Cesci Schiro – Central Jersey Sports Radio

For the past two years, the Hillsborough girls’ basketball team has been rewriting the record books.

Last year, they won the program’s first-ever state sectional title. Last year’s team finished 21-9, and beat Elizabeth in a surprise North 2, Group 4 title game at home, thanks to upsets elsewhere in the bracket.

This year, they rewrote more history. Cesci Schrio became the all-time leading scorer in school history, girls or boys. The won another sectional title, this time as the No. 1 seed, and this time in Central Jersey Group 4, beating the No. 2 team in the Greater Middlesex Conference, Monroe, in the finals.

And for good measure, they had more up their sleeve. After topping Cherokee in the Group 4 semifinals, they went to the state Group 4 championship game and faced a familiar opponent: a West Orange team they’d beaten on the road, 58-54, less than a month earlier.

And they won again, this time by three, to finish as Group 4 champions, the No. 1 public school in the NJSIAA’s group of biggest schools in the state.

Where they finish in the state rankings is irrelevant. They went from start to finish, to the last game of the entire season in the state, and brought home another piece of hardware.

Hope they’ve got a bigger budget for the trophy case.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Hillsborough’s three key seniors – Cesci Schiro, Maya Loniewski, and Reghan Bice – as well as head coach Courtney Tierney:

Last year, the Hillsborough girls’ basketball team won its first state sectional title in school history, beating Elizabeth to win North 2, Group 4.

One more win, and they’re going to go back-to-back.

Senior Cesci Schiro scored a game-high 29 points – including 15 from the free throw line – as the top-seeded Raiders beat fifth-seed Franklin, 68-55, Wednesday night in Hillsborough in the Central Jersey Group 4 semifinals. The teams had split their two regular season meetings, ‘Boro winning by three, the Warriors later winning by four.

But this Hillsborough team has gotten even better since the start of the season, and they were already pretty good to begin with. They beat Rutgers Prep in the Somerset County Tournament semis to make their first county final since 2006.

Now, they’re in the sectional finals for a second straight year, albeit in a different section.

Hillsborough had trouble hitting from beyond they arc, but they made up for it getting in the paint, drawing fouls, and hitting free throws. They were 29-of-38 from the stripe.

Hillsborough (23-6) will take on second-seed Monroe (20-9) Saturday at 1:30 pm in the final, after the Falcons topped third-seed Hightstown, 53-30.

(Note: The Central Jersey Group 4 final had been announced at Hillsborough High School as a noon start, but the game was moved to 1:30 pm to accommodate SAT testing.)

Franklin’s season ends at 11-16.

Click below for postgame reaction from Hillsborough senior Cesci Schiro and head coach Courtney Tierney, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen: