Gianna Chuffo is the top scorer for GMCT top-seed and four-time defending champion St. Thomas Aquinas. (Source: @stahstrojans on Twitter)
NOTE: Due to Tuesday’s snowstorm, the GMCT semifinals have been moved to Wednesday at Spotswood High School, with both games being played at the same times.
The Monroe girls’ basketball team has played St. Thomas Aquinas tight the past two years.
In those five matchups, the Falcons have kept the Trojans in the 60s, but they haven’t been able to beat them. But they have been able to beat the STA juggernaut.
Monroe got a regular season win in their second meeting in 2021-22, and the year before knocked off Aquinas on the road top cap a 13-1 COVID-shortened season and win the Somogyi Family Pod, the top postseason playoff pod that year.
How that will play out Wednesday evening in the GMC Tournament semifinals at Spotswood High School is anyone’s guess.
In the two meetings this year, Aquinas won by 10 and 22. But “they” – whoever they are – say it’s tough to beat a team three times in a season.
Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of Wednesday’s semifinals, with Alex Crouthamel providing pregame interviews, live updates, and postgame reaction during our coverage of the boys’ semifinals with Mike Pavlichko. A special, extended pregame show begins at 4:15 Click here to listen.
Aquinas hasn’t needed much adjustment to its new head coach, Tim Corrigan, who came on last year as an assistant to now-retired Joe Whalen, who has MS. Corrigan was brought on knowing he might have to fill in for Whalen a game or two, and poised to take over if and when Whalen stepped away for good.
Though he lost Leah Crosby to transfer to Rutgers Prep, players like junior Gianna Chuffo took over leadership roles, and younger talent like sophomores Jordan Barnes and Trista Whitney got valuable experience against top-flight competition that Corrigan now considers them veterans.
Also a veteran is Monroe head coach Leigh Vogtman, whose team is always in the mix every year, it seems. Seniors Halley Cottrell – the team’s top scorer – and Nicole Turco bring experience, and another senior, Avery Labaska, is leading the team in rebounding.
Click below to hear both coaches talk about the semifinal matchup, and scroll down for more info on the game:
MORE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S SECOND SEMIFINAL:
(1) St. Thomas Aquinas (19-7) vs (5) Monroe (16-8)
When: Wednesday, 7 pm
Where: Spotswood High School
Live Updates: Alec Crouthamel
COACHES:
St. Thomas Aquinas: Tim Corrigan, 1st season (19-7)
Monroe: Leigh Vogtman, 11th season (182-90)
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
St. Thomas Aquinas: The Trojans beat 16-seed Edison in the first round, 85-53. They amped it up in the quarterfinals, blowing past 8-seed Spotswood 90-36 behind a game-high 26 points from Fianna Chuffo, who also hit six treys and dished out seven assists.
Monroe: The Falcons routed 12-seed Metuchen, 77-41, in the first round, then won a slog Saturday in the quarterfinals in Spotswood, beating fourth-seed North Plainfield, 38-29. Top scorer Halley Cottrell hit six threes en route to a 31 point night against the Bulldogs, while Evangelina Francisco led with 11 against the Lady Canucks.
TOP SCORERS:
St. Thomas Aquinas: Gianna Chuffo (16.5 ppg, team-leading 82 treys), Jordan Barnes (14.2 ppg)
Monroe: Halley Cottrell (18.5 ppg, team-leading 80 treys), Evangelina Francisco (14.7 ppg)
TOP REBOUNDERS:
St. Thomas Aquinas: Leah Kearney (10.1), Jordan Barnes (8.9)
Monroe: Avery Labaska (7.2), Nicole Turco (4.8)
RECENT MEETINGS: Aquinas has won five straight, including two this year and three last year, but Monroe won two of the previous three. The teams split two regular season meetings in 2021-22, with STA winning the first and the Falcons winning the second. Monroe also beat Aquinas in the 2021 COVID-shortened season’s GMC Somogyi Family Pod, the league’s top four-game pod that year, in North Edison.
GMC TOURNAMENT HISTORY:
St. Thomas Aquinas: The Trojans have been to the finals the last four years, and won every time, looking for a fifth straight berth and fifth straight title this season. Aquinas (a.k.a. Bishop Ahr for several decades, though Aquinas was its original name) has been to ten GMC finals, and 12 county finals overall, winning seven GMC titles and one Middlesex County Tournament title.
Monroe: The Falcons are looking for their fourth overall trip to the GMC finals. Vogtman took them in 2020, where they lost to Aquinas, as well as in 2016 (they were the top-seed and lost to East Brunswick) and 2015 (where they lost to top-seed Piscataway in overtime).
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