Jill Bachonski – Central Jersey Sports Radio

After a seven-win season a year ago with some key injuries, the Colonia girls’ basketball team has gone from the wounded hunter to the hunted. And so far this season, they’ve been able to avoid everyone’s best shot.

The sixth-ranked Patriots picked up a 46-37 win at Middlesex in GMC Red National Division action Tuesday evening, in a game heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, a game that was a little tougher this time around.

Back on December 20th, Colonia had jumped out to a 15-8 lead after one quarter, and led by eleven at the half. This time? They were up 14-8 after one, but Middlesex led 23-22 at the break.

That was thanks in large point to some good three-point shooting in the first half. Alyssa Young had a pair of treys and had eight points at halftime, while Avery Iskra and Bella Durkin each had a three as well. But in the second half, Colonia focused more on defending the perimeter, and the Blue Jays didn’t hit from downtown again.

Samantha Howell had a big second half – eight of her ten points coming after the break, and she had a big three in the fourth to help give Colonia some distance after they entered the fourth up just by one, 30-29.

Howell and senior Nashaleah Hooker each had ten while Ivana Gidado and Ariana Sosa each had nine, and Hailey Conklin had eight. That’s the kind of balanced scoring Colonia has had all season long.

Alyssa Young led Middlesex with 10, while Kaylee Devine – the sophomore and younger sister of all-time leading scorer Jess Devine, who graduated in June after scoring 2,135 points – added eight, including six in the second half.

Click below for postgame reaction from Colonia senior Nashaleah Hooker and head coach Jill Bachonski, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Both programs had star players who set school scoring records. Both have had to deal with the graduation of those players, Matti Chiera and Taylor Derkack for Colonia, Jess Devine for Middlesex.

Both have relatively new coaches, and both are figuring out life after some of their program greats, even if Colonia is a little ahead in that ride, with the Patriots are two years removed from their stars, while Middlesex is in its first year since.

Jill Bachonski – a Hall of Famer at William Paterson, where Chiera now is a junior playing alongside ex-GMC standouts like Leilani Pinder of South Brunswick and Olivia Smart of Edison – took over the head job two years ago, when Matti Chiera’s mom, Sandi, stepped down.

They got through a 7-20 season last year, but that experience has turned into gold this year: a 9-0 start and the No. 6 ranking in the latest Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten. Middlesex is 6-4 after starting 0-3, then winning six straight before a 61-35 loss Monday night at Hightstown. But they’re figuring it out.

You can hear Tuesday evening’s game live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, with pregame starting at 4:45, and tip-off at 5 pm. Mike Pavlichko will call all the action; click here to listen.

The first time around, when the two teams met five days before Christmas in Colonia, the Patriots jumped out to a 15-8 first quarter lead and were up eleven at the half.

But that was the third game of the 0-3 streak to start the season for the Blue Jays, and rookie head coach Zakiya Beckles – a 27-year-old Middlesex alum who was an assistant under previous coach Stew Lester – says that was still a period where her team was working some things out.

Beckles says it took a little longer with only eight players on the varsity squad, which makes it difficult to have live game-like action in practice.

Their top two scorers are sophomores. Avery Iskra is averaging just a shade under 14 points per game and 7.6 boards per contest, leading the team in both categories, along with 15 blocks and 32 steals, also team bests. Taylor Lawrence is averaging almost nine points a game. The Blue Jays’ scoring is more balanced this year.

The same can be said for Colonia, whose top scorer also is a sophomore. Ariana Sosa leads the team with 12.3 points per game, 16 treys, 23 steals, and 27 assists.

Middlesex has one senior, Alyssa Young, averaging 7.8 points a game, while Colonia has two, but only one in the starting five: Nashaleah Hooker, scoring at a 10.7 clip, with a team-best 13.4 rebounds per game, and five double-doubles.

Click below to hear preview interviews from both head coaches with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: