Schiro, Loniewski reaching more milestones at Hillsborough, picking up where Raiders left off

The 2023-24 basketball season was a historic one for the Hillsborough girls’ team.

Going 21-9, the Lady Raiders claimed the school’s first-ever sectional title, when they beat Elizabeth at home, 59-46, on March first.

Under the question, “What do you do for an encore?” the answer for Hillsborough might very well be, “Do it again.” After all, they return all five starters from last year’s team.

In fact, only two seniors – who contributed just 22 points, or 1.2 percent of last year’s scoring – are gone.

That means among the returning players are Francesca Schiro, the team’s leading scorer, who finished with a 20.6 point per game average last year.

There’s also Mya Loniewksi, who averaged 13.4 points per game, while dishing out a whopping 131 assists.

No doubt, Hillsborough knows how to share the ball, and share the love.

This season, both those players reached new milestones. Loniewksi joined the 1,000 point club on a late free throw in a Linden in the season opener on December 14th.

And against Madison last Saturday, Schiro became the all-time leading girls’ scorer at Hillsborough, surpassing the 1,455 point standard set in 1986 by Jinny Gill Strawderman, who was also a star softball player, and attended Brown University, becoming one of the school’s all-time top three-point shooters.

Schiro is about 100 points away from another milestone, breaking the all-time school record. The boys’ top mark is currently held by Kevin Ryan, who also graduated in 1986.

All that is fun stuff for the two and their teammates, but their sights are set higher.

Maybe a Somerset County Tournament championship is in the cards? Their last came in 2006, the second of back-to-back finals wins over Rutgers Prep.

Or maybe a sectional championship again? The Raiders are back into Central Jersey Group 4 this year, moving out of North 2, but still should be considered a favorite in whatever section they’re in.

Click below to hear Hillsborough senior Francesco Schiro – a Siena commit – talk about this year’s Raiders with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

Hillsborough (4-0) is back in action at home Friday afternoon when the Lady Raiders take on Ewing at 2:30 pm (1-3).