Tag: girls’ basketball

February 15, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Girls’ Non-Public Power Points Update: Despite SCT loss, Gill St. Bernard’s should earn a top-seed in state tourney, along with finalist Rutgers Prep

With playoff qualification in high school basketball closing Saturday at the NJSIAA cutoff, it looks like Gill St. Bernard’s loss in the Somerset County Tournament Saturday will not keep them from getting a top seed in their playoff section, with Rutgers Prep also expected to earn one.

Below is a look at all the area teams in the Central Jersey playoff brackets, based on NJ.com power point standings as of 2 pm on Sunday, February 15, 2026. It should be noted that the standings could change as the NJSIAA confirms records and details of the formula heading into Tuesday’s seeding meeting in Robbinsville, at which point the brackets will be announced. They become official (pending any discrepancies) as of noon on Wednesday.

First round action begins on Tuesday, March 24th.

Below is our analysis of the sections, and unofficial projected matchups, in the North Jersey, Section 2 playoff sections. Click on the header for each section to visit the NJ.com standings for that section. Please note that unlike football, there is no “head-to-head” jump of teams, unless they are tied in power points, in which case head-to-head is merely the first of several tiebreakers.

Who gets home games and byes depends on how many teams qualify in each section, with some having fewer than 16 eligible teams. There is a 16-game minimum to qualify for the postseason, and some teams won’t make it, while others who have not had much success could opt-out.

Non-Public North A:

Morris Catholic (19-5) seems poised to get the top-seed here, looking for its fourth straight sectional title, winning hear last year after two straight in North B in 2023 and 2024. Barring any opt-outs, it’s a 15-team section and field, and they would have an opening round bye, while everyone else plays. The only area team here is Pingry (13-9), which will finish sixth, right in the middle of the pack, but should open up with a home game in the first round.

Here are the projected first round matchups:

(15) Morristown-Beard at (2) Immaculate Heart
(14) St. Elizabeth at (3) Pope John
(13) Newark Academy at (4) DePaul
(12) Holy Angels at (5) Mount St. Dominic
(11) Kent Place at (6) Pingry
(10) Paramus Catholic at (7) Dwight-Englewood
(9) Oak Knoll at (8) Montclair-Kimberley, winner at (1) Morris Catholic

Non-Public North B:

Despite the loss to Franklin Saturday in the SCT semis – a very good Franklin team, by the way – Gill St. Bernard’s (18-5) still has an enormous enough lead that this is pretty much a lock, ahead of Saddle River Day (14-9) by almost ten points. Hudson Catholic (14-9) and Villa Walsh (13-10) round out the top four, and with Eastern Christian (15-7) at five, all those teams should get first-round byes. It’s a 14-team section to begin with, but teams 12-14 – St. Vincent, Golda Och and Pioneer Academy didn’t meet the 16-game minimum to qualify.

That leaves Mother Seton (12-6) as the only other area team here in the seven spot, behind Mary Help of Christians (13-6), but ahead of St. Dominic (12-11), Roselle Catholic (5-18), St. Mary-Rutherford (8-16) and Hawthorne Christian (6-15)

Assuming a small 11-team field, the top five would get byes. Here are the projected first round matchups:

(11) Hawthorne Christian at (6) Mary Help of Christians, winner at (3) Hudson Catholic
(10) St. Mary-Rutherford at (7) Mother Seton, winner at (2) Saddle River Day
(9) Roselle Catholic at (8) St. Dominic, winner at (1) Gill St. Bernard’s
Second Round: (5) Eastern Christian at (4) Villa Walsh

Non-Public South A:

Red Bank Catholic is the solid No. 1 here, and should be the only team that gets a bye in what should be a 15-team section, as long as nobody opts out. After St. John Vianney (22-2) at No. 2, with Paul VI (20-1) at three, St. Thomas Aquinas (20-5) rounds out the top four, and the Trojans are guaranteed home games in at least the first two rounds.

It’s then a long way down to Immaculata (9-13) at 13, and Mount St. Mary (8-14) in 14th-place.

Here are the projected first-round matchups:

(15) Donovan Catholic at (2) St. John Vianney
(14) Mount St. Mary at (3) Paul VI
(13) Immaculata at (4) St. Thomas Aquinas
(12) Our Lady of Mercy at (5) Trinity Hall
(11) Notre Dame at (6) Camden Catholic
(10) St. Rose at (7) Bishop Eustace
(9) Princeton Day at (8) Union Catholic, winner at (1) Red Bank Catholic

Non-Public South B:

Rutgers Prep (21-2) to no one’s surprise is expected to get the top-seed here, by a little more than two points over Gloucester Catholic (19-4), which beat the Argonauts down at Jackson Liberty last year for the sectional title. The top-four should all get byes, rounded out with Wildwood Catholic (18-7) and Holy Spirit (18-7).

There’s some distance down to the next local teams, with Calvary Christian &7-12) in 10th and Wardlaw-Hartridge (5-12) in 12th, and what should be the final spot. Neither St. Joe’s-Hammonton, Noor-ul-iman or Timothy Christian met the 16-game threshold to qualify for the tournament.

Here are the projected first-round matchups in what we think will be a 12-team field:

(12) Wardlaw-Hartridge at (5) Stuart Day, winner at (4) Holy Spirit
(11) Ranney at (6) Moorestown Friends, winner at (3) Wildwood Catholic
(10) Calvary Christian at (7) Koinonia, winner at (2) Gloucester Catholic
(9) Holy Cross Prep at (8) Doane Academy, winner at (1) Rutgers Prep

February 15, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Girls’ Power Points Update in Central Jersey sections: Franklin appears to have locked down No. 1 seed in CJ4 with upset of Gill in SCT; Bound Brook looks like 2-seed in CJ 2

With playoff qualification in high school basketball closing Saturday at the NJSIAA cutoff, Franklin’s big win over Gill St. Bernard’s in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals may have been enough to help the Warriors claim the top-seed in Central Jersey Group 4, the only section to be lead by a CJSR-area team.

First round action begins on Tuesday, March 24th.

Below is our analysis of the sections, and unofficial projected matchups, in the Central Jersey playoff sections. Click on the header for each section to visit the NJ.com standings for that section. Please note that unlike football, there is no “head-to-head” jump of teams, unless they are tied in power points, in which case head-to-head is merely the first of several tiebreakers.

Top eight seeds get first round home games, the top four are guaranteed the first two rounds, and top two get home court advantage through the semifinals.

Central Jersey Group 4:

Franklin (17-7) was ahead of East Brunswick (20-4) by just 0.196 points on Super Bowl Sunday, but a 4-0 week capped by an upset of defending champion Gill St. Bernard’s in the SCT semis Saturday grew the Warriors’ lead to nearly four full points, so they appear well-locked in as the No. 1 seed ahead of the bears, and then No. 3 Hillsborough (16-6). It should be noted that there is no top-down head-to-head adjustment in basketball as there is in football, or else the Raiders would have jumped the Bears, having beaten them at home back on January 22. So in this case, they stay where they are; head-to-head only comes into play as the first tiebreaker if teams are tied in power points, which is very rare based on the nature of the system and power point averages calculated to three decimal places. Hunterdon Central (15-8) rounds out the top four. Then, we get Jackson Twp., Princeton, Marlboro and Freehold Twp. rounding out the top eight, all of whom get to open at home.

That leaves a bunch of area teams starting on the road, all bunched up in positions nine through 13. Only New Brunswick (12-10) fell out of the top eight, going all the way to 12. Sayreville (18-5) rose one spot in the past week to get to nine; Montgomery (11-12) edged up from eleven to ten; Old Bridge (10-13) skyrocketed from 14 to eleven thanks to a 2-1 week; the Zebras fell four spots to 12; and Monroe (10-11) climbed from 15 to 13 on a 2-1 week. All those teams were very tightly packed in the final week. Trenton, West Windsor-Plainsboro South and Hightstown round out the field of 16 here, where – if things stay as they are – all eight first round games will feature one Central Jersey Sports Radio team.

Here are the projected first round matchups:

(16) Hightstown at (1) Franklin
(15) West Windsor-Plainsboro South at (2) East Brunswick
(14) Trenton at (3) Hillsborough
(13) Monroe at (4) Hunterdon Central
(12) New Brunswick at (5) Jackson Twp.
(11) Old Bridge at (6) Princeton
(10) Montgomery at (7) Marlboro
(9) Sayreville at (8) Freehold Twp.

Central Jersey Group 2:

Though their lead got a bit smaller in the past week, it was enough for Manasquan (19-4) to retain the top seed, and in fact, the top seven here remain unchanged from a week ago. That means Rumson-Fair Haven (16-8), Johnson (18-3) and South River (19-7) complete the top four in this section. Bordentown (18-2) is at No. 5, followed by Piscataway Magnet (18-4), Point Pleasant Boro (11-12), and Delaware Valley (11-13) at No. 8.

The Terriers wrested away the eighth spot from Spotswood (14-10), which dropped to nine and will miss out on a first-round home game. Delran, Governor Livingston and Robbinsille are next, followed by Metuchen (12-11) at 13, which gained two spots in the past week after going 2-1 since our last update. Holmdel, Wall and Ocean Twp. round out the field of 16, with East Brunswick Magnet (8-11) falling out from the 16 spot to 17 after losing their only game this past week.

Here are the projected first round matchups:

(16) Ocean Twp. at (1) Manasquan
(15) Wall at (2) Rumson-Fair Haven
(14) Holmdel at (3) Johnson
(13) Metuchen at (4) South River
(12) Robbinsville at (5) Bordentown
(11) Governor Livingston at (6) Piscataway Magnet
(10) Delran at (7) Pt. Pleasant Boro
(9) Spotswood at (8) Delaware Valley

Central Jersey Group 1:

We’re not sure if Bound Brook‘s narrow loss to Rutgers Prep in Saturday’s Somerset County Tournament semifinal cost them a shot at the top seed, but it was likely close, as the Crusaders were 1.399 points away from top-seed New Providence, but finished 0.756 points back. So those top two stay the same, with the Pioneers at 22-1, and the Crusaders 21-2. Keansburg (19-1) shot up from sixth to third since last Sunday, and South Amboy (17-6) on a 2-1 week pulled up from fifth to fourth, getting then an extra home game should they win in the opening round.

That leaves five through eight as Brearley (14-4), Roselle Park (15-7), Thrive Charter (10-10) and Shore (14-10).

Middlesex (14-1) and Manville (16-7) hold right where they were a week ago, at eight and nine, respectively, while Florence (11-11) holds at eleven, and Highland Park (8-16) holds on to the 12th position. Henry Hudson edged up to 13, College Achieve Central (8-10) went down to 14, while two out-of-the-bubble teams got in at the last two spots in the field of 16; South Hunterdon (4-18) came up from 20 on the strength of a 2-1 week that doubled their win total (remember we said how just one win by a team with only a couple or a few could make a big difference?) while Dayton (2-19) snuck in from 17. The Bulldogs have a brutal schedule, which includes Group 4 schools like Linden and Elizabeth, the second of which is the biggest high school in New Jersey. They took the spot of Dunellen (3-20), which fell out to 17.

Here are the projected first-round matchups:

(16) Dayton at (1) New Providence
(15) South Hunterdon at (2) Bound Brook
(14) College Achieve Central at (3) Keansburg
(13) Henry Hudson at (4) South Amboy
(12) Highland Park at (5) Brearley
(11) Florence at (6) Roselle Park
(10) Manville at (7) Thrive Charter
(9) Middlesex at (8) Shore

February 13, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Your Saturday Playoff Tour Guide: Here’s the full slate of Somerset County, GMC Tournament games for boys’ and girls’ basketball

We’re officially in the thick of county tournament season in high school basketball!

Here in Central Jersey, Franklin High School will play host for the second year in a row to the Somerset County Tournament semifinals. Two boys’ and two girls’ games highlight a four-game extravangaza with the first tipping at 10 am, and the last at 4 pm. Winners will move on to next Saturday’s finals down at Montgomery High School in Skillman, with the girls’ final at 1 pm, and the boys’ title game at 3 pm, both of which can be heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Meanwhile, the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament is in the quarterfinal stage, with all eight games – four on the boys’ side, four on the girls’ being played at the higher seeded school for the first time in ages. All will be played Saturday, with several doubleheaders.

Winners move on to next week’s semifinals, all at Monroe Township High School. The girls’ semis are at 5 and 7 pm Tuesday, and the boys’ semis are at the same times on Wednesday. The half of the bracket with the top seed will play the late game, regardless of who advances. The finals are on Friday night back at Monroe, with the girls’ title tilt at 6 pm and the boys’ championship at 8. Central Jersey Sports Radio will air all six of those games.

Here’s the chronological schedule of games for Saturday, along with coverage plans:

10 am
SCT Boys’ Semifinals: (2) Rutgers Prep vs (3) Montgomery (at Franklin H.S.) (LIVE on CJSR)

11:30 am
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (6) Woodbridge at (3) Piscataway

Noon
SCT Girls’ Semifinals: (1) Rutgers Prep vs. (4) Bound Brook (at Franklin H.S.) (LIVE on CJSR)
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (5) Spotswood at (4) Colonia
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (8) Middlesex at (1) St. Thomas Aquinas
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (5) St. Thomas Aquinas at (4) East Brunswick

1 pm
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (9) Metuchen at (1) St. Joseph-Metuchen
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (7) Sayreville at (2) Piscataway

2 pm
SCT Girls’ Semifinals: (2) Gill St. Bernard’s vs. (3) Franklin (at Franklin H.S.) (Follow Alec Crouthamel for updates)
GMCT Girls’ Quarterfinals: (7) Monroe at (2) East Brunswick

3 pm
GMCT Boys’ Quarterfinals: (6) South Plainfield at (3) Colonia

4 pm
SCT Boys’ Semifinals: (1) Gill St. Bernards vs. (5) Immaculata (at Franklin H.S.) (Follow Alec Crouthamel for updates)

February 13, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

New-look Gill St. Bernard’s back in a familiar spot, while Franklin looks to take next step in Saturday’s SCT semis

Both of the teams who will meet in Saturday’s second girls’ basketball Somerset County Tournament semifinal game have some newness to them.

Jimmy Kreie is in his first year as Franklin head coach, and he has he third-seeded Warriors a win away from getting back to county championship for the first time since 2019, when Audrey Taylor’s squad went 34-0 and won the Tournament of Champions for the second time in three years.

Mark Gnapp at second-seed Gill St. Bernard’s graduated a slew of talent, but has persevered this season with less height, but more speed to get up and down the floor, and is poised to make its fifth straight appearance in the county final.

Tip-time as the two square off this Saturday in the SCT semifinals at Franklin High School is 2 pm. Follow Alec Crouthamel on Twitter for coverage, and he’ll have a game story and postgame reaction presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen later at cjsportsradio.com.

The Warriors (16-7) had a rough start, partially due to the schedule. They lost their opening three games to Rutgers Prep, Gill, and Demarest, three teams that now are a combined 57-8. Since then, they are 16-4.

Junior Aleah Sunkins has been impressive, averaging a double-double – 18.9 points per game and 10.8 rebounds – while hitting 26 treys. Senior Alyssa Meyers has been bombs away from downtown, connecting on 40 triples. And the rest of the team’s scoring has been quite balanced, making defenses have to pick their poison: let Sunkins get her points, our double-down and risk leaving someone else who can score open.

It’s been a similar scenario for the Knights (18-4), who are led in scoring by senior Addy Platt, who’s averaging 19.8 points per game, with her youngest sister Kaity, a junior at 12.8, with everyone else fairly even after that. With an emphasis this year on defense and getting out in transition, they’ve hit just 89 treys on the year, and don’t rely as much on the long ball as Franklin – with 127 – does.

February 9, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Gutierrez knocks down career high 50 for North Plainfield, as Canucks top New Brunswick to advance to GMCT round of 16

Fifty points. Eight treys. A whopping 61-percent from the field.

And yet, her eight assists and three steals may have been just as impressive.

No matter how you slice it, North Plainfield senior Layla Gutierrez had a game for the ages Monday night, scoring 50 in a 79-38 win for the 10th-seeded Canucks over 26-seed New Brunswick in the GMC Tournament’s preliminary round Monday.

The win earns North Plainfield a third chance at Monroe this season, as they will travel to face the 7th-seeded Falcons in the first round/round of 16 Wednesday evening.

It’ll be the rubber match this season, as North Plainfield lost to Monroe 76-47 at home on January sixth, but beat them 44-43 on the road less than two weeks later.

High-scoring games aren’t exactly rare for the four-year varsity starter. Gutierrez scored 42 on January 15th of this year in a 65-54 home win over South Brunswick, in which she also scored her 1,000th point. She’s currently at 1,176.

Click below to hear North Plainfield’s Layla Gutierrez talk about her 50-point game Monday night against New Brunswick in the GMC Tournament with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

February 9, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Another week of upheaval in Bellamy & Son Paving girls’ top ten, while Rutgers Prep on 12-game win streak stays No. 1

In the final Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten before the end of the year, Gill St. Bernard’s has edged up to No. 2, while Colonia and Bound Brook also rose.

Still at No. 1 is Rutgers Prep (18-2). Winners of 12 straight the Argonauts went 2-0 in the week gone by, picking up a Thursday win at then-No. 6 Hillsborough, 72-30, then taking their opening game in the Somerset County Tournament, beating Watchung Hills 73-30 at home Saturday in the quarterfinals. Prep, the top-seed, will take on fourth-seed Bound Brook this Saturday at noon at Franklin High School in the semifinals, a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Moving up a spot to second is Gill St. Bernard’s (17-4), by virtue of their head-to-head win over previously No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas, 67-62, back on Tuesday, a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio. They followed it up with a 66-40 won over Watchung Hills on Thursday, then a 67-46 win over Bernards Saturday in the Somerset County Tournament quarterfinals. Second-seeded Gill will play third-seed Franklin in this weekend’s semifinals at 2 pm on the Warriors’ home court.

The loss to the Knights sent St. Thomas Aquinas (17-5) down one spot to third, coming off a rare 0-2 week. Their second loss cam Saturday at home to George (PA) 75-69.

Moving up one spot to four is Franklin (13-7). The Warriors lost Wednesday at Morris Catholic 63-51, but bounced back with a 70-50 win over Bridgewater-Raritan on Thursday, and a 54-33 victory over Pingry in the SCT quarterfinals. The third-seeded Warriors will play at home Saturday in the semifinals against second-seed Gill St. Bernard’s.

Bernards (17-3) dropped a spot to fifth after a 1-2 week. The Mountaineers started the week with a 55-11 win over North Plainfield, but followed it up with a 50-37 loss at Voorhees on Thursday night. Bernards was knocked out of the Somerset County Tournament by Gill St. Bernard’s on Saturday, falling 67-46.

East Brunswick (18-4) had a 3-0 week, and moves up a spot to six after winning five straight since a road loss at Hillsborough. The Bears won 78-47 Monday at Woodbridge, picked up a 73-59 win over Spotswood Tuesday, then were 37-22 winners at Middlesex on Thursday.

Checking in at No. 7 is Colonia (16-2), also up one spot, following a 1-1 week. They beat Monroe Tuesday, 48-45, but lost Wednesday at Piscataway, 60-54.

Bound Brook is also up one spot, to No. 8, after a big SCT win on Saturday. First, though, they beat Old Bridge, 57-24, on Tuesday, then routed North Plainfield 67-29 on Thursday before winning at Hillsborough, 54-47, in the county quarterfinals. The Fourth-seeded Crusaders will play top-seed Rutgers Prep at noon this Saturday in the semifinals at Franklin High School, in a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Hillsborough (15-5) falls down to ten after two losses this week, and three straight overall. Granted, all three have been against top ten teams, with the most recent a 72-30 loss to No. 1 Rutgers Prep Thursday, and Saturday’s loss in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals, 54-47 to Bound Brook.

And holding in tenth is Woodbridge (15-6). The Barrons lost Monday to East Brunswick, 78-47, then came back and beat Sayreville on Wednesday, 62-57, and won Friday at Carteret, 66-55.

Below is the complete Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten for Week 9:

February 6, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

GMC Tournament Play-In Round game times announced; here’s Saturday’s schedule

The 2026 GMC Tournament for basketball gets underway this weekend with 15 games in the play-in round, eight for the boys and seven for the girls.

All games will be played Saturday at higher seeds. Winners move on to the preliminary round, which will be played at higher seeds on Monday for the girls, Tuesday for the boys.

Click below for the full GMC Tournament brackets, which are posted in our separate stories on the boys’ and girls’ tournaments:

Here’s the schedule of first round games, with times as reported on the GMC’s website:

2026 GMC Tournament – Girls’ Play-In Round:

(25) South Amboy at (24) Piscataway Magnet, 10 am
(29) East Brunswick Magnet at (20) Highland Park, 10 am
(26) New Brunswick at (23) Mother Seton, 10 am
(31) Woodbridge Magnet at (18) North Brunswick, 10 am
(27) Calvary Christian at (22) JFK, 10:30 am
(28) Wardlaw-Hartridge at (21) South River, 11:30 am
(30) Dunellen at (19) Metuchen, 2 pm

2026 GMC Tournament – Boys’ Play-In Round:

(29) East Brunswick Magnet at (20) JFK, 9 am
(32) Wardlaw-Hartridge at (17) Monroe, 10:30 am
(28) Perth Amboy Magnet at (21) JP Stevens, 11 am
(27) New Brunswick at (22) Edison, 11 am
(30) South River at (19) Carteret, 11:30 am
(25) Dunellen at (24) Timothy Christian, 12 pm
(26) Highland Park at (23) North Brunswick, 12 pm
(31) Calvary Christian at (18) North Plainfield, 3 pm

February 3, 2026February 2, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Final CJSR regular season broadcast pits No. 2 vs. No. 3 as St. Thomas Aquinas girls visit Gill St. Bernard’s

A matchup between St. Thomas Aquinas and Gill St. Bernard’s is rare.

While the two prominent girls’ basketball programs met last year, with Gill claiming a 67-54 win last January 12th in the Coaches’ Choice St. Thomas College Challenge on the Trojans’ home floor, the last time they had played was in 2008, a three-point win for the Knights.

Gill has a different look this season, graduating a slew of talent like Gandy Malou-Mamel (UConn), Sidney Quinn (Naval Academy) and others. But yet, they’re back where they’ve always been – near the top of the Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, with a good shot at defending their Somerset County Tournament crown.

St. Thomas, on the other hand, has a lot of they key parts back, with a starting lineup that is averaging at least ten points per game each, a team which Gill St. Bernard’s coach Mark Gnapp knows you can’t just limit one or two girls, you have to play the whole team.

It’s an intriguing late-season regular season matchup, a good tune-up for the county tournaments and state tourney that are just down the road. And you can hear it on Central Jersey Sports Radio Tuesday evening, with Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas on the call. Tip off is at 5:30 pm up in Peapack-Gladstone, with pregame at 5:15. Click here to listen.

The one big question is whether junior point guard Lauryn Downing will play. She’s been bothered by an ankle injury, and has missed the last two games at Columbia and against Rumson-Fair Haven Sunday. Both were wins, and the Trojans did just fine, but head coach Tim Corrigan calls her “one of the best point guards in New Jersey,” and he’d sure like to have her Tuesday night.

Senior Jordan Barnes paces the Trojans in scoring, with a 16.5 point per game average. The rest of the leaders are spread out. Downing averages 6.4 assists per game, and leads the squad with 68 steals and 24 triples. Then Leah KEarney (11.1 ppg) leads the team in rebounding (10.4 per game) and has a team-best 28 blocks.

For Gill, senior guard Addy Platt has taken the scoring baton, averaging 18.3 points per game, while also leading the team with 42 blocks and 77 steals. Younger sister Kaity, a junior, leads at 6.8 rebounds per game, while Melina Miller has a team best 96 assists, and freshman Naima Morales-Solivan has a team-best 20 treys.

St. Thomas hasn’t lost at all in 2026, having won 11 straight, all in the New Year, while Gill had won a dozen in a row before last Thursday’s 51-44 loss at Rutgers Prep, in a game that decided the Skyland Conference Delaware Division title. Aquinas is the GMC Red American champion, its ninth straight division title dating to 2019. (Division champs were not crowned in the COVID-shortened season of 2021.)

Click below to hear preview interviews with both head coaches:

St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Tim Corrigan with Chris Tsakonas

Gill St. Bernard’s head coach Mark Gnapp with Mike Pavlichko

January 31, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Middlesex defense again powers Jays in 42-32 GMC-Union crossover win against Dayton

When you lose someone the caliber of Jess Divine – who scored 2,135 points in a four-year varsity career at Middlesex – who’s going to pick up the points?

For the Blue Jays, though, it’s always been the defense fueling the offense, and that was on full display Saturday as they picked up a 42-32 win over visiting Dayton in a GMC-Union County crossover.

Senior Alyssa Young scored nine points, including a pair of treys, one of which was a four-point play in the first quarter. But the more impressive part of her stat line was the fact that she had a dozen steals.

No matter who the coach is – Kevin Harper, Stew Lester, and now first-year skipper and 2016 MHS grad Zakiya Beckles – that’s the program, the consistency: defense and pressure.

And it works.

The game was a tight one until the Jays (12-7) pulled away in the fourth quarter. No one led by more than five throughout the first half, not until the final period, in fact, when Middlesex built as big as a ten-point advantage.

Sophomore Kaylee Devine, Jess’s younger sister, led all scorers with 13 – including three from downtown – while Avery Iskra had 12.

Sophomore Aria Molinelli had 12 for Dayton, which was highly competitive, despite falling to 2-13 with the loss. Junior Madison Tarrant – the only junior to dress, with no healthy seniors on the squad, added six, while sophomore Maggie Hildebrand added five.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with Middlesex senior Alyssa Young and head coach Zakiya Beckles:

January 30, 2026 by Mike Pavlichko

Middlesex, Dayton to meet Saturday morning in small school GMC-Union County crossover

They are two teams with some definite similarities: short rosters, short benches, as well as some inexperience and youth.

And that’s not just the players on the floor, it’s the two head coaches.

Middlesex is led by 2016 grad Zakiya Beckles, who was here under Stew Lester, who left after last season to coach the boys at Middletown North. Marissa Liberato is the head coach at Jonathan Dayton in Springfield; she’s a 2015 Toms River North grad, and spent the past six years under longtime head coach Dave Rennie.

The two teams will square off Saturday morning at 11:30 in Middlesex, in a game you can hear live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas will be on the call; pregame starts at 11:15; click here to listen.

For Middlesex, it’s getting used to life after Jess Devine, even if her sister, Kaylee, could be her doppelganger. Devine graduated in June as the all-time leading scorer at the school, girls’ or boys.

Middlesex is scrappy defensively. Ball control against the Blue Jays is an absolute must. That’s one big reason they’re 11-7, playing as a Group 1 school in the GMC’s Red National Division.

Another big reason is Sophomore Avery Iskra, who’s taken baton as the team’s scoring leader this season, averaging 11.8 points a game, while senior Alyssa Young – the team’s only 12th grader – is leading the squad with 30 treys.

But a senior is something Dayton won’t even have this year. Their only one – Bella Pintardo, with two years’ varsity experience – is out due to injury. That leaves two juniors, two sophomores, and four freshmen – eight players, the same as Middlesex – in the scorebook for Saturday’s game.

The top two scorers are sophomores. Maggie Hildebrand is averaging 10.3 points per game, tied for the team lead with 4.7 rebounds per contest, and leads the squad with 15 from downtown, and 16 assists. Aria Molinelli is second with 8.8 points per game, and has been the top scorer in six of 14 games so far. Hildebrand has led in the other eight.

The schedule also hasn’t been kind to small-school Dayton, a Group 1 program which is just 2-12, but has played a brutal slate including Elizabeth – the largest high school in the state – as well as Linden. Their wins have come over Whippany Park and South Plainfield.

But in a number of games, they’ve been that close, including a four-point defeat at the hands of Oak Knoll on January 6th. They also fell three points shy at Elizabeth last Saturday, and came within seven of Summit.

Click below for interviews with both head coaches previewing Saturday’s Middlesex-Dayton game: