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)
No other school has had a run like St. Thomas Aquinas/Bishop Ahr in the GMC Tournament.
Clinching a record fourth-straight title last year, the top-seeded Trojans will try to make it five in a row Friday night, when they take on second-seed Colonia in the GMC title game at Monroe High School.
Last year was a first for Colonia, its debut in the county final. And after a narrow loss following two blowout defeats during the regular season, and two close losses this year, have the Patriots finally closed the gap?
Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of Friday’s GMC Tournament Championship Doubleheader, with Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino calling all the play-by-play. Coverage starts at 5:40 pm for the girls’ game, with the boys final – between the same schools – tipping off at 8 pm. Click here to listen.
For St. Thomas, the tournament has belonged to sophomore Jordan Barnes, who’s nearly averaging a double-double through the first three games, with 15.7 points per game and nine boards a contest. In fact, she notched double-doubles in the last two games, with 18 points and 12 rebounds against Spotswood in the quarterfinals, then scoring 19 and grabbing 10 rebounds against Monroe in the semifinals.
Gianna Chuffo also has had a hot tourney, averaging nearly 19 points a game against the trio of Edison, Spotswood and Monroe.
On the other side, it’s Taylor’s world, and the GMC is just living in it. No, not that Taylor. Senior Taylor Derkack – the all-time leading scorer at Colonia, boys or girls, with 1,961 points – could crack the 2,000 mark if she goes off Friday night. She’s averaging 24.1 points per game this season, and a double-double on the year, with 12.5 rebounds per game. She leads in every key statistical category: two-pointers, treys, free throws attempted and made, steals, blocks and assists. In the tournament, she’s averaging 27 points and 17.5 rebounds a game, with double-doubles in all three.
And yet, the supporting cast is key. Mya Patino can hit the three ball, along with Isabel Gidado. And head coach Sandi Chiera says her team has improved defensively; they’ll want to keep the score low against Aquinas.
Click below to hear both coaches talk about the semifinal matchup, and scroll down for more info on the game:
MORE ON THE GMC TOURNAMENT GIRLS’ FINAL:
(1) St. Thomas Aquinas (20-7) vs. (2) Colonia (19-7)
When: Friday, 6 pm
Where: Monroe Township High School
Broadcast Team: Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino (LISTEN HERE)
COACHES:
Middlesex: Tim Corrigan, 1st season (19-7)
Colonia: Sandi Chiera, 5th season (75-35)
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Colonia: The Patriots topped 18-seed Carteret 52-36 in the first round, then beat 7-seed East Brunswick 43-22 in the quarterfinals on Saturday. Taylor Derkack poured in 38 of her team’s 52 points against the Ramblers – including five from beyond the arc – then scored a human 16 in a lower-scoring victory over the Lady Bears. In the semifinals against 14-seed Middlesex, the Patriots grabbed a 56-40 win, with Derkack going for a monster 27-point night with 15 rebounds, while Hailey Conklin added 14 points and six boards, while Nashaelah Hooker chipped in seven points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
St. Thomas Aquinas: The top-seeded Trojans cruised through their first two games, beating 16-seed Edison in the opening round, 85-53, then blowing out 8-seed Spotswood 90-36 in the quarterfinals on the Chargers’ home floor. Monroe was a different story, as the fifth-seeded Falcons led them 22-12 after one quarter Wednesday night in the semifinals, and 30-14 at one point. But they chipped away, and came out with a 57-55 overtime victory. Sophomore Jordan Barnes finished with a double-double of 19 points and ten rebounds, while Lauryn Downing had her best game of the tournament scoring-wise, adding 12 points and four rebounds.
TOP SCORERS:
St. Thomas Aquinas: Gianna Chuffo (16.2 ppg, team-best 83 treys), Jordan Barnes (14.4 ppg), Trista Whitney (9.6 ppg)
Colonia: Taylor Derkack (24.1 ppg, team-best 43 treys), Mya Patino (9.4 ppg, 37 treys), Isabel Gidado (6.5 ppg, 20 treys)
TOP REBOUNDERS:
St. Thomas Aquinas: Leah Kearney (10.2), Jordan Barnes (9)
Colonia: Taylor Derkack (12.5), Nashaelah Hooker (5.8)
RECENT MEETINGS: St. Thomas Aquinas/Bishop Ahr has won 18 straight against Colonia, with the Patriots’ last win coming on February 1, 2014, a 52-36 victory. Since then, Aquinas/Ahr has won by an average of 31 points. But in the last three meetings – including last year’s GMC Tournament final, and two regular season meetings this year, the gap has been an average 8.3 point margin of victory.
GMC TOURNAMENT HISTORY:
St. Thomas Aquinas: In addition to winning the last four GMC Tournaments, the first of which was under the moniker Bishop Ahr, they also won it in 2001 and 1994, while also claiming the 1981 Middlesex County Tournament title. Aquinas is 6-4 in the GMCT, 1-1 in the MCT. St. Thomas had never been a one-seed before the current run they’re on, but has been the top-seed in all four wins on the current streak.
Colonia: Last season was the Patriots’ first trip to the county final, a 49-42 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas.
OTHER NOTES:
Trojans’ streak: Though St. Thomas Aquinas lost in the 2021 de facto GMC championship – the “top” Somogyi Family Pod – to Monroe, they have won the last four full GMC Tournaments, going back to pre-COVID, when they won in 2020 over Edison as the top-seed and under its old moniker, Bishop Ahr. No other school has won four in a row, though several have won three, including Hoffman (which won the first in 1986, then won again in ’87 and ’88), JP Stevens (2003-05), and Piscataway (twice, from 2009-11 and again from 2013-15). Nobody won more than two in a row in the Middlesex County Tournament, which ran from 1975 through 1985.
Coaching in the Big Game: Tim Corrigan of St. Thomas Aquinas is a head coach for the first time in the GMC Tournament final, though he was on the bench next to Joe Whalen last year as an assistant. Sandi Chiera of Colonia is in her second final as a head coach.
How have the seeds fared? This one is a battle of No.1 vs. No. 2, with the top-seed winning 29 titles overall, and the No. 2 winning it just nine times. The top-seed is 29-13 in the title game. The top two seeds have met 22 times, with the No. 1 seed going 17-5 in those games. Only the first of Aquinas’ four-straight titles came against the 2-seed, Edison in 2019. Otherwise they beta 3-seed Monroe in 2020, 7-seed South Brunswick two seasons ago, and third-seed Colonia last year. The last 2-seed to win the tourney was Piscataway in 2018, and the last second-seed to knock off the top-seed in a final was East Brunswick in 2016 over Monroe.
Bonus Ball: Since St. Thomas is fresh off an overtime victory in the semifinals, we figured you’d want to know there have only been two overtime games in the history of the girls’ GMCT, both won by schools that are now closed. Third-seed Cardinal McCarrick of South Amboy beat top-seed Piscataway in double overtime in 2008, while St. Peter’s of New Brunswick upset top-seed East Brunswick as the two seed in 1992, led by Kristen Somogyi, the New Jersey Player of the Year that season.
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