Alexis Lease-Springer – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Unless St. Thomas Aquinas is involved, nearly every girls’ basketball game in the GMC Red Division this season has been competitive.

The first time Old Bridge and South Brunswick met down on Route 516, the Knights came back from a ten-point deficit after three quarters to win 46-43.

So, the fact that South Brunswick again led by ten at the end of three “wasn’t lost” on the Vikings, according to head coach Ryan Murphy. Trailing 11-4 early, they put together a great run in the second and took a 22-16 lead at the half they would never relinquish, en route to a 51-34 Senior Night win heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

While the comeback and rally spanned the second and third quarters, after halftime was where South Brunswick really stepped on the gas, getting to the basket with ease as they had better ball movement on offense, opening up lands to drive to the hoop.

The three senior starters all were in double-figures for the Vikings (10-9, 8-5 GMC Red). Alexis Lease-Springer had 17 to lead all scorers, while Avery Jenne added 15 and Madison Rorie had 12.

It was Lease-Springer’s three to end the third, though, that was a real backbreaker. When the ball popped out of bounds of Old Bridge underneath the basket with 2.9 seconds to go, South Brunswick ran a play to get the ball to Alexis, who hit nothing but twine with a wide-open look.

Old Bridge (9-9, 4-9 GMC Red) was led by senior Adriana Misciagna with 14.

Click below for postgame reaction with South Brunswick senior Alexis Lease-Springer and head coach Ryan Murphy, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Ask any coach, and they’ll tell you their team needs to play its best basketball when it matters most.

Well, that’s exactly what South Brunswick is doing.

The 7th-seeded Vikings (17-6) pulled off their second straight upset win Tuesday night, downing 3rd-seed Colonia 57-49 in the semifinals of the Greater Middlesex Conference Girls’ Basketball Tournament. South Brunswick will carry a seven-game winning streak into its first GMC Finals appearance since 2017, and try to win its first title since 2012.

You can hear that game Friday against top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas – a winner in the nightcap over East Brunswick – on Central Jersey Sports Radio as we broadcast the girls’ and boys’ championship doubleheader starting with the girls’ title tilt at 6 pm. Click here to listen to Mike Pavlichko call all the action.

Vikings’ freshman Alexis Lease-Springer led the way with 18 points, including nine of her team’s 19 first-half points as Colonia led for the entirety of the opening half.

MORE COVERAGE: South Brunswick girls pull off big upset in GMCT quarterfinals, knocking off Monroe

The Patriots — who entered the night on a 14-game winning streak, but fall to 22-3 — capitalized on South Brunswick’s poor shooting start, growing a first-half lead as large as nine points. Colonia’s Taylor Derkack scored 13 of her game-high 21 points in the opening half.

But South Brunswick mounted a 12-2 run that bridged halftime, claiming its first lead with five minutes left in the third quarter.

It was the first of nine lead changes as the teams traded basket for basket for much of the second half. But South Brunswick closed the game on a 15-6 run over the final 3:30, most of which came at the free-throw line.

The Vikings were perfect on all 12 of their free throws over the game’s final 100 seconds, staving off a late Colonia run. South Brunswick junior Katie Rausch scored all 14 of her points in second half, six of which came as part of the Vikings’ free-throw spree.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Dom Savino with postgame reaction from South Brunswick’s win