Rutgers Prep frosh Hailey Benbow makes a move to the basket against Hillsborough in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals on February 15, 2025 at Franklin H.S. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Jackson Liberty High School was good to Rutgers Prep last year.
So was Seneca the year before that, and Long Branch back in 2022.
The Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team hasn’t lost a sectional final since COVID at any of those three venues, and Mary Klinger’s 2024-25 team doesn’t plan to start now.
Monday evening, they’ll play in their fifth straight Non-Public South B title game – the first in that stretch was in 2020, when they fell to Trenton Catholic – as the second-seeded Argonauts take on top-seed Gloucester Catholic at 5 pm, in a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko has the call, followed by the Prep boys at 7 pm against St. Rose in their final, with pregame for Game One starting at 4:45. Click here to listen.
Rutgers Prep is 20-6 on the season, still a solid year despite graduating three starters, and losing a fourth plus two others to transfer.
That left Ava LaMonica as the lone starter back, but with transfers like Ava Frith and Sophia Georgiades, freshman Hailey Benbow, and others, the Argonauts maybe haven’t picked up where they left off, but are right back where they belong: playing for hardware in March.
LaMonica is the leading scorer this season at 13.7 points per game, but Georgiades and Benbow have been stellar in two state tournament games so far, averaging 20.5 and 15 points per game, respectively. And Georgiades has hit ten threes in two games – five each against Holy Cross Prep in the quarterfinals and Wildwood Catholic in the semis.
For the Argonauts, the issue has been consistency. But head coach Mary Klinger scheduled their last game before the states against Morris Catholic, the team that beat them in the last two Non-Public Group B state finals.
They lost that one 90-52, but it gave her program one more look at how they stacked up against they best – at 25-0, they’re the top team in the state – but they won’t get to play them this year. The Crusaders moved up to Group A this season.
Gloucester Catholic (24-5) is also having a very good season, and since a loss in the South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament to Paul VI on February 9th, they’ve won eight straight, including taking the Tri-County Tournament Flight A title over Washington Township, 72-29.
The Rams are paced by Jahzara Green, who’s averaging over 18 points per game this season, and 17 in two state tournament games against Koinonia and Ranney. Amanda Eggers is averaging 12 a game, and also leads the team in three-point shooting with 63 triples on the season.
Click below to hear Rutgers Prep coach Mary Klinger talk about the Argonauts and the Non-Public South B final against Gloucester Catholic:
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