Colonia’s Taylor Derkack in action in the GMC Tournament Girls’ Championship Game against St. Thomas Aquinas on February 18, 2023 at Monroe Township High School. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Middlesex is red-hot at the right time.
The 14th-seeded Blue Jays – fresh off a first round Greater Middlesex Conference tournament upset of third-seed JP Stevens, the first top four seed to lose in the round of 16 since 2013 – did it again Saturday afternoon in the quarterfinals at Spotswood High School, knocking off 6th-seed South Brunswick, 66-59.
The Blue Jays now move on to Tuesday’s semifinals at Monroe High School against second seed Colonia, which cruised past 7-seed East Brunswick. That game will be played at 5 pm and can be heard live on cjsportsradio.com.
It will be Middlesex’s first trip to the semis since 2020, when they lost to GMCT runner-up Monroe.
The Blue Jays built an early 17-10 lead after one, but went to halftime tied at 30. It looked like the Vikings might pull away, after a strong third quarter put them up 48-41, but Middlesex rallied in the final eight minutes, outscoring the Vikings 24-11 in the fourth quarter for the win.
Junior Jess Devine led with 33 points for the Jays (15-11) while Jaclyn Deshields scored 11. South Brunswick fell to 12-11
In the first quarterfinal of the day, second-seed Colonia (18-7) topped 7-seed East Brunswick, 43-22 behind 20 points from game-high scorer Taylor Derkack.
The Patriots were locked in a tie game 7-7 after one quarter, but held the Lady Bears to just three points in the second and led 19-10 going into halftime, a lead they would never relinquish.
East Brunswick falls to 14-9.
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