Six-time defending GMCT champ St. Thomas Aquinas seeks seventh straight trip to finals; can rejuvenated Colonia stop them?

The St. Thomas Aquinas and Colonia girls’ basketball teams have met twice in recent years in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament finals. Both went the Trojans’ way, as have four other trips.

But STA’s opponent in Tuesday night’s tournament semifinal hopes to end that streak. And they have reason to believe they can do it.

While this isn’t the championship game – yet – Colonia has one of the best records of any team St. Thomas has faced in the final, coming in at 19-2. Monroe’s 2020 squad – which was 22-3 heading into the title game – is they best they’ve faced.

Let’s tee it up!

You can heard Tuesday night’s semifinal game on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with tip-off down at Monroe Township High School set for 7 pm, and pregame at 6:45, immediately following the 5 pm opener between second-seed East Brunswick and third-seed Colonia. Click here to listen.

St. Thomas Aquinas (20-5) is the top-seed for good reason, and they’ve been the No. 1 seed each of the last six times they’ve won it. They are averaging a whopping 70.7 points per game, allowing 47.48. And they’ve beaten their five division opponents – East Brunswick, Piscataway, Monroe, North Plainfield and South Brunswick – by an average of 40.4 points a game.

It’s a group that’s seemingly been together forever, a rarity these days, especially at the parochial level. Senior Jordan Barnes leads the team with 16.8 points per game and 78 steals, with three others in double-figures. Fellow senior Trista Whitney is scoring 11.6, junior Lauryn Downing – who was out a bit with a dinged up ankle but returned for the GMC Tournament – is averaging 11.2 with a team-best 31 treys, and fellow junior Leah Kearney is averaging a double-double of 10.8 points and an even ten boards per game. She also has blocked a team-high 35 shots.

They do just about everything extremely well, but it’s their defense that give steams the most fits. It’s physical, fast and in-your-face, whether the head coach is Brittney Griffin – who won the first two titles in this six-year run – Joe Whalen who followed her, or current head coach Tim Corrigan, a St. Joseph-Metuchen alum who’s won the last two, and is poised for a third.

St. Thomas has won 26 straight GMC Tournament games, dating back to 2019, when the school was still called Bishop Ahr.

This is a matchup of two division champions: Aquinas in the Red American, and Colonia in the Red National. The Patriots (19-2) have just two losses on the season, and both have come to GMC Tournament semifinalists. They lost 59-48 at East Brunswick on January 29th, and at Piscataway 60-54 back on February 4th, and they’ve yet to play STA this year. But it’s a different team than last year.

For perspective, two years ago, they were without Matti Chiera, who became the all-time leading scorer at Colonia. Last year, they were without Taylor Derkack, Chiera’s partner in crime, who the year before topped Chiera’s record. It’s been a big adjustment for the program after Matti’s mom, Sandi, stepped down following Derkack’s senior season.

Now led by Jill Bachonski, in her second season, they’ve rebounded nicely off a 7-20 rebuilding year that laid the groundwork for this season, with many of the same players, just more experienced. That includes sophomore Ariana Sosa, who leads the team with 12.6 points per game, 16 blocks and 60 steals Freshman Samantha Howell is scoring 10.3 a game, and has a team-best 35 treys – one more than Sosa – while Nashaelah Hooker is the most experienced player in the starting lineup. She’s avergaing 13.4 rebounds per game and just under ten points. Junior Hailey Conklin has a team-high 59 assists.

Colonia went 14 games without a loss this season, but no doubt they learned enough about themselves facing the other two semifinalists as they did the rest of the season, just like last year was a learning experience, and a baptism-by-fire.

Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches: