It almost – almost – went according to chalk in the Greater Middlesex Conference girls’ basketball tournament Thursday night.
Seven of the top eight seeds advanced, while 14th-seed Middlesex pulled off a huge upset, knocking off third-seed JP Stevens on the road, avenging two regular season losses to the Hawks this year.
How big an upset was it? It was the first loss by a top-four seed in the the girls’ GMCT since 2013, when fourth-seed St. Thomas Aquinas lost in the opening round to 13-seed Edison. No top four seed has lost in the round of 16 since. Incidentally, Edison lost as the second-seed in 2011 to 15th-seed East Brunswick.
It all sets up four quarterfinal round games to be played at Spotswood High School this weekend, with game times yet to be determined. The league will figure it out after all of Thursday’s games, to avoid a conflict on Saturday with any schools that may have both boys’ and girls’ teams playing.
The boys’ quarters are also being played Saturday – at Piscataway High School – to avoid conflicting with Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Here are Thursday’s first round results:
- (1) St. Thomas Aquinas def. (16) Edison, 85-53
- (8) Spotswood def. (9) Piscataway, 57-50
- (5) Monroe def. (12) Metuchen, 77-41
- (4) North Plainfield def. (20) North Brunswick, 73-21
- (14) Middlesex def. (3) JP Stevens, 48-39
- (6) South Brunswick def. (11) Woodbridge, 51-42
- (7) East Brunswick def. (10) Old Bridge, 57-41
- (2) Colonia def. (18) Carteret, 52-36
Saturday’s Girls’ GMCT Quarterfinal Matchups (times TBA):
- (1) St. Thomas Aquinas vs. (8) Spotswood
- (4) North Plainfield vs. (5) Monroe
- (6) South Brunswick vs. (14) Middlesex
- (2) Colonia vs. (7) East Brunswick
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