Chloe Escanillas – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Mikayla Blakes, Chloe Escanillas and Zahra Alexander have a bond that few classmates at a non-public school ever have, one that saw them play together for years before they ended up at Rutgers Prep.

But what the soon-to-be-graduating seniors have done on Easton Avenue is immeasurable. A few facts:

In the four-year history of the Bellamy & Son Paving/Central Jersey Sports Radio Top Ten, they are the only team to hold that ranking, for a streak of 37 consecutive weeks in the No. 1 spot.

They won the first-ever, one-off top Skyland Conference pod in the 2021 COVID-shortened season. Since, they have won all three Somerset County Tournaments, and all three Non-Public South B titles in the state playoffs. They won the Group B title in 2022 and went to the Tournament of Champions.

*Rutgers Prep with its third straight Non-Public South B trophy, after beating St. Rose at Jackson Liberty HS on March 4, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)*

They never lost a single game to a Skyland Conference opponent, continuing a streak that started in 2019, and shows no sign of ending any time soon.

Blakes will be playing at Vanderbilt next fall, Escanillas at Marist, and Alexander at NYU. All three have contributed in varying ways to Rutgers Prep’s success, and all three helped lay the groundwork for and instill the values of hard work in younger players like Ava LaMonica and GiGi Battle – who will be juniors next season – as well as those who’ll arrive in the coming years.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mikayla Blakes, Chloe Escanillas and Zahra Alexander talk about Rutgers Prep’s 2023-24 season, and their careers with the Argonauts:

Make it 9 straight finals appearances in the Somerset County Tournament for the Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team.

The top-seeded Lady Argonauts – 20 years after head coach Mary Klinger won her first-ever county title – will now have a chance to win their fourth straight, and seventh in nine seasons, thanks to a 57-24 win over fifth-seed Franklin.

Saturday’s final will have Prep against 2nd-seed Gill St. Bernard’s, which beat 4th-seed Hillsborough 76-47 in Peapack-Gladstone Thursday evening. (Scroll down for more on that game.)

From the very first basket of the game – scored by Chloe Escanillas, who bolted like a lighting strike to the basket off the opening tip – the Argonauts were off and rolling.

It was a sign of things to come as the junior led her team with 14 points including a pair of three-pointers.

Vanderbilt commit and senior Mikayla Blakes showcased her incredible speed on the floor off a fast break to lay in a basket with just under five minutes to play in the first.

Overall, it was aggressive offense, stingy-defense, and stellar communication in the first half that had the No. 1 seed up 30-11 at the break with sophomore GiGi Battle leading the team with eight points

Franklin senior Iyanna Cotten led the Warriors (14-12) in points with 6 at the break while the team committed that many fouls in the first half and had an additional 8 fouls in the 2nd half.

Cotten finished the game with 10 points in the loss.

Sophomore guard Ava La Monica left the game midway through the first half for Rutgers Prep (20-4) after appearing to twist her left ankle.

She didn’t put any weight on her leg and had to be helped off the floor and didn’t return. Coach Klinger said Ava will be going for x-rays and her status for Saturday is unknown at this point.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Vin Ebeneau, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Rutgers Prep junior guard Chloe Escanillas

Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger

(2) Gill St. Bernard’s 76, (4) Rutgers Prep 47: The Knights led virtually wire-to-wire, ahead 24-12 on the visiting Raiders after one quarter. Gill held a 40-19 lead at the half. Four players scored in double figures for the Knights, who got 18 from Sydney Quinn, 17 from Gandy Malou-Mamel, and 10 each from Maya Abrmson and Brooke Baisley. Hillsborough (16-8) was led by Francesco Schiro’s 23 points, a game high. It’ll be the third straight trip to the finals for Gill St. Bernard’s (23-3), which made it the last two years, losing both times to Rutgers Prep, 64-35 in 2022 and 64-39 last season. Both regular season meetings went to Rutgers Prep this year, 71-46 (as heard on CJSR) on January 4th, and 68-45 on February 6th.