SCT Girls’ Final Preview: Rutgers Prep goes for fourth straight while Gill St. Bernard’s looks to stop the juggernaut

Until someone can prove otherwise, there’s the Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team, and there’s everyone else.

The Argonauts finished their second regular season in four years without a solitary single-digit win. Their closest margin this year was ten points, twice. They are unbeaten against New Jersey schools, and have won 50 straight against Somerset County competition.

Let that sink in for a moment, then you’ll know the task at hand when Gill St. Bernard’s takes the court at Montgomery Township High School Saturday afternoon for the Somerset County Tournament girls’ championship game against Rutgers Prep, which is seeking its tenth title overall, and third in a row.

Gill is the 6th-ranked school in the state. Rutgers Prep is No. 2. They’re not that far apart. Except Prep beat them twice this year: 71-46 on January fourth at home, and 68-35 on February 6th up in the Hills.

The Knights aren’t a pushover. Not by a longshot. They just make it look easy.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of Saturday’s entire Somerset County Tournament Championship Doubleheader, with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas calling all the play-by-play. Coverage starts at 12:40 pm for the girls’ game, with the boys final – between defending champ Rutgers Prep and first-time finalist Montgomery – tipping off at 3 pm. Click here to listen.

LaMonica’s injury aside – she won’t be available Saturday, though an X-ray on her ankle came back negative for a break – it has been the usual cast of characters, led by Vanderbilt commit and five-star recruit Mikayla Blakes, who leads the team at 20.4 points per game, with 73 assists and 79 steals.

And the future is now for the Argos, with two sophomores next in scoring: GiGi Battle at 11.7 points a game and LaMonica at 11.3 points a contest. They’ll have to make up for that somehow on Saturday, but there’s still three-point specialist Chloe Escanillas, at 11.1 points a game, with a team-best 59 treys. Add in the talents of junior Leah Crosby – who transferred in from St. Thomas Aquinas – and senior Zahra Alexander, there’s plenty of scoring to go around.

On the Gill side, they have an experienced lineup with balanced scoring. Junior Gandy Malou-Mamel is averaging a double-double this season: 17.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. Then, senior Brooke Baisley – A Boston U. commit – at 14.3 points and 6.7 rebounds a game, who can also hit the three with 41 on the season. Sidney Quinn, a junior, adds 10.2 per game. But they also have length, which Prep coach Mary Klinger says is one of the biggest challenges they present.

Click below to hear both coaches talk about the semifinal matchup, and scroll down for more info on the game:

MORE ON THE SOMERSET COUNTY TOURNAMENT GIRLS’ FINAL:

(1) Rutgers Prep (20-4) vs. (2) Gill St. Bernard’s (23-3)
When: Saturday, 1 pm
Where: Montgomery Township High School
Broadcast Team: Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas (LISTEN HERE)

COACHES: 

Rutgers Prep: Mary Klinger (40th season, 708-255)
Mark Gnapp: Mark Gnapp, 5th season (95-39)

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

Rutgers Prep: The Argonauts beat 8th-seed Ridge in the quarterfinals, behind 28 points from Mikayla Blakes and 17 points and six boards from GiGi Battle. Newcomer Leah Crosby added 8 points and 7 rebounds. In the semifinals the next night, Thursday night, the y beat fifth-seed and in-town rival Franklin, 57-24. The Argonauts held the Warriors to single-digit scoring in all four quarters, and Klinger was happy with he defensive effort. With Ava LaMonica going down early with an ankle injury, the rest of the team was balanced in scoring, with four in double figures. Chloe Escanillas had 12, while Leah Crosby chipped in 11, and Mikayla Blakes and GiGi Battle logged ten points apiece. Crosby finished one rebound off a double-double with nine boards.

Gill St. Bernards: The Knights also cruised through two games in the SCT, beating 7th-seed Somerville in the quarterfinals Wednesday, 47-31. All five starters scored in double figures, led by Brook Baisley’s 17 points. Gandy Malou-Mamel and Tessa Lozner each had 12, while Maya Abramson had 11 and Sindey Quinn scored 10. Thursday, in the semis, they beat third-seed Hillsborough, 76-47, led by 18 from Quinn, while Malou-Mamel registered a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds, her 15th such feat in the 25 games she’s played this season.

TOP SCORERS:

Rutgers Prep: Mikayla Blakes (20.4 ppg, 51 treys), GiGi Battle (11.7 ppg, 12 treys), Ava LaMonica (11.3 ppg, 10 treys), Chloe Escanillas (11.1 ppg, team-best 59 treys)
Gill St. Bernard’s: Gandy Malou-Mamel (17.5 ppg), Brooke Baisley (14.3 ppg, team-best 41 treys), Sidney Quinn (10.2 ppg, 21 treys)

TOP REBOUNDERS:

Rutgers Prep: Leah Crosby (6.8), GiGi Battle (6.2)
Gill St. Bernard’s: Gandy Malou-Mamel (10.2), Sidney Quinn (6.8), Brooke Baisley (6.7)

RECENT MEETINGS: Rutgers Prep has won 22 straight against Gill St. Bernard’s – including the last two county title games – and 24 of the last 28 in the series going back to 2010. The average margin of victory for Rutgers Prep in those two finals was 27 points.

SCT HISTORY:

Rutgers Prep: Rutgers Prep coach Mary Klinger won her first Somerset County Tournament title 20 years ago, in 2004. That was her 20th season. The Argonauts have a total of nine titles, also winning in in 2008, 2011, three straight from 2015 to 2017, and three more in 2020, 2022, and last season. (In the COVID-shortened 2021 season, there was no county tournament, but there was a Skyland Conference pod series, and Rutgers Prep won the top pod over Gill, 69-41 in the final, finishing 13-0 on the season. The last time Prep lost in a final was in 2019 to Franklin; that’s also their last loss against a Somerset or Skyland Conference opponent. Overall, Rutgers Prep is 9-5 in the SCT championship game.

Gill St. Bernard’s: The Knights are no stranger to the Somerset County Tournament final. Since their first appearance in 2009 – when they beat Somerville to win it – they took four more titles, in 2010, and then three more from 2012 to 2014. Overall, they’re 5-4 in the SCT finals.

Notable: Go back to that last loss Rutgers Prep had to a Somerset County or Skyland Conference opponent. It was the 2019 Somerset County Tournament final. The loss came to Franklin, which went 32-0 that year, and won the Tournament of Champions with Diamond Miller, who’s now with Minnesota in the WNBA. She was the last five-star recruit to come out of Somerset County. That is, until Mikayla Blakes, who announced last month she’ll be taking her talents to play college ball at Vanderbilt, where she’ll also be studying to be a doctor.