No. 1 Rutgers prep girls return home for a big battle with No. 3 Gill St. Bernards

Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger may call the regular season the preseason, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like her team facing challenges.

After all, they played some of the toughest teams in the country down at the John Wall Invitational in North Carolina over the holiday break.

Coming back home, they’ll face another stiff challenge when they open the 2024 portion of the campaign against Gill St. Bernard’s.

The Lady Argonauts (5-2) are ranked No. 1 in the latest Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, with the Knights (8-0) ranked third behind St. Thomas Aquinas. And it’ll be their only meeting this season, meaning the top seed in the Somerset County Tournament could very well be on the line Thursday evening in Somerset.

It’s a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio at 5:30 pm, with pregame at 5:15. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas have the call; click here to listen.

The biggest challenger for Klinger’s squad in the first seven games was playing four of them without Mikayla Blakes, a highly sought after major Division 1 recruit, with Rutgers, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennesee, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Stanford among her final seven. Many consider her a future pro, but she’s been banged up, and her status for Thursday’s game is uncertain.

Still, there is a ton of talent on the court regardless. Blakes still has a higher points per game average (18.3) through three games, than anyone else through seven, but the Argos are still averaging 68.4 points a game, and their top scorer otherwise is senior Chloe Escanillas, who has hit a team-best 24 threes already on the young season. She also is tops in assists (22) and steals (18).

Junior Leah Crosby – who transferred in from St. Thomas Aquinas – is leading the team with eight rebounds.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger: