Gill St. Bernard’s celebrates its first two wins on the bus ride back from the KSA Events Holiday Tournament in Florida on December 28, 2023. (Source: @GSB_WBB on Twitter)
Holiday tournaments are wrapping up Friday and Saturday, if they haven’t already, and several GMC and Somerset County teams have had a pretty good time over the break from school, traveling far and wide to challenge themselves before the conference and division schedules kick into full gear come the New Year.
Here’s a closer look at how Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area girls’ high school basketball teams have done this week, beginning with a team-by-team look at the squads in the Bellamy & Son Paving Week Two Top Ten:
#1 Rutgers Prep: The Lady Argonauts (4-1) took their first loss of the season om Thursday in the John Wall Invitational at William Peace University in Raleigh, NC, Thursday, falling 68-65 to Thomas Dale out of Virginia. Chloe Escanillas led with 20 points in a game where Thomas Dale rallied from a four-point deficit heading into the final quarter. Next up, they get Terry Sanford (NC) at 1:30 Friday afternoon. They’ll be back home for school, and a matchup with No. 3 Gill St. Bernard’s next Thursday night at 6 pm, a game that can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
#2 St. Thomas Aquinas: One of three teams in the Holmdel Holiday Showcase, the Trojans topped Ranney Wednesday on Day One of the eight team event, 57-47, to improve to 4-2 under first-year STA head coach Tim Corrigan. Gianna Chuffo led the way with 21 points, while Leah Kerney added a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Also in the showcase are East Brunswick and Mount St. Mary. Both lost their openers: the Lady Bears (4-2) fell to Colts Neck Wednesday, while Mount (3-3) lost 53-47 to host Holmdel. Friday’s schedule features Mount St. Mary taking on Colts Neck at 10 am, Aquinas battling the hosts at 1:30, and East Brunswick taking on Jackson Memorial at 3:15.
#3 Gill St. Bernard’s: The Knights (7-0) already have two wins down at the KSA Events Holiday Tournament in Kissimmee, FL. In their Red Bracket opener, they beat Horizon (FL) 68-29 behind 18 points from Sidney Quinn, while both Brooke Baisley (10 points, 11 rebounds) and Gandy Malou-Mamel (12 points, 14 rebounds) had double-doubles. They beat Perkiomen Valley (PA) Thursday, 49-33, getting 21 from Baisley, while Malou-Mamel nearly had another double-double, with 10 points and 9 boards. Friday, they look to make it a 3-0 run when they take on Metropolitan Campus (NY) at 10 am. Pingry is in the same event, and playing Brimingham Community Charter (CA) at 10 am in the Pink Bracket. THe Big Blue went 1-1 with a Tuesday win over St. Thomas More (LA), 63-20, but lost to Ketcham (NY), 39-34, on Thursday in Pink bracket play.
#4 North Plainfield: the Lady Canucks (5-1) took their first loss of the season Wednesday in the West Orange Holiday Showcase, falling to Teaneck, 65-27. Layla Gutierrez led North with 11 points. Next up is Paterson Eastside on Friday in the consolation game at 1 pm.
#5 Monroe: Hosting their own Falcon Holiday Tournament, Monroe (4-1) will play Westfield at 2 pm in Friday’s final after a 52-28 win over Marlboro. Halley Cottrell scored a game high 27 points, while Sophia Rivas chipped in 11. Franklin is also in that tournament, and will play in Friday’s 10 am consolation game against Marlboro, after dropping its opener to the Blue Devils, 46-37.
#6 South Brunswick: At the Ridge Holiday Classic, the Vikings (3-3) split their first two games in the six-team, round-robin showcase. They lost to state-Bayonne in their opener on Wednesday, 47-34, but came back to beat Hunterdon Central, 36-27, on Thursday, getting 13 points from Meher Vig and seven boards from Leilani Pinder. They’ll play the host Red Devils (4-3) at 11:30 Friday. Ridge won its first two games, edging Randolph 40-34 in their opener, then drubbing Payne Tech out of Newark, 65-30.
#7 Hillsborough: The Raiders (4-2) won the John Molinelli Tournament at Hopewell Valley, going 2-0 in the two-day event. They beat their hosts on Wednesday, 64-21, then dropped Pennington in the final Thursday, 51-41. Francesca Schiro poured in 32 points and had three treys in the win.
#8 Woodbridge, #9 Colonia, #10 Spotswood: The Barrons are in the all-GMC Lady Chiefs Holiday Showcase at Piscataway, where they dropped their first two games, the second of which came down to the wire. On Tuesday, Old Bridge beat Edison 48-37, Colonia beat Spotswood 49-38, and Piscataway topped the Barrons, 61-37. Thursday’s round robin action continued with the Lady Chiefs beating Spotswood 44-35, Old Bridge topping the Barrons 38-37, and Colonia cruising past Edison 56-31. Friday’s schedule features Woodbridge vs. Colonia at 10 am, followed by Edison against Piscataway at 11:30, and Old Bridge taking on Spotswood at 1 pm.
Other holiday tournaments…
Sayreville: The Lady Bombers (0-6) dropped their opener in the Blue Devils Invitational at Shore Regional High School, 46-11 to Monmouth. That put them in the losers bracket against Jackson Liberty at 10:30 Friday moorning.
Bound Brook: The Lady Crusaders (6-0) picked up a 52-17 win over Koinonia on Wednesday in their own holiday tournament, then took the championship with a narrow 53-50 win over Oak Knoll. Jamaiya McLeod led all scorers with 19 points in the final, while Sara Thiessen had a double-double of ten points and ten rebounds. The Crusaders are on Central Jersey Sports Radio on Tuesday, January 9th, hosting Somerville.
Watchung Hills: The Warriors (1-5) went 0-2 in the Chatham Tournament, dropping their opener to their hosts, 67-40, on Tuesday, then falling to Madison on Wednesday, 69-54.
Dunellen, Highland Park, Manville, Middlesex: Three GMC teams and one from Somerset County make up the Clem Santy Holdiay Tournament at Dunellen’s Faber School. In Wednesday’s first games, Highland Park beat Middlesex 54-45, while Manville beat Dunellen, 40-17. The consolation game today features Middlesex (2-3) taking on Dunellen (3-1) at 2:30, while the final is at 5:30 between the Owls (2-2) and Mustangs (3-3).
Montgomery, Bridgewater-Raritan: Just like on the boys’ side, these two will square off in the Cougar Holiday Classic hosted by Montgomery. The Cougars (2-3) beat Allentown, 47-41 in Wednesday’s opener, while the Panthers (1-5) fell to Westampton Tech, 70-33.
South Amboy, South River: The Rams topped Henry Hudson Wednesday in their opener at the Keansburg Holiday Classic, 42-36, then beat Keansburg in Thursday’s final, 53-40. The Rams (4-2) got a double-double from Natalia Vera Cruz in the title game, with 22 points and 13 rebounds.
Woodbridge Academy, East Brunswick Magnet, Perth Amboy Magnet, Piscataway Magnet: Woodbridge beat EB in their opener Wednesday at East Brunswick Magnet, 37-21, while Robbinsville topped Perth Amboy Magnet 49-17. PA and Woodbridge will square off today at 1 pm, while East Brunswick plays at 11.
Bernards, Metuchen: The Mountaineers (4-2) knocked off the Bulldogs (2-2) by a 40-33 score in the opener of the Metuchen Bulldog Holiday Tournament, setting up Bernards and Brearley in today’s 2 pm final. Host Metuchen gets Governor Livingston at noon in the consolation.
Immaculata, JFK: Both played in the Rico Parenti showcase, with Immaculata (4-2) winning its third straight game in the finals, a 54-52 edging of Plainfield. Giovanna Drajin finished with 18 points to lead IHS, which beat Columbia out of Maplewood 62-44 in Wednesday’s opener. Kennedy (0-6) lost to Plainfield on the opening day, 63-46, then fell to Columbia 63-44 in the consolation game Thursday.
Carteret, Perth Amboy: The two rivals were in the Roselle Park Tournament, and the Lady Ramblers (5-1) took the title in an all-GMC final, 43-32 over Perth Amboy (1-5). Anilah Diggs led Carteret with 15 points in the final on Thursday, a day after beating Keyport 44-13 in a solid defensive effort. The Panthers got their first win of the season in Wednesday;s opener, a 42-17 win over host Roselle Park.
Somerville: The Lady Pioneers (4-0) are in the finals of the West Windsor-Plainsboro North Tournament, which concludes tomorrow, after a pair of wins Wednesday and Thursday in the eight-team event. They beat Matawan Wednesday, 48-8, then got by Princeton, 50-39 on Thursday. They now play Neptune at 4:15 Saturday in the final.
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