Leah Kearney – Central Jersey Sports Radio

It never gets old for St. Thomas Aquinas.

Having won six straight GMC Tournament titles coming in to Friday night’s 40th championship game, second-seed East Brunswick hung around for a while. The Bears were down just six after one, and even had a chance to cut it to nine before the half, but missed a three and ended up down 12.

But the third quarter was the difference. Things opened up – for both teams – but the last thing anyone wants to do is get into a track meet with St. Thomas. They did, and STA extended its lead to 49-29 at the end of three, and by that time, it was well in hand.

In the end, it ended up as a 62-41 win for the top-seed St. Thomas Aquinas (22-5) over second-seed East Brunswick (21-5), as heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio. It was the Trojans’ seventh straight title, extending their GMC-record streak, the longest for either the boys or girls in the 40-year history of the event.

Senior Jordan Barnes was the game’s high scorer, finishing with 20 points. She was MVP as a sophomore, and probably anyone could have been, but it went to Leah Kearney, well-deserved with a 12-point night, averaging 10 per game in the four tournament games.

The win wa also the 80th straight over GMC opponents – regular season and postseason – with their last loss coming in January of 2022, here against Monroe.

That means the senior fore of Barnes, Trista Whitney – who had nine in the final – and Kayla Navarro never lost a single game against a GMC opponent.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko with junior and GMC Tournament MVP Leah Kearney, senior Trista Whitney, head coach Tim Corrigan, and senior Jordan Barnes, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

The last time St. Thomas Aquinas, the Greater Middlesex County Tournament’s top seed, lost to a GMC team was January 30th, 2022 against Monroe. In tonight’s semifinal round, history almost repeated itself, but the Trojans completed a double-digit comeback in overtime to take down the Falcons 57-55.

STA will take on Colonia, whose second-seeded girls beat 14-seed Middlesex in the night’s first semifinal, in Friday night’s 6 pm title game at Monroe Township High School, followed by the boys at 8 pm, featuring the same matchups. Both games can be heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

After the first quarter, Monroe led 22-12 and was able to pick apart the Aquinas defense with great ball movement leading to good shots on the inside and outside.

In the second quarter, the offensive efforts still kept going full speed ahead, but the Trojans were able to force some turnovers down the stretch and went into halftime trailing 32-25. Both teams were led by the bigs, as Aquinas’ sophomore forward Jordan Barnes went into halftime with 11 points – later finishing with 17 – while Monroe was led by senior forward Avery Labaska with 12 first-half points.

The Trojans really turned up the defensive pressure in the second half, limiting the Falcons to only five points in the entire third quarter and was able to cut the defecit to just one heading into the fourth.

That period went back-and-forth the entire way, as both teams traded buckets with neither leading by more than a possession for the whole quarter. However, with time winding down and the Falcons trailing by three, senior guard Halley Cottrell – who finished with a team-high 19 – nailed a game-tying trey with three seconds left in regulation to force overtime, after Aquinas could not score on the other end.

The Trojans were helped by an unsung hero in the extra period, as freshman forward Leah Kearney scored six of their nine points. She scored down low getting past a tough defensive effort from Monroe (16-9) and helped lead St. Thomas Aquinas (20-7) to its fifth consecutive GMC tournament finals appearance, where they won the previous four.

POSTGAME

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel with Aquinas head coach Tim Corrigan and freshman Leah Kearney: