No. 1 Rutgers Prep and No. 3 Gill St. Bernard’s play in Somerset on January 4, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
For the first time in the history of the Central Jersey Sports Radio/Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Rankings, there’s a new team at No. 1: Gill St. Bernard’s.
The Knights ended Rutgers Prep’s reign of 43 straight weeks in the top spot; they were the only team to hold that position since our inaugural season of 2021, the COVID-shortened year. They did it with a dominating 64-27 home win over the Argonauts, which ended their 54-game Somerset County win streak and 67-game Skyland Conference win streak,
Gill St. Bernard’s is now 11-2 on the strength of a 2-0 week – also beating No. 4 Hillsborough 72-39 Tuesday – as it moves up to No. 1, while Rutgers Prep slipped back to No. 2 at 10-3, with a Tuesday win at Franklin, 83-58, and a Saturday win over Mary Louis Academy (NY) in the Rose Classic Super Jam in Nazareth, PA, 78-71, sandwiched around the loss to Gill.
The next few teams stayed put, with few losses.
St. Thomas Aquinas (11-3) holds at No. 3 on the heels of a 2-0 week. The Trojans rebounded from Sunday’s home loss to Gill St. Bernard’s with a 95-51 win over South Brunswick Thursday, and a 91-41 victory at East Brunswick on Saturday, extending their regular season GMC winning streak to 46 games, and their overall Middlesex County win streak to 54.
Hillsborough (11-2) remains fourth on a 2-1 week. They opened with a 72-39 home loss to then-No. 2 Gill St. Bernard’s Tuesday, but followed it with a 65-19 drubbing of Phillipsburg, followed by a 71-51 win Saturday at Pingry.
Holding in fifth is Bernards (11-2). The Mountaineers were 3-for-3 last week, with a 5-0-22 win over Manville Tuesday, a 51-18 victory at South Hunterdon Thursday, and a 54-30 home win over Bound Brook on Saturday.
Somerville (10-2) remains at six, with wins over Science Park, 61-32, on Monday, and over Immaculata Thursday, 60-56. They fell Saturday at Ridge, 56-53.
And the last of four straight Somerset County teams is Pingry (9-3), which went 2-1 in the week gone by. The beat Warren Hills 60-25 on Tuesday, and Voorhees 48-45 on Thursday, both on the road, then Saturday at No. 4 Hillsborough, 71-51.
Middlesex (10-4) moved up two spots to No. 8, as the Blue Jays downed then-No. 9 Spotswood Tuesday, 38-32, then picked up a 61-40 decision at Woodbridge Thursday, before closing the week with a 41-32 home loss to Hunterdon Central. (Correction: An earlier version of this story had Middlesex with a win over Hunterdon Central.)
Moving back into the Top Ten at No. 9 is Monroe (8-5). The Falcons went 3-0 this week, beating Piscataway on Tuesday, 52-46; Highland Park on Wednesday, 66-34; then taking out Princeton 52-47 Saturday, on the road.
Spotswood drops to tenth at 11-4 after a 2-1 week. After Tuesday’s 38-32 divisional loss to the Blue Jays, they bounced back with a 55-40 win over JP Stevens, and a 66-5 victory at South River on Saturday afternoon.
Dropping out this week was previously-No. 8 South Brunswick, which lost three games this week, at Old Bridge at St. Thomas Aquinas, and at home against Hightstown.
Below is the complete Week 6 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten:
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