Tag: Leigh Vogtman

by Mike Pavlichko

Monroe girls will have to get by familiar GMC foe in quest to progress in state tournament

The Monroe and South Brunswick girls’ basketball teams are in the same division in the Greater Middlesex Conference, so they already play each other twice a year.

But Monday evening, they’ll face each other for the fourth time in 365 days.

It’ll be a state tournament matchup Monday at 5 pm, as the third-seeded Falcons will host the 6th-seeded Vikings in the Central Jersey Group 4 quarterfinals, with a trip to the semis on the line.

You can hear the game on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko calling all the action. Pregame starts at 4:45, and you can listen live by clicking here.

This will be the second meeting between the teams this season, with Monroe winning 49-36 on opening night, but South Brunswick (15-11) winning the rematch 62-53 less than a week before the GMC Tournament got underway.

Monroe made it all the way to the finals last year before falling 53-45 to Jackson Memorial, and is seeking its first sectional title since 2016, when the Falcons beat Hunterdon Central in the CJ4 championship game, then lost to Lenape in the state Group 4 semis.

This year’s club is humming along at 18-9 on the season, getting solid senior seasons from Halley Cottrell (18.8 ppg, 92 treys) and Nicole Turco (7.3 ppg, tops in steals with 75). Evangelina Francisco also has been having a great junior year, helping distribute the ball to a team-best 4.3 assists per game, while scoring nearly 15 a contest.

And they almost knocked off then-four-time defending GMC Tournament champ St. Thomas Aquinas, jumping out to an early lead, but falling 57-55 in overtime with the Trojans going on to win their fifth county title in a row.

It was a sign of what Monroe could do; now they’re looking to finish the job in the states.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Monroe head coach Leigh Vogtman about Monday’s state tournament matchup with South Brunswick:

by Mike Pavlichko

Monroe girls seek first GMCT title berth in four years, while Aquinas seeks fifth straight trip, fifth straight title

NOTE: Due to Tuesday’s snowstorm, the GMCT semifinals have been moved to Wednesday at Spotswood High School, with both games being played at the same times.

The Monroe girls’ basketball team has played St. Thomas Aquinas tight the past two years.

In those five matchups, the Falcons have kept the Trojans in the 60s, but they haven’t been able to beat them. But they have been able to beat the STA juggernaut. 

Monroe got a regular season win in their second meeting in 2021-22, and the year before knocked off Aquinas on the road top cap a 13-1 COVID-shortened season and win the Somogyi Family Pod, the top postseason playoff pod that year.

How that will play out Wednesday evening in the GMC Tournament semifinals at Spotswood High School is anyone’s guess.

In the two meetings this year, Aquinas won by 10 and 22. But “they” – whoever they are – say it’s tough to beat a team three times in a season.

Central Jersey Sports Radio will have coverage of Wednesday’s semifinals, with Alex Crouthamel providing pregame interviews, live updates, and postgame reaction during our coverage of the boys’ semifinals with Mike Pavlichko. A special, extended pregame show begins at 4:15 Click here to listen.

Aquinas hasn’t needed much adjustment to its new head coach, Tim Corrigan, who came on last year as an assistant to now-retired Joe Whalen, who has MS. Corrigan was brought on knowing he might have to fill in for Whalen a game or two, and poised to take over if and when Whalen stepped away for good.

Though he lost Leah Crosby to transfer to Rutgers Prep, players like junior Gianna Chuffo took over leadership roles, and younger talent like sophomores Jordan Barnes and Trista Whitney got valuable experience against top-flight competition that Corrigan now considers them veterans.

Also a veteran is Monroe head coach Leigh Vogtman, whose team is always in the mix every year, it seems. Seniors Halley Cottrell – the team’s top scorer – and Nicole Turco bring experience, and another senior, Avery Labaska, is leading the team in rebounding.

Click below to hear both coaches talk about the semifinal matchup, and scroll down for more info on the game:

St. Thomas Aquinas head coach Tim Corrigan
Monroe head coach Leigh Vogtman

MORE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S SECOND SEMIFINAL:

(1) St. Thomas Aquinas (19-7) vs (5) Monroe (16-8)
When: Wednesday, 7 pm
Where: Spotswood High School
Live Updates: Alec Crouthamel

COACHES: 

St. Thomas Aquinas: Tim Corrigan, 1st season (19-7)
Monroe: Leigh Vogtman, 11th season (182-90)

HOW THEY GOT HERE:

St. Thomas Aquinas: The Trojans beat 16-seed Edison in the first round, 85-53. They amped it up in the quarterfinals, blowing past 8-seed Spotswood 90-36 behind a game-high 26 points from Fianna Chuffo, who also hit six treys and dished out seven assists.

Monroe: The Falcons routed 12-seed Metuchen, 77-41, in the first round, then won a slog Saturday in the quarterfinals in Spotswood, beating fourth-seed North Plainfield, 38-29. Top scorer Halley Cottrell hit six threes en route to a 31 point night against the Bulldogs, while Evangelina Francisco led with 11 against the Lady Canucks.

TOP SCORERS:

St. Thomas Aquinas: Gianna Chuffo (16.5 ppg, team-leading 82 treys), Jordan Barnes (14.2 ppg)
Monroe: Halley Cottrell (18.5 ppg, team-leading 80 treys), Evangelina Francisco (14.7 ppg)

TOP REBOUNDERS:

St. Thomas Aquinas: Leah Kearney (10.1), Jordan Barnes (8.9)
Monroe: Avery Labaska (7.2), Nicole Turco (4.8)

RECENT MEETINGS: Aquinas has won five straight, including two this year and three last year, but Monroe won two of the previous three. The teams split two regular season meetings in 2021-22, with STA winning the first and the Falcons winning the second. Monroe also beat Aquinas in the 2021 COVID-shortened season’s GMC Somogyi Family Pod, the league’s top four-game pod that year, in North Edison.

GMC TOURNAMENT HISTORY:

St. Thomas Aquinas: The Trojans have been to the finals the last four years, and won every time, looking for a fifth straight berth and fifth straight title this season. Aquinas (a.k.a. Bishop Ahr for several decades, though Aquinas was its original name) has been to ten GMC finals, and 12 county finals overall, winning seven GMC titles and one Middlesex County Tournament title.

Monroe: The Falcons are looking for their fourth overall trip to the GMC finals. Vogtman took them in 2020, where they lost to Aquinas, as well as in 2016 (they were the top-seed and lost to East Brunswick) and 2015 (where they lost to top-seed Piscataway in overtime).

by Mike Pavlichko

Monroe girls visit Old Bridge looking to solidify GMCT resume, pile up power points

Winners of three straight, with a 9-3 record, the 8th-ranked Monroe Falcons girls basketball team has done a lot right in 2023-24.

It’s three losses have come to some of the top GMC foes on their schedule – including Colonia and St. Thomas Aquinas – as well as North Plainfield in a league crossover.

But you can’t beat the best if you can’t beat the rest, and that’s what Monroe will try to due night when the Falcons visit Old Bridge (5-7, 2-6 GMC Red) in a Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division matchup you can hearn on Central Jersey Sports Radio. NOTE: This game was originally scheduled for 7 pm Tuesday, but has been postponed due to snow. Check here for updates on a new day and time when it’s announced.

Mike Pavlichko and Dylan Allen will have the call1. Click here to listen.

Despite the graduation of Kate Lauro and Hailey Higgins, head coach Leigh Vogtman has a good core back, and they’ve played well overall. Halley Cottrell and Nicole Turco are in their fourth year on varsity, and have significant experience, including reaching last year’s Central Jersey Group 4 sectional final, where they ultimately lost to Jackson Memorial.

This year, Cottrell leads in most offensive categories, averaging 18.7 points per game with 34 treys, 37 made free throws, and has 26 steals on defense to lead the team, while Turco has been a key contributor as well (7.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg). And Evangelina Francisco is chipping in with 12.3 points a game while dealing out a team-best 47 assists.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Monroe coach Leigh Vogtman:

by Mike Pavlichko

Big night for Monroe’s girls’ and boys’ basketball teams, knocking off Aquinas and Joe’s in historic Thursday night twin bill

Two parochial powerhouses took separate bus rides all the way down to the deepest recess of Middlesex County, and both headed back up North with losses.

And it was a happy night for Monroe fans.

In a doubleheader at Monroe High School, the unranked girls’ team – which started the season second in the Bellamy & Son Paving rankings after winning the GMC’s top pod last year – knocked off current No. 2 and previously-unbeaten St. Thomas Aquinas, 55-41.

The Falcons (6-2) never trailed after jumping out to an early lead, and avenged a season-opening loss to the Trojans by 38 points. That loss, and another to East Brunswick after a COVID stoppage, had the Falcons starting 0-2, and dropping out of the Bellamy rankings. Aquinas fell to 7-1.

Click below to hear head coach Leigh Vogtman talk about Thursday night’s win over St. Thomas Aquinas:

Not to be outdone, the 8th-ranked Monroe boys were next up against No. 4 St. Joe’s of Metuchen, and pulled out a buzzer-beater of a win, as Eli Okocha – one of a set of triplets on the Monroe team, along with Jon and Josh – corralled a long inbound from underneath the basket with 2.4 seconds left, and chucked it up from 30-feet with 1.2 to play. It went in, giving the purple Falcons a 52-49 win, their first-ever victory over their namesakes from Metuchen.

Monroe improved to 7-2, while St. Joe’s fell to 11-3.

Like the girls, the win also avenged a season-opening loss for Monroe, which fell 60-49 to St. Joe’s in Metuchen on December 17th.

Click below to hear head coach Jeff Warner talk about Thursday night’s win over St. Joseph:

by Mike Pavlichko

Monroe avenges regular season loss to Aquinas to win GMC Girls’ Somogyi Family Pod championship

There it was, hanging out there: one loss, to the two-time defending GMC Tournament Champions.

Aquinas also beat them in last year’s GMCT final.

Oh, and don’t forget that the Monroe girls’ basketball team, which prides itself on its defense, gave up the most points it had all season in that game, in a 49-41 loss.

Don’t worry, they didn’t forget it either.

While third-seeded Monroe didn’t ever have a lead in the first half, they used a 12-1 early second-half run and a 23-7 third quarter to power past and hold off second-seed St. Thomas Aquinas, 46-40, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio, powered by Bellamy & Son Paving. The win gave the Falcons (13-1) the Somogyi Family Pod Trophy, given to the winner of the GMC’s top four-team girls’ pod.

St. Thomas Aquinas (9-8) had the game’s leading scorer in 5-4 freshman Amarilis Shubick. She’s the second-leading scorer on the team, but was the only Trojan in double-figures, scoring 16, nearly six over her average. Shubick had four treys, including two in the second half that helped Aquinas’ effort to get back into it.

Senior co-captain Akyia Baker was held to just seven points, all in the second half.

For Monroe, senior forward Rosie Regan led the way with 14 points, eight of which came after intermission.

Click below to hear postgame comments from Monroe head coach Leigh Vogtman and senior forward Rosie Regan:

Monroe head coach Leigh Vogtman
Monroe senior forward Rosie Regan