Final CJSR regular season broadcast pits No. 2 vs. No. 3 as St. Thomas Aquinas girls visit Gill St. Bernard’s

A matchup between St. Thomas Aquinas and Gill St. Bernard’s is rare.

While the two prominent girls’ basketball programs met last year, with Gill claiming a 67-54 win last January 12th in the Coaches’ Choice St. Thomas College Challenge on the Trojans’ home floor, the last time they had played was in 2008, a three-point win for the Knights.

Gill has a different look this season, graduating a slew of talent like Gandy Malou-Mamel (UConn), Sidney Quinn (Naval Academy) and others. But yet, they’re back where they’ve always been – near the top of the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, with a good shot at defending their Somerset County Tournament crown.

St. Thomas, on the other hand, has a lot of they key parts back, with a starting lineup that is averaging at least ten points per game each, a team which Gill St. Bernard’s coach Mark Gnapp knows you can’t just limit one or two girls, you have to play the whole team.

It’s an intriguing late-season regular season matchup, a good tune-up for the county tournaments and state tourney that are just down the road. And you can hear it on Central Jersey Sports Radio Tuesday evening, with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas on the call. Tip off is at 5:30 pm up in Peapack-Gladstone, with pregame at 5:15. Click here to listen.

The one big question is whether junior point guard Lauryn Downing will play. She’s been bothered by an ankle injury, and has missed the last two games at Columbia and against Rumson-Fair Haven Sunday. Both were wins, and the Trojans did just fine, but head coach Tim Corrigan calls her “one of the best point guards in New Jersey,” and he’d sure like to have her Tuesday night.

Senior Jordan Barnes paces the Trojans in scoring, with a 16.5 point per game average. The rest of the leaders are spread out. Downing averages 6.4 assists per game, and leads the squad with 68 steals and 24 triples. Then Leah KEarney (11.1 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (10.4 per game) and has a team-best 28 blocks.

For Gill, senior guard Addy Platt has taken the scoring baton, averaging 18.3 points per game, while also leading the team with 42 blocks and 77 steals. Younger sister Kaity, a junior, leads at 6.8 rebounds per game, while Melina Miller has a team best 96 assists, and freshman Naima Morales-Solivan has a team-best 20 treys.

St. Thomas hasn’t lost at all in 2026, having won 11 straight, all in the New Year, while Gill had won a dozen in a row before last Thursday’s 51-44 loss at Rutgers Prep, in a game that decided the Skyland Conference Delaware Division title. Aquinas is the GMC Red American champion, its ninth straight division title dating to 2019. (Division champs were not crowned in the COVID-shortened season of 2021.)

Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches: