Senior Sophia Georgiades joined the 1,000-point club with 24 points as No.1 Rutgers Prep overcame an early deficit and beat No. 7 Franklin, 82-62, to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Click below to listen to Alec Crouthamel call all the play-by-play from Rutgers Preparatory School in Somerset, NJ, on December 15, 2025.
For the second time in two games (and two days), No. 1 Rutgers Prep girls basketball fell behind early against a fast-paced opponent.
And for the second time, the Argonauts (2-0) rebounded almost immmediately and took control.
Rutgers Prep took control at the end of the first quarter and never looked back, defeating No. 7 Franklin 82-62 in the Warriors’ (0-1) season opener, and first game under new head coach Jimmy Kreie.
It wasn’t all easy, though.
Franklin stormed ahead to an 8-0 lead in the early minutes, helped by multiple Argonauts turnovers, and looked to be firing on all cylinders in the early goings.
That’s when senior guard Sophia Georgiades got going.
Coming into the night with 994 career points and a 3-for-12 shooting night against Morris Catholic on Sunday, Georgiades was itching to get going 24 hours later. She did, and then some. She scored 12 points in the opening quarter — including a pull-up three-pointer to give her 1,001 for her career, leading to a timeout and recognition from her teammates and crowd — and helped keep Rutgers Prep afloat, finishing the frame with a 28-23 lead. The Boston University signee finished with a game-high 24 points on the night.
The Argonauts’ vaunted 1-3-1 zone helped contain Franklin’s offense, though the Warriors were still able to get going and finished the first half with 37 points. Junior Aleah Sunkins led the team with 22 points, while sophomore Nola Bright scored 12. Kreie’s team came out firing, and appear to have a style and system in place, as well as standout veterans to keep the team going.
And then, after halftime, some of Rutgers Prep’s other top pieces got going.
Sophomore wing Hailey Benbow dealt with foul trouble in a frustrating first half for her, but caught fire in the third quarter. She scored 12 points of her own in the frame, and finished a point shy of Georgiades with 23 on the night, getting countless transition opportunities in a much-improved defensive effort in the second half.
Each time Franklin would cut into the lead — including instances in the third and fourth quarters where it got within 12 — the Argonauts would force a turnover or hit a three-pointer to keep the lead at a comfortable level for the rest of the game. Junior Natalia Valdez also finished with 10 points to aid the scoring, and sophomore Bri Duque set a career-high for the second straight game with eight points.
Through two games, Rutgers Prep has defeated two quality opponents, with the team’s chemistry and continuity playing a big-time role in both, as the Argonauts did not lose a player to graduation or transferring at all.
As the team gets fully healthy — seniors Ava Frith and Ava LaMonica are both playing through injuries — Rutgers Prep appears primed to contend for a Somerset County title once again, after missing out on the championship game for the first time since 2014 last year. The track record speaks for itself.
Click below for postgame reaction with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
The only thing unfamiliar for the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball new No. 1 Rutgers Prep girls basketball team this year is how last year’s tournament season unfolded, missing the Somerset County Tournament final for the first time since 2014. Pretty much everything else — down to the players on the roster, with no outgoing seniors or transfers — has remained the status quo. And that’s a very high bar to maintain.
Meanwhile, for No. 7 Franklin, there is plenty of unknown to anticipate, with a new championship-winning head coach and players stepping into elevated roles, while developing the existing talent from the recent two years.
The teams will clash in an inter-township battle on Easton Avenue for the Warriors’ season-opener under new head coach Jimmy Kreie, who takes over for former coach and assistant Darryl Robinson, while the home Argonauts already have a game under their belt. That game will tip off at 5:30 pm from Rutgers Prep, and you can hear it live on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Alec Crouthamel calling all the action, and coverage starting at 5:15. Click here to listen.
The Argonauts come into this matchup at 1-0 on the year after a 52-40 win over Morris Catholic on Sunday in the NJBCA Tip-Off Showcase. That victory gave the Crusaders their first in-state loss in nearly three years, since a 76-44 loss to Paul VI and Notre Dame star Hannah Hidalgo in January of 2023.
The winning effort did not come without its fair share of adversity, either. Morris Catholic stormed ahead on a 12-2 run to open the game, and eventually ended the opening quarter up 12-4. Rutgers Prep hit back with its own response immediately after, however, going on a 16-2 run to head into halftime with a lead. The Argonauts ultimately pulled away to win by double digits, led by senior point guard Ava LaMonica’s 15 points and a 16-point, 16-rebound double-double from sophomore forward Hailey Benbow.
42nd-year head coach Mary Coyle-Klinger has plenty of talent at her disposal as per usual, all of which return from last year. That includes seniors Ava Frith and Sophia Georgiades — who sits just six points away from 1,000 in her career — and plenty of underclassmen contributors such as juniors Natalia Valdez and Hannah Fraser, as well as sophomores Maeve Hoebich and Brooke Bredeson, who Coyle-Klinger is “thrilled” to have on board after a breakout season for the Argonauts’ top-ranked soccer team.
The Warriors, on the other hand, open the season after an exciting summer, with scoring talent and athleticism all over the roster.
Leading the way is junior Aleah Sunkins, who finished as the team’s leading scorer and rebounder as a sophomore, and continued to improve over the offseason. She won’t do it alone, though.
Franklin’s senior guard trio of Kayla Duncan, Gianna Mattia, and Alissa Myers will all be trusted to handle the opposing defensive pressure late in games. Junior Alivia Stewart and sophomore Nola Bright will handle the grunt work, playing hounding defense and rebounding the ball, and junior Anaiyah Martin serves as the team’s “lightning rod of energy.”
Much like their opponent, the Warriors also have their fair share of strong soccer players who “never run out of gas,” according to Kreie.
Speaking of, Franklin’s new coach joins the fray after a Non-Public B title at now-closed Montclair Immaculate, including a defeat of upcoming Somerset County foe Gill St. Bernard’s in the semifinals. Kreie racked up an impressive 116-42 record in six years at the Essex County school, and has an even longer track record spanning nearly two decades in the AAU ranks.
Most important to Kreie? The community has fully bought into his new program, as he and Athletic Director Anthony Brito have been in lockstep since taking the job over the summer.
But all of that goes out the window once the ball is lofted into the air Monday night, as two talented teams in Somerset County will battle it out for early-season bragging rights.
Click below for previews of the Rutgers Prep-Franklin game in the opening game of CJSR’s girls basketball season with both head coaches, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:
No doubt defending Non-Public B State Champion Morris Catholic took a heavy graduation hit when twins Mia and Mya Pauldo got their diplomas last spring, but Rutgers Prep’s win over the Crusaders Sunday in the NJBCA Tip-Off Classic – handing them their first loss to a New Jersey school since 2023 – has put the Lady Argonauts back to the top of the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten for Week One.
Rutgers Prep didn’t graduate a single player from last year’s team, but got a double-double from Hailey Benbow – 16 points and 16 rebounds – as well as 15 points and three steals from Ava LaMonica in a 52-40 win over Morris Catholic at home Sunday afternoon. They have a quick turnaround to Monday night, when they open Skyland Conference Delaware Division play against No. 7 Franklin.
The Argonauts’ move to No. 1 also dovetails with the preseason No. 1, Gill St. Bernard’s, taking a 49-42 loss to Westfield in the same NJBCA Tip-Off Challenge at Rutgers Prep. Seniors Kaity and Addy Platt led the Knights with 14 and 13 points, respectively, in defeat, as Gill drops to No. 2.
St. Thomas Aquinas holds in third, after splitting a pair of games at the Electric City Madness event up in Scranton. The Trojans lost to Crestwood (PA) Saturday in the opener, 62-54, but came back to beat Scranton (PA), 64-46, Sunday afternoon behind a double-double of 24 points and eleven rebounds from Jordan Barnes, and 13 points – including three treys – from Kayla Navarro.
Hillsborough remains at No. 4, opening its season Saturday at Princeton Day with a 55-33 victory. the defending Group 4 champion Raiders got 16 points – including four treys – from Victoria Liedl, as well as 15 points and ten rebounds from Alexa Gaspar, and eleven points and five steals from Isabella Ruh.
On a light opening weekend, mainly at showcase events, the rest of the Top Ten didn’t play, so everyone else from five through ten remain in the same positions, including Bernards at No. 5, followed by Somerville, Franklin, Monroe, East Brunswick, and Spotswood.
Bernards will open its season Tuesday at North Hunterdon, while Somerville visits College Achieve Central in North Plainfield. Franklin travels across town to No. 1 Rutgers Prep for a 5:30 tip of a game that can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with Alec Crouthamel calling all the action. Click here to listen.
Here’s the complete Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten for Week 1:
For the first time since Central Jersey Sports Radio’s initial season of high school basketball coverage in the COVID-shortened 2021 campaign, there’s someone else besides Rutgers Prep beginning the year at No. 1: Gill St. Bernard’s.
The Knights won the Somerset County Tournament in 2025, their first county title since 2014, which also was the last time Rutgers Prep missed the county final before last season, when they were knocked out in the semifinals by Hillsborough.
All that considered, Gill St. Bernard’s earned the No. 1 spot in the 2025-26 preseason Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten. Gill finsihed 23-5 last year, sharing the Skyland Conference Delaware Division with Rutgers Prep, having split their two games. The Knights also reached the Non-Public North B Finals.
However, they’ll look to reload as they graduated several key players, including leading scorer and rebounder Gandy Malou-Mamel, who’s now playing at UConn. Fellow seniors Tessa Lozner, Maya Abramson, Sidney Quinn and Cassidy Moore all graduate, while the top returning scorer is senior Addy Platt, who contributed 10.1 points per game last year, and led the team with 61 steals.
Rutgers Prep is second in the rankings, after finishing last season 20-7. The Argonauts reached the Non-Public South B final, but unlike Gill, return all five starters. Among them is senior and 2024-25 leading scorer Ava LaMonica, with 13.4 points per game, and a team-best 65 steals and 81 assists. Ava Frith (9.1 ppg) and Sophia Georgiades (11.6 ppg, 60 steals) also return for their senior seasons.
In third is St. Thomas Aquinas, which finished 23-7 last year, steamrolling its way through the GMC Red Division by more than 40 points per game. They Trojans won the GMC Tournament again – their sixth straight title going back to 2019 – and will graduate some key seniors like Gianna Chuffo (9.8 ppg), Leah Crosby (15.7 ppg), and Adrianna Summersett (6.1 ppg), but also bring back a good deal of talent. Trista Whitney (12.9 ppg, 6 rpg, 121 assists) is back for her senior year, as is post Jordan Barnes (10.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg), as well as juniors Lauryn Downing and Leah Kearney, all of whom played significant minutes last season.
Hillsborough makes won its first-ever sectional championship, then went all the way and won the state Group 4 championship at Rutgers, finishing 26-6 on the season. They also knocked off Rutgers Prep in the SCT semifinals and reached the county title game for the first time since 2006. The Lady Raiders lose a ton, however, including all-time leading scorer – girls’ or boys’ – Francesca Schiro (21.1 ppg), who’s now at Siena and leading the team in scoring as a rookie. Mya Loniewski (11.6 ppg) and Reghan Bice (5.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg) also graduated, with sophomore center Isabella Ruh the most significant returnee, having scored 9.8 points per game last season, and grabbing 6.1 rebounds per contest.
Checking in at No. 5 is Bernards, which won the Skyland Conference Mountain Division, followed by Somerville at No. 6, which won the Skyland Valley Division. Both finished 23-6 and went to sectional semifinals, the Mountaineers in North 2, Group 2, the Pioneers in North 2, Group 3. Bernards returns top scorer and rebounder Aletha Reynolds (16.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg) for her senior year, along with second-leading scorer Jasmine Kelleher (82. ppg) for her junior season. Somerville returns senior Kaylee Lauber, who led the team with 16.4 points per game, but No. 2 Charlotte Taylor (11.5 ppg, team-best 5 apg) is gone to graduation.
In seventh is Franklin, which has been previously unranked before making it into the final rankings last season at 11-16, a tough out which plays in the tough Skyland Delaware with Rutgers Prep, Gill St. Bernard’s and Hillsborough. A young Aleah Sunkins scored 16 points per game and grabbed 9.3 boards per contest in her sophomore year, and with more experience, the Warriors could make moves. Their lone senior to graduate was Precious Wheeler (6 ppg, 5.9 rpg).
2025 GMC Tournament runner-up Monroe checks in at eight. The Falcons finished 20-10 last season and not only reached the GMC title game, but also the Central Jersey Group 4 final, where they ran into juggernaut Hillsborough. They lose one of the program’s greats in Evangelina Francisco (20.7 ppg) to graduation. The GMC is Aquinas and everyone else, but the Falcons should be high among the “everyone else” category.
Making its debut in the rankings at No. 9 is East Brunswick, which was 13-14 last season. But they were young and are expected to be one of the better GMC teams in the higher divisions this season, having talked to a few coaches around the league. Ava Catanho (17.3 ppg) led the Lady Bears in scoring last year as a freshman, and other key contributors also return.
And Spotswood rounds out the group in tenth. The Chargers finished second in the GMC White last season at 18-8, but champion Middlesex lost its two best players to graduation, including all-time leading scorer Jess Devine and Mallory Gianchilia, so the Blue Jays fall out of the final rankings from last season. As for Spotswood, they return Gabrielle Hill, a junior who was a starter a year ago, and led the team with 15.4 points per game. The downside is they also lose senior Lizzie Calandruccio (14.6 ppg) to graduation.
Here’s the complete preseason Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten:
Junior quarterback Jah’naad Cady rushed for two touchdowns – including the game winner from seven yards out as time expired – to earn a hard-fought 33-28 win at Edison in a back-and-forth affair.
Click below to listen to Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe call all the play-by-play live from Matthew Drwal Stadium in Edison, NJ, on September 26, 2025:
Minor league baseball runs a lot of promotions and gimmicks, one of which is a baseball bingo card, with all different kinds of plays. Some are simple, some are complicated.
If you had one of those for Friday’s high school football game between Edison and Franklin, everyone would have won. This one had something for everyone.
Interceptions. Penalties. Tipped balls. Fumbles. A fumble where Franklin lost it with a pick, Edison got it, and Franklin got it back on the same play.
Edison, down 27-20 with 4:24 to play after a 12-yard TD run by Franklin’s Jah’naad Cady, answered with a long drive and five-yard touchdown run by Shaun Garland with just over 46 seconds to play. The extra point put them up 28-27, but they probably should have been down more.
That’s because Franklin, on its previous touchdown, lined up for a PAT, got called for delay of game, called another timeout, then picked up another delay of game call. Now, 13 yards from the end zone, staring at a 30-yard PAT, went for two and failed.
But Franklin got the ball back, with one time outs left, and got a big pass play to Amir Glover – after callig their final time out – to set them up first and goal at the seven. But with no time outs – and not even enough time for a short run out of bounds – Cady made the game his.
He saw open field to his left, threaded through two Edison defenders, and left them on the turf as he crossed the goal line with the clock reading :00.
33-28, Franklin over Edison.
It was the Warriors first win against Edison since their first meeting in 2020, a 7-6 victory. Edison had won three since and leads the all-time series 3-2.
Franklin is now 3-2, 1-1 in the Big Central National Silver Division heading into next Friday’s game at Plainfield. Edison drops to 1-4, 1-2 in the division. The Eagles visit Colonia next week.
Click below for postgame reaction from Franklin QB Jah’naad Cady and head coach Blair Wilson, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:
Four weeks into Blair Wilson’s fourth season as Franklin’s head coach, it’s all starting to come together for the Warriors. With 95 points (14 touchdowns) over the last two weeks, Wilson is finally seeing the offense he envisioned when he handed the keys to then-freshman quarterback Jah’Naad Cady in August of 2023.
It wasn’t without bumps and bruises. The Warriors went 3-8 in 2023 and then lost 6-of-7 to finish 4-6 in 2024. When Cady would struggle, Wilson would remind him of the vision: “By the time you’re a junior, it’ll start feeling like Pop Warner again.”
Cady is completing almost 80 percent of his passes this season for 576 yards and five touchdowns. He’s also run for almost 300 yards and five more scores. Franklin has scored 14 touchdowns the last two weeks, and Cady has contributed to eight of them.
“I threw him in the fire his freshman year, and this is where I thought he would be come his junior year,” Wilson says.
It will be a true litmus test for Cady and Franklin Friday night when the Warriors (2-2) visit Edison (1-3) in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving. Kickoff is at 7 pm, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe on the call. Pregame starts at 6:45; Click here to listen.
Franklin last beat Edison in 2020, their first-ever meeting. It was the opening game of the COVID season, and played at neither high school, but at the Pop Warner field – where it all started for Cady – at Middlebush Park.
Despite a loss in their rematch in 2022 – close calls in 2023 and 2024 – the Warriors haven’t been able to get over the hump against the Eagles since. But with Cady surging in his third-year as a starter, a major opportunity for this red-hot Franklin offense awaits.
Click below to hear Franklin head coach Blair Wilson talk about the Warriors and Friday’s game against Edison with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Justin Sontupe:
The Edison football team was very much in its first three games of the season.
In the opener against Piscataway, the Eagles had a 14-10 third quarter lead. They trailed Old Bridge the next week at the half by eight. And they led Sayreville 14-13 coming out of the locker room for the second half.
They managed to lose all three games, but finally got in the win column last week against North Brunswick, a 20-14 win in which the offense gained 318 yards, its best offensive output of the season, both in yardage and points.
The next step is to wash, rinse, repeat – minus any mistakes – when Franklin (2-2) visits Edison (-13) Friday night in the “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving. Kickoff is at 7 pm, with Mike Pavlichko and Justin Sontupe on the call. Click here to listen.
The biggest challenge for Edison will be bottling up a Warrior attack that, while they lost to then No. 4 St. Thomas Aquinas last week, 57-45, put up the most points against the Trojans in any regular season game going back to the dawn of Big Central play in 2020.
Eagles’ head coach Matt Yascko has seen the film. He says Franklin just kept making big play after big play.
It was thrilling to watch, but it won’t be if his team doesn’t stick to the game plan this Friday. Defensively, Edison can make plays. Junior linebacker Shaun Garland already has a couple of sacks, while defensive linemen Zion Pearson and Robert Roma each have one. The Eagles also have one pick, have forced four fumbles, and recovered two.
Meanwhile, Ryan Toth has taken over at quarterback. The former Metuchen QB moved to Edison in the off-season, trading blue-and-white for red-and-gold. He’s thrown for 425 yards and three touchdowns, while three different backs are over the hundred-yard mark on offense, giving Yascko and the Eagles options on the ground, while Garland and Roma have eight catches apiece, and Daren Tirado has five.
The Eagles have some weapons, they’ll just have to avoid getting into a shootout if they want to get a win in a potential toss-up game they may need to have to get back into the playoff picture in the South 5 supersection at the midway point of the season.
Click below to hear Edison head coach Matt Yascko talk about the Eagles and Friday’s game against Franklin with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:
As we get set for Week Four of action in high school football – and, hard to believe, approach the midway point of the season – it’s time to talk about it all with Central Jersey Sports Radio analyst Marcus Borden!
Mike and Marcus look back at the week gone by, including Sayreville’s solid win over Hillsborough, Bridgewater-Raritan’s win over Hunterdon Central – and Panther QB Declan Kurdyla’s injury – as well as Franklin’s offensive outburst in a tough home loss to St. Thomas Aquinas.
Also on the show, Mike and Marcus examine a first look at how the NJSIAA state playoffs will shake out bracket-wise after another adjustment this year that sorts teams by geography rather than snaking balanced brackets, as well as this weekend’s games, including Friday’s “Big Central Game of the Week” presented by Bellamy & Son Paving – Franklin at Edison – and the game Marcus will be covering Friday, Elizabeth at St. Thomas!
Click below to listen to the Week Four edition of “Gameday with Marcus Borden”:
