Tag: Corey Taite

Gill St. Bernard's celebrates a North Jersey Non-Public B championship on March 9th, 2026 (Photo: Alec Crouthamel).

March 9, 2026 by Alec Crouthamel

Gill St. Bernard’s girls take control early, defeat Saddle River Day in North Non-Public B Final

It’s a Gill St. Bernard’s sweep in Paterson!

Hours after the boys won a sectional title of their own, the top-seeded Knights (23-5) on the girls side finished the job at JFK High School, with a 57-40 win over second-seeded Saddle River Day in the North Jersey Non-Public B final.

Gill took control early on, executing at a high level on both ends of the floor. The Knights took a double-digit lead early in the second quarter and never looked back, comfortably taking the sectional title with a workmanlike effort on offense and defense.

Addy and Kaity Platt led the way for Gill, with 16 and 15 points, respectively. They both got to the basket, shot the ball, and defended at a high level, especially given the Rebels’ (19-10) ability to shoot the ball at a high level.

Point guard Melina Miller also scored in double figures with 10 points, with much of her scoring and passing production coming off drives. Junior Sadie Finn added eight points.

Emily Mattson and Grace Darling each scored 13 points to pace Saddle River Day in the loss, as Giada Celetti and Harper Cohn each scored six.

The Rebels were able to stay within arm’s reach throughout much of the first with some tough shotmaking, led by seven points in the opening frame from Darling.

The elder Platt matched that with seven of her own to open the game, as the Knights took a five-point lead.

That advantage grew incrementally throughout the second quarter, as Gill tightened up its defense and passing to operate like the well-oiled machine it’s turned into in March. It took its first double-digit lead of the night, and eventually took an eight-point lead at the half. Both Platts combined for 19 of the Knights’ 27 points, and matched the Rebels’ team total.

Gill kept its foot on the gas in the third quarter, fully taking control and pulling away with some more ball movement and drives to the rim. Miller converted on three baskets in the paint in the frame, the younger Platt added seven more points. Finn proved to be a major piece to the puzzle as well, as a switchable defender and connecting passer in both the Knights’ transition offense and half-court sets.

That all led to a 17-point lead after three quarters, and Gill cruised to the finish to win by that same number. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, as Saddle River Day kept up the energy and cut into the lead with its pressure and pace. The Knights never faltered, though, and eventually forced some turnovers in the back half of the fourth quarter to fully bury the Rebels.

Gill St. Bernard’s will advance to the Non-Public B title game, where it will face South Jersey Non-Public B champion Gloucester Catholic, which beat Rutgers Prep 44-31 Monday night. This will be the second time the two teams face off this year, with the Rams winning 60-45 at the Shore Games in December.

Click below to hear postgame reactions with Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mark Gnapp and guards Addy and Kaity Platt, presented by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:

March 9, 2026March 9, 2026 by Alec Crouthamel

Gill St. Bernard’s girls peaking at the right time for Non-Public North B title bout against Saddle River Day

Gill St. Bernard’s had plenty of re-tooling to do.

That’s to be expected when losing a senior class with as much talent and accolades as that previous class. But the Knights (21-5) trusted the development of their younger players ready to shine, and the trust was reciprocated as those same players stuck around, even in a reduced role, with the hope of starring on the floor in the near future.

The future has arrived.

Top-seeded Gill St. Bernard’s heads into the Non-Public North B final against second-seeded Saddle River Day with a versatile and dangerous group that’s also finding its stride right when it needs to. You can hear the game on Monday at 7 pm, with pregame coverage starting at roughly 6:45, as Alec Crouthamel will call the action. Click here to listen.

Addy and Kaity Platt get the primary attention — as they should, as two of the team’s top options on both ends of the floor — but it’s been a full team effort for the Knights all year long.

Other contributors, such as junior point guard Melina Miller — who paces the team with nearly six assists per game — and junior wing Sadie Finn had to wait their turn and work behind the scenes. What the rest of the public didn’t see, Gill St. Bernard’s coaching staff did. They knew they had depth waiting in the wings and it has paid off at the right time.

The Knights are playing some of their best basketball of late, working through their first two games of the sectional tournament with ease in dominant wins over Pioneer Academy and Villa Walsh.

The Rebels (19-9) present a new challenge in the sectional title. While not the deepest team, Saddle River Day does have the top-end talent to compete. 88 percent of the Rebels’ scoring comes from their top four options, and they all have stepped up to the task as a dangerous team rebounding the ball and shooting it from the perimeter.

This won’t be the first time they’re featured on Central Jersey Sports Radio, as they fell to St. Thomas Aquinas on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in January, but their go-to stars have only gotten more dangerous. Point guard Harper Cohn has fully re-acclimated to action after missing the early weeks of the season due to injury, and sophomore guard Grace Darling has turned up the heat scoring the basketball.

Both teams come into the matchup with plenty of tradition and history — Saddle River Day as one of Bergen County’s top programs, and Gill St. Bernard’s the same in Somerset County recently — but only one will come out victorious.

The Knights look for their first sectional title in 12 years, without now-closed Montclair Immaculate in the fold, who had defeated Gill in three of the last four years.

The bracket’s top two seeds have met the task all year long, and each have one more with a sectional title on the line.

Click below to hear a preview interview with Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mark Gnapp and Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:

January 18, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas to meet Saddle River Day Monday in MLK Day matinee

Believe it or not, the regular season in high school basketball is well past the halfway point, seemingly speeding its way to the county tournaments, and after that, it’ll be the states.

The St. Thomas Aquinas girls basketball team is playing some really good basketball right now, and will continue to challenge itself Monday morning when the second-ranked Trojans welcome Saddle River Day to their brand-new court in North Edison.

The two will square off in an 11 am game on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, and you can listen to it all here on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko and Alec Crouthamel will bring you all the play-by-play, with pregame set for 10:45. Click here to listen.

After starting the season 6-1, then dropping two games in the Coaches Choice Holiday Classic up at FDU in Madison over the break, Aquinas (14-3, 10-0 GMC Red National) has won eight straight. And their point production in the latter part of that span has been tremendous, averaging a hair under 81 points per game in their last five, winning by an average of 37.6 points per game.

And while some really good seniors graduated – top scorer Leah Crosby and three-point specialists Gianna Chuffo and Adrianna Summerset – there’s a ton of experience back.

Senior forward Jordan Barnes has taken over the main scoring load, averaging 17.6 points per game, while junior Leah Kearney is cleaning up on the boards, and Lauryn Downing is lighting it up from three. Trista Whitney and Kayla Navarro round out a group of five who are all averaging at least 10 points per game.

The matchup also is an intriguing one as it features two former Greater Middlesex Conference standouts. While St. Thomas Aquinas coach Tim Corrigan is a St. Joseph-Metuchen grad (who later played at Kean), Saddle River Day is led by first-year head coach Corey Taite.

His name would be familiar to GMC fans in the early and mid-2010s. Taite was a point guard at Sayreville, playing under current head coach John Wojcik, and scored 1,176 points in his career, making him the first 1,000-point scorer at the time in 15 years. (Three more have joined the club since, including current players Sam Jones and Chidi Chukwuri.)

Taite played collegiately ate Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, Delaware before heading overseas to play pro ball in Ireland. When he came back to the States, he got into coaching and liked it so much he decided his playing days were over.

Three years ago, he joined the Saddle River Day staff as an assistant, and now leads the program.

The Rebels are one of the top girls’ basketball programs in the state, and have won nine straight Bergen County Tournament titles. This year, they’ve struggled to an 8-5 start (4-1 in the NJIC) due to injuries.

Sophomore Olivia DiGiovanni – a projected starter – won’t play this year due to an ACL injury, freshman Jackie Sarkar is out with a bone bruise, and senior Madison Minicucci is out the rest of the year, too.

Even Harper Cohn – a transfer in from Mahwah with 752 career points – sat out the first three weeks or so of the season, finishing her recovery from her own ACL injury. But she’s a key part of the operation now, third on the team in scoring at 10.6 points per game. Another junior, Emily Mattson – who comes in from Union Catholic – is scoring at 12.6 per game, and also is close to joining the thousand-point club, with 813.

Sophomore Grace Darling leads the team with 19.5 points per game, 35 treys and 36 steals.

Click below to hear previews of Monday’s game with both head coaches: