While Rutgers Prep has most of the same team as last year, they look very different from the 2024 squad, the last one to play in a Somerset County Tournament final, shown here against Gill St. Bernard’s on February 17, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)
Was the 2024-25 season a blip for Rutgers Prep girls basketball? Merely a speed bump in what has been a brilliant run for Mary Klinger’s program over the last 20-plus years?
It sure looks like it.
The Argonauts had won four straight titles before bowing out in last year’s semifinals to Hillsborough. And while the Raiders eventually won the state Group 4 championship, that didn’t take away the pain and heartache. And it’s probably good it didn’t, as it appears to have fueled them in 2025-26, because here they are back in the championship game.
For Franklin, it’s been a little while, They also had a great run a few years back, winning the Tournament of Champions in 2019 and 2019, and the Somerset County Tournament in 2018 and ’19, going 34-0 in that double-title season.
The two will face off Saturday afternoon at 1 pm – top-seed Rutgers Prep and third-seed Franklin – in the Somerset County Tournament Girls’ Championship Game at Montgomery High School in Skillman. Pregame is set for at 12:45, with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas calling all the action; click here to listen. That game will be followed by the boys’ title tilt at 3 pm between top-seed Gill St. Bernard’s and second-seed Rutgers Prep.
Adding to the intrigue here is that the Warriors are on their third coach in four years, now led by Jimmy Kreie, who had a successful six-year run at Montclair-Immaculate, going 116-42 before the school shut down, and that their longtime coach before Darryl Robinson (the two seasons prior to Kreie), Audrey Taylor, is now an assistant for Rutgers Prep.
Taylor and Argos’ coach Mary Klinger – now in her 42nd season at the Somerset school on Easton Ave. – have been friends for years. After a couple of seasons taking a break and stepping away from coaching high school, Taylor has joined the bench, and has been an invaluable part of Klinger’s staff.
Either way, Saturday should be a great matchup between two top Somerset County programs, even if Franklin had been a bit down the past couple of seasons. Those results should be irrelevant when you consider that they had to knock off the two-seed to get here: defending champion Gill St. Bernard’s. Despite losing a slew of talent, the Knights have been solid again this year, got a top-seed in their playoff section, and even beat GMC juggernaut St. Thomas Aquinas on their home floor.
Franklin is no joke. Rutgers Prep learned the hard way last season against Hillsborough. Whether they learned from their painful lesson in 2025 will be on display over at least 32 minutes Saturday afternoon.
MORE ON THE SOMERSET COUNTY TOURNAMENT GIRLS’ FINAL:
(1) Rutgers Prep (22-3) vs. (3) Franklin (18-7)
When: Saturday, 1 pm
Where: Montgomery Township High School
Broadcast Team: Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas (LISTEN HERE)
COACHES:
Rutgers Prep: Mary Klinger (42nd season, 754-266)
Franklin: Jimmy Kreie (1st season, went 116-42 in six seasons at Montclair-Immaculate)
PREVIEW INTERVIEWS:
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Rutgers Prep: Getting a double bye in the tournament beans the Argonauts officially began play in the round of eight quarterfinals. There, they smoked ninth-seed Watchung Hills, 73-30, getting 22 points and six rebounds from senior Ava LaMonica, with another 13 each from Natalia Valdez and Hailey Benbow. But the Argonauts got much more of a challenge from fifth-seed Bound Brook in last Saturday’s semifinals. They escaped with a 55-49 win in a game this very same team, a year ago, might have lost. Crusader freshman phenom Peytan Pugh was a big reason why the game was competitive, with 23 points and seven rebounds, but more importantly eight steals, many of which came in the second half as Bound Brook made it quite the game. But the Argonauts were balanced that afternoon, with Benbow scoring 11, Valdez and Sophia Goergiades adding ten each, and LaMonica scoring nine points in the game.
Franklin: Jamila McRiney was the top scorer in the Warriors’ quarterfinal win over sixth-seed Pingry, 45-33, also grabbing eight rebounds and going 7-of-10 at the foul line, but the semifinals belonged to Franklin’s best player, Aleah Sunkins. The junior had a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds, with a trey, and going 5-of-7 at the foul line in a 53-49 upset win over No. 2 seed Gill St. Bernard’s the tournament’s defending champion, snapping their four-year streak of finals’ appearances, and clinching their first trip to the SCT title game since they beat Rutgers Prep in 2019.
TOP SCORERS:
Rutgers Prep: Hailey Benbow (sophomore, 13.4 ppg, 21 treys), Ava LaMonica (senior, 12.2 ppg, 10 treys), Sophia Georgiades (senior, 9.1 ppg, team-best 30 treys)
Franklin: Aleah Sunkins (junior, 17.8 ppg, 27 treys), Aliva Stewart (8.6 ppg), Alissa Myers (8.5 ppg, 46 treys)
TOP REBOUNDERS:
Rutgers Prep: Hailey Benbow (6.4), Ava LaMonica (3.6)
Franklin: Aleah Sunkins (10.6), Aliva Stewart (6.5)
MISCELLANEOUS:
Rutgers Prep: Hailey Benbow (60 assists, 59 steals), Ava LaMonica (56 assists, 41 steals), Hannah Fraser (25 blocks)
Franklin: Aleah Sunkins (85 assists, 49 blocks, 53 steals) Jamila McRiney, Kayla Duncan (58 assists), Nola Bright (27 blocks), Alissa Myers (47 steals)
RECENT MEETINGS: Rutgers Prep has won the last 11 in this series, with its last loss against Franklin coming in the 2019 Somerset County Tournament title game. That eleven-game stretch includes Argo wins in the 2023 and 2024 SCT semifinals, and a regular season meeting in the Metro Classic at Franklin in 2024. The Warriors won three in a row before that stretch, and two were in the county finals. Franklin beat Prep in the 2018 title game, before reaching the Tournament of Champions final a year after its first TOC crown. They beat Prep the next year in the regular season, and again in the SCT title tilt, 63-49, en route to one of the greatest public school seasons of all-time, a 34-0 record and a second TOC championship.
SOMERSET COUNTY TOURNAMENT HISTORY:
Rutgers Prep (10-4):
- 2004: (2) Rutgers Prep beat (1) Immaculata 34-32
- 2005: (1) Hillsborough beat (3) Rutgers Prep 40-29
- 2006: (5) Hillsborough beat (2) Rutgers Prep 51-45
- 2008: (1) Rutgers Prep beat (2) Watchung Hills 38-34
- 2011: (1) Rutgers Prep beat (6) Bridgewater-Raritan 62-56
- 2012: (1) Gill St. Bernard’s beat (6) Rutgers Prep 57-45
- 2015: Rutgers Prep beat Franklin 52-46
- 2016: Rutgers Prep beat Gill St. Bernard’s 41-28
- 2017: Rutgers Prep beat Gill St. Bernard’s 62-35
- 2018: Franklin beat Rutgers Prep 68-49
- 2019: Franklin beat Rutgers Prep 63-49
- 2020: (1) Rutgers Prep beat (3) Watchung Hills 60-34
- 2022: (1) Rutgers Prep beat (2) Gill St. Bernard’s 64-35
- 2023: (1) Rutgers Prep beat (2) Gill St. Bernard’s 64-39
- 2024: (1) Rutgers Prep beat (2) Gill St. Bernard’s 58-55
Franklin (2-3):
- 2013: Gill St. Bernard’s beat Franklin 63-57
- 2014: Gill St. Bernard’s beat Franklin 55-51
- 2015: Rutgers Prep beat Franklin 52-46
- 2018: Franklin beat Rutgers Prep 68-49
- 2019: Franklin beat Rutgers Prep 63-49
OTHER NOTES:
Looking for more: Since the merger of the Somerset County Tournament from an A and B Tournament to one event in 1988, Immaculata has won the most titles with 12, followed by Rutgers Prep with ten. The Spartans won four straight from 1991-1994, then had a five-year run from 1999 to 2003.
Another for the publics: Last year, Hillsborough became the first public school to make the Somerset County girls’ final since Watchung Hills did it in 2020, falling to Rutgers Prep, 60-34. Now, Franklin is the second public school to gain a finals berth in as many years. The last time it happened was when they won those titles in 2018 and 2019 over Rutgers Prep. They also made three-in-a-row from 2013 through 2015, losing all three. The last besides them was Bridgewater-Raritan, which lost in 2010 to Gill St. Bernard’s and Rutgers Prep in 2011.
Two new teams: With Rutgers Prep facing Franklin in the title game, it’s the first time in a while the SCT championship will not feature a defending champion and a returning finalist, as neither 2025 champion Gill St. Bernard’s nor runner-up Franklin are in it. So, when was the last time that happened? It was 17 years ago, in 2009. Rutgers Prep beat Watchung Hills in the 2008 final, and it was Gill over Somerville the next year in the 2009 title tilt.
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