen in the first round 68-35, then topped 7th-seed East Brunswick Saturday in the quarterfinals 80-49, their third win over the Bears this season.
Colonia beat 14th-seed South Plainfield in the first round 56-38, then won a low-scoring affair in the quarterfinals Saturday, 38-27 over sixth-seed Old Bridge.
Coaches’ Previews:
How they win:
It’s tough to slow Chiera or Derkack; few teams have success doing that. South Brunswick has to at least keep one of them from going off and having a monster game.
Colonia will have to defend the three-ball against South Brunswick, and take care of the ball on offense. The Vikings were frantic last year – in a good way – against Aquinas in the finals.
#1 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (19-6) vs. #4 MONROE (14-7)
Don’t let the six losses fool you, St. Thomas Aquinas is battle-tested. We’ve told you about their 29-game streak against GMC opponents, but their losses not only have come all out of conference, but half of them have come out of state, including to the team that was the No. 1 ballclub in the nation at one point, Long Island Lutheran. Joe Whalen is now 204-42 in his ninth season as a head coach, 48-16 in his third season at Aquinas, and they’ve got some serious players. Senior Jessica Cooper – an Albany commit – is scoring 12.7 points per game and grabbing 9.4 boards to lead the team in both categories. Sophomore Leah Crosby has taken some of the scoring pressure off junior Amarillis Shubick, averaging 11.1, while Shubick is scoring 8.1. Everyone contributes, up and down the lineup. It’s not different players, different nights. It’s everyone, every night.
But While Cooper leads most offensive categories for the Trojans, it’s a different story for Monroe, where five different players lead the Falcons in at least one offensive category. Start with junior Halley Cottrell, who’s averaging 12.9 points per game to lead the team, and the only player in double figures. She also leads Monroe with 45 treys. Haley Higgins – a senior – is right behind at 9.2 a game. Senior Katelyn Louro is tied for top rebounding honors with junior Avery Labaska at 5.9 a game, and leads the team with 89 assists. Junior Nicole Turco – daughter of Kean head coach and former St. Joseph and Carteret head coach Dave Turco, current Aquinas coach Bob Turco’s brother – leads in steals (45) and two-point baskets made (70). Senior Grace Reagan tops the Falcons with 10 blocks. It’s everyone doing their part.
As far as history between the two, while Aquinas has won seven of the last 12 meetings dating back to 2014-15, Monroe has won some big games when they counted, like last year in the regular season, a 55-41 stunner at home – where they will be playing tonight – and then in North Edison in March of 2021, the COVID-shortened year. They topped Aquinas 46-41 in the GMC’s Somogyi Family Pod, the top grouping in that one-off postseason. Higgins, Lauro and Reagan were on that team, and surely remember it well.
In two meetings this year, Aquinas won by 19 on January 5th (59-40) and by 13 on January 26th (68-55). In the first, Monroe kept it close at the half, and only trailed by nine. In the second, Aquinas got out to a big first quarter lead at 27-12 and led 42-25 at the half.
How they got here:
St. Thomas Aquinas crushed 16-seed JP Stevens in the first round 81-34, then beat 9th-seed Middlesex 86-60 in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Monroe stifled 13th-seed North Brunswick with defense to beat the Raiders 61-25 in the first round, then topped 5th-seed Edison 58-39 in the quarterfinals.
Coaches’ Previews:
How they win:
Aquinas will face one of its tougher challenges in the conference this year, but they just have to play their game and not get out of their comfort zone. That means play defense, share the ball, and put it through the hoop, including from beyond the arc.
Monroe will need to utilize its whole bench, and get production. Aquinas is deep, and Vogtman will have to have everyone contribute. And if not in the lead, keep it within ten at halftime.
NOTES AND NUGGETS
Who’s won it? Of the GMCT’s Final Four teams, two have never won a title. St. Thomas has won the last three full tournaments, the first of which came as Bishop Ahr in 2019. They also won it it 2001 and 1994. Pre-dating the GMC, they won the Middlesex County Tournament in 1984, giving them six overall MCT/GMCT titles. South Brunswick won the first two MCTs in 1975 and 1976, and didn’t win it again until their first GMCT crown in 2012, their last title, giving them three. Monroe is winless in three trips, and Colonia has never reached the finals, getting knocked out by South Brunswick in last year’s semis.
Leading at the half: St. Thomas Aquinas has trailed at halftime a grand title of six times this season. All of them were losses. Every game they’ve led at the half, they’ve won. The last time they lost a game they were leading at the half? That was in the Somogyi Family Pod in 2021, when they lost at home to… Monroe. That’s 41 wins with 41 halftime leads since.
Something in the water? A team from Edison has been in the last four GMC Tournament finals. Aquinas/Bisho Ahr won in 2022, 2021 and 2019, while Edison made the finals – and lost both times – in 2019 and 2018.
Frequent fliers: At least one of the teams in this year’s final four have made it to the finals eight of the the last nine years, if you also count the COVID-year of 2021. Last year it was Aquinas and South Brunswick in the title game, with Monroe and St. Thomas in the Somogyi Family Pod the year before, the GMC’s top pod. Aquinas beat Monroe in 2020. Bishop Ahr won in 2019. None of them made it in 2018, but South Brunswick was a finalist in 2017, Monroe in 2016 and 2015, and Ahr in 2015.
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