St. Thomas Aquinas girls still the team to beat in Greater Middlesex Conference in 2025-26

It’s been so long since someone else won the GMC Girls’ Basketball Tournament, that the team that has won the last six straight went by a completely different name when that streak began.

Not counting the four-team (actually three, due to illness) mini pod in the COVID-shortened 2021 season (Monroe won it), St. Thomas Aquinas has won every year going back to 2019, when it was still called Bishop Ahr. The wildest part is that was two coaches ago: Brittney Griffin won two in 2019 and 2020, then Joe Whalen won a pair in 2022 and 2023, and current head coach Tim Corrigan – who was on Whalen’s staff – has won the last two.

Little is expected to be different this year: the Trojans will be the heavy favorite to win the league again, with a slew of talent coming back.

Gone are Gianna Chuffo, Leah Crosby, Adrianna Summersett and Morgan Kotka to graduation but there are plenty more household names returning.

Trista Whitney – who led the team in scoring last season at 12.9 ppg, dishing out four assists per game, and hit 33 treys – is back for her senior season, and Lauren Downing (9 ppg, 5 apg) is back as a junior. Then, there’s also Kayla Navarro and Leah Kearney, as well as Jordan Barnes, who was second on the team in scoring last season at 10.w points per game, adding 35 triples.

Then, there are newcomers: 5-9 junior Sydney Joseph (16.5 ppg, 32 treys) transfers in from North Brunswick for more scoring power. Liana Lopena (10 ppg, 39 treys) comes in from Brick Memorial of the Shore Conference.

Click below to hear St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball coach Tim Corrigan preview the 2025-26 season with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

St. Thomas Aquinas will be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio on Monday, January 19, when they entertain Saddle River Day at 5 pm.