No major upsets in Somerset County Tournament as first round opens with seven games

With four games on the girls’ side and three on the boys’ only one higher seed failed to advance, as the 13th-seeded Somerville boys edged out out 12th-seed Bernards on the road, 42-40 to advance to Saturday’s second round.

Otherwise, the two other higher seeds in the boys’ bracket advanced, as did all four higher seeds in the girls tournament in first round play Thursday night.

Below are recaps of all Thursday games, and the matchups with game times for Saturday’s second round,

SCT Girls’ First Round Results:

• (9) Watchung Hills def. (16) College Achieve Central, 56-8: Only one Warrior scored in double figures, as Madison DiSarno tallied 11 points, and eight other players got in the scoring column in a balanced attack. Watchung Hills (5-15) led 26-0 at the end of one quarter, and took a 34-1 lead into the locker room at halftime.
• (12) Bernards def. (13) Montgomery, 44-27: The Mountaineers (11-12) had three players score in double figures in the win, with Jasmine Kelleher and Aletha Reynolds pumping in 11 points apiece – Kelleher had a double-double, too, with 10 rebounds – while Malaika Pierre added ten.
• (11) Immaculata def. (14) Manville, 61-34: Immaculata (9-12) got a big night from Maddie Babula, who had a game-high 24 in the win. The Mustangs led early, 12-8 after one quarter, but ‘Lata outscored them 17-12 in the second quarter, and held Manville to just ten second half points as they pulled away for the victory.
• (10 Bound Brook def. (15) Bridgewater-Raritan, 45-26: The Lady Crusaders improved to 13-7 – the only team with a winning record to win Thursday – as Jamaiya McLeod led all scorers with 13 points, while Sara Thiessen recorded a double-double of 11 points and 18 rebounds. The Lady Crusaders led nearly wire-to-wire, ahead 11-7 after the first eight minutes and 26-11 at the halftime break.

SCT Girls’ Second Round – Saturday:

• (9) Watchung Hills at (8) Ridge, 11 am
• (12) Bernards at (5) Franklin, 12 pm
• (11) Immaculata at (6) Mount St. Mary, 2 pm
• (10) Bound Brook at (7) Somerville, 10 am

SCT Boys’ First Round Results:

• (13) Somerville def. (12) Bernards, 42-40: The Pioneers (10-13) avenged a nine-point loss to Bernards back on January 18th with the victory Thursday night.
• (11) Bridgewater-Raritan def. (14) Manville, 62-45: The Panthers (10-13) got a game-high 21 points from Trent Blissett and 17 from Brody Nussman en route to the victory. Bridgewater was up 12-7 after one quarter but held just a three-point advantage at the break, before pulling away with a monster third quarter, taking a 14-point lead into the final eight minutes.
• (10) Immaculata def. (15) College Achieve Central, 74-26: This was one was all Spartans (10-11) as they pulled out to a 21-4 first-quarter lead and never looked back. Three players scored in double figures, led by Chigozie Anyora’s game-high 15. Dante Regan added 13, while Luke Bryson chipped in ten points.

SCT Boys’ Second Round – Saturday:

• (9) Bound Brook at (8) Pingry, 3 pm
• (13) Somerville at (5) Ridge, 1 pm
• (11) Bridgewater-Raritan at (6) Franklin, 2 pm
• (10) Immaculata at (7) Gill St. Bernard’s, 1:30 pm

*All times per skylandconference.org