Head coach Mary Klinger’s Rutgers Prep squad – with senior Katie Ledden, right – have never missed a CJSR/Bellamy Top Ten in the three-year history of the rankings. (File photo)
The Lady Argonauts have a number of streaks going.
They have won 41 straight games against Somerset County foes, and 54 straight in Skyland Conference play. They also finished last year at No. 1 in the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, the only team ever to hold that position in our third season covering girls’ basketball.
And you can extend that streak to 29 weeks and counting at No. 1, where they begin the 2023-24 season.
The remarkable run is very likely to continue, with a solid returning cast. The biggest loss from last year’s 25-5 team which won the Non-Public South B title is senior Katie Ledden, who’s now at Rhode Island. But highly-recruited Mikayla Blakes – the two time CJSR Girls’ Player of the Year who has schools like Rutgers, Tennessee and Stanford, in her final seven – is back for her senior season, as are a host of other standouts like Chloe Escanillas, Ava LaMonica, Zahra Alexander and GiGi Battle, while junior Leah Crosby transfers in from St. Thomas Aquinas.
The Trojans are No. 2, coming off a 22-7 season and their second straight GMC Tournament title. They’ve got a new coach, in former Watchung Hills girls’ mentor and St. Joseph-Metuchen alum Tim Corrigan, but he’s familiar with Aquinas, serving as an assistant under Joe Whalen last year.
At No. 3 is Gill St. Bernards, 18-9 a year ago, and runner up in the Somerset County Tournament. Mark Gnapp’s team graduated just one senior, Aniyah Boston, but will have to get by loaded Rutgers Prep to win the Delaware Division and/or the Somerset County Tournament.
In fourth is South Brunswick, which comes back loaded for first-year head coach Ryan Murphy. Coming off a 19-8 season, the loss of Katie Kausch (14 ppg) will be a big blow, but No. 2 scorer Alexis Lease-Springer – a junior who will be starting for a third season and already has accumulated 500 career points in 48 games is back to lead the Vikings.
Checking in at No. 5 is Monroe, with veteran coach Leigh Votgman leading the way. At 17-10 last year, Monroe made the Central Jersey Group 4 finals, falling by eight at Jackson Memorial. Haley Higgins and Katelyn Louro are gone to graduation, but seniors Halley Cottrell and Nicole Turco return, along with junior Evangelina Francisco.
No. 6 is another sectional finalist, Middlesex, which was 20-9 last season and fell at Shore in the Central Jersey Group 1 title game. The Blue Jays graduated top-scorer Neysa Aguilar, but right behind he was Jessica Devine, who’s back for her sophomore year. Middlesex also has a new coach, as Stew Lester comes over in-house after serving as an assistant on the boys’ side to take over for Kevin Harper, who retired.
In seventh is Edison, which beat out Middlesex to take the GMC White Division title a year ago, finishing 21-7. While second-leading scorer Trista Whitney transferred to nearby St. Thomas Aquinas, leading scorer Ghelsey Go is back for Frank Eckert’s squad.
At No. 8 is Hillsborough, which was 16-11 last season, and returns their second- and third-leading scorers, junior Francesca Schiro and junior Mya Loniewski, respectively.
Watchung Hills is ninth, coming off a 20-7 season that saw them reach the semifinals of both the Somerset County Tournament and the North 2, Group 4 state playoffs. The Warriors lose a ton of seniors, but the defending Skyland Raritan Division champs should still be competitive.
And in tenth is Spotswood of the GMC. They were 17-9 a year ago, but very young, with three of their top four scorers sophomores last season, while the fourth was a freshman. With another year of experience under their belt, they should be at or near the top of the GMC Blue Division this season.
Below is the full Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten for the preseason:
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