No big surprises in GMC Tournament seeding as St. Thomas Aquinas girls earn No. 1 seed

Winners of six straight GMC Tournaments, the St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ basketball team was awarded the No. 1 seed in this year’s event at the seeding meeting at Spotswood High School Friday morning.

St. Thomas has won those half-dozen titles under three different coaches, Brittney Griffin in 2019 and 2020, Joe Whalen in 2022 and 2023, and current mentor Tim Corrigan each of the last two seasons.

The Trojans are 17-4, and won the GMC Red American title, going undefeated in league play.The tournament seeding was a little different this year with six divisions and more crossovers, and no seeds were guaranteed. Previously, when the GMC had four divisions, each division winner was guaranteed at least a top eight seed.

After Aquinas, the rest of the top eight seeds went to East Brunswick at two, followed by Piscataway and Colonia, then Spotswood at the five, followed by Woodbridge, Monroe and Middlesex. The top eight seeds get byes into the first round, which will be played next Wednesday at higher seeds.

With only 31 teams in the tournament due to Somerset Tech, Timothy Christian and Perth Amboy Magnet opting out, teams 10 through 17 got byes in Saturday’s play-in round, and will play preliminary round games next Monday. Those teams include Old Bridge ninth, followed by North Plainfield at ten, then Edison, South Plainfield, JP Stevens, and South Brunswick at 14. Seeds 15 through 17 were Carteret, Sayreville and Perth Amboy.

Saturday’s play-in round will be played at higher seeds, with times TBD. The matchups are: