Tag: Mary Klinger

Rutgers Prep vs Hillsborough
by Mike Pavlichko

Strong start for No. 1 Rutgers Prep girls hands No. 3 Hillsborough season’s first loss

Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger often calls the regular season the preseason, a time for her to figure out what her team is for when the games really count:  in the county tournament and the states.

She’s still working on that.  After all, the season isn’t even a month old yet. 

But one thing she does know:  in the first few weeks of 2024-25, her top-ranked Argonauts have beaten the two biggest threats they’ll face in Skyland Conference play. 

First, it was Gill St. Bernard’s on opening night.  Thursday, it was Hillsborough, as the Argonauts handed the third-ranked Raiders their first loss of the season, 66-52.

Junior Ava LaMonica – who’s from Hillsborough – tied a career high, scoring 22 against her hometown team.  She had seven in the first quarter and eleven points in the third.

Prep got out to a 6-0 lead on three straight drives to the hoop by junior Sophia Georgiades.  They built up slowly to a 23-point halftime lead before winning by 14.

The Argonauts (8-2, 4-0 Skyland Delaware) now have won 53 straight games against Somerset County opponents and 68 straight against Skyland Conference does, their last loss to either coming in the 2019 Somerset County Tournament final to Franklin, which won the Tournament of Champions that year.

Hillsborough (8-1, 3-1 Skyland Delaware) was led by Francesca “Cesci” Schiro with 18.

Click below for postgame reaction from Rutgers Prep junior Ava LaMonica and head coach Mary Klinger, presented by Sportsplext at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Same ol’, same ol’ for new-look Rutgers Prep: No. 1 Argonauts take down No. 3 Gill St. Bernards… again

In six prior games against Rutgers Prep, Gandy Malou-Mamel – the UConn-bound Gill St. Bernard’s senior – never scored in double figures. In fact, she scored ten or more in all but three games last season, and those three came against the Argonauts.

So, when after one quarter, Malou-Mamel had nine and Gill was down by just three, at 17-14, you’d figure this would be a close one down to the wire.

It wasn’t.

The problem was, the supporting cast couldn’t do much else – the rest of the starting five combined for just 11 points – and top-ranked Rutgers Prep came away with a 61-38 win over third-ranked Gill St. Bernard’s, the Argos’ 24th straight in the series.

Malou-Mamel – who sat the bench for a bit in the second quarter with two fouls – finished with a game-high 21 for Gill (1-1).

The contest saw five lead changes and two ties, but all those came in the first quarter. The Argonauts never trailed after taking the lead for the third time in the first eight minutes.

Prep (2-0) eventually built up to as big as a 17-point lead in the third before winning by 23, as they started hitting from beyond the arc. Junior Natalia Valdez – little used last year – broke out with a 13-point night, including three treys, all in the second half.

Freshman Hailey Benbow finished with 11, including a triple, and junior transfer Sophia Georgiades (from Ridge) also had 22, including three treys.

Click below for postgame reaction from head coach Mary Klinger, and juniors Ava LaMonica and Natallia Valdez, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Young Rutgers Prep, with slew of newcomers, hosts experienced Gill St. Bernard’s Tuesday

This is a bit of a role reversal for Rutgers Prep and Gill St. Bernard’s.

The third-ranked Knights open their season Tuesday night with four starters back, while the top-ranked Argonauts graduated three starters last year, and a fourth moved out of state.

Yes, Rutgers Prep is the less-experienced group.

You might not know that from their opener. Though they were slow out of the blocks, they eventually found their way, and rolled past Ewing 66-29, thanks to the Avas.

For the uninitiated, that’s Ava LaMonica – the lone returning starter from last year’s squad – and Ava Frith, a junior transfer in from public powerhouse Manasquan.

LaMonica scored 18 points and went 6-of-8 from the foul line against Ewing, while Frith scored a game-high 25, and added ten rebounds for a double-double.

For perspective, that’s more than half the points she scored in 29 games over two seasons at ‘Squan, where she scored six points in eleven games her freshman year, and 34 in 18 contests last year.

Rutgers Prep may need a lot more than that Tuesday, when they take on a star-studded, veteran Gill St. Bernard’s squad at home at 6 pm. You can hear that game on Central Jersey Sports Radio with Mike Pavlichko and Dom Savino on the call. Pregame starts at 5:45; click here to listen.

Both teams are 1-0.

While Gill graduated Brooke Baisley, who’s now at Boston University, it returns Maya Abramson, Sindey Quinn, Tessa Lozner and Gandy Malou-Mamel, who all signed their National Letters of Intent back on November 13th.

Abramson will be attending Stevens Institute of Technology, Quinn will be off to the Naval Academy, Lozner is going to Johns Hopkins, and Malou-Mamel has signed on to play for Geno Auriemma at UConn.

While the group has done many things, one thing they haven’t done is beat Rutgers Prep. The Argnoauts have won 23 straight in the series, with Gill’s last win coming over Prep in the 2014 Somerset County Tournament final, 77-47.

Since then, Rutgers Prep was won three state tournament matchups, and five in the county finals. Last year’s was the closest, a 58-55 win by the Argos, in which they trailed at halftime against a Skyland Conference opponent for the first time since losing to Franklin in the 2019 SCT title game.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger talk about the team’s opening win over Ewing, and Tuesday’s home opener against Gill St. Bernard’s, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep boys’ and girls’ find role reversal; Bloom has experienced squad while Klinger starts with nearly blank slate

Since the debut of Central Jersey Sports Radio in the 2020-21 school year, only one school has topped the girls’ basketball rankings that entire time: Rutgers Prep.

Going back to the days of Christina Dalce, then Antonia Bates and Mikayla Blakes, there has always been some overlap and consistency. Not so much this year.

On the boys’ side, head coach Matt Bloom had a very young and inexperienced team last year, but one that gained valuable experience throughout the course of the season, and – ultimately – won the Somerset County Tournament for a second straight year. This year, almost the entire team is back.

The script has been flipped, and yet, both teams could still be the favorite to win their respective sides of the SCT this winter.

For Mary Klinger’s girls, the No. 1 ranking is theirs to lose. They have topped the rankings for 37 straight weeks, won 51 straight games against Somerset County opponents, and won 64 in a row against the Skyland Conference, their last defeat to any of those teams coming to Franklin in the 2019 SCT Final, almost six years ago now.

All that will face a stiff early test in the Argonauts’ home opener next Tuesday – our first broadcast of the season on Central Jersey Sports Radio – when Gill St. Bernard’s travels down to Somerset. The Knights are another veteran squad.

The Prep girls return just one starter in Ava LaMonica. Mikayla Blakes is tearing it up at Vanderbilt, having been named SEC Freshman of the Week for a third time already, and scoring over 20 points a gamewhile Chloe Escanillas and Zahra Alexander are thriving at Marist and NYU, respectively. NYU is the top-ranked team in Division 3.

LaMonica averaged about 11 points a game last year and nearly five rebounds, though missed a good chunk of the year and the entire SCT due to injury.

Hannah Fraser, is the next-most experienced returnee, a sophomore who played in 13 games last season as a frosh.

The girls open up Saturday at 11:30 am in Game Two of the inaugural Tip-Off Showcase at Montgomery against Ewing, which was 26-6 last year and won Central Jersey Group 3.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger preview the 2024-25 season with Mike Pavlichko:

Rutgers Prep’s Jacob Canton (#1) takes it to the basket against Hillsborough in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals in Somerset on February 15, 2024. (Photo: Vin Ebenau)

Meanwhile, on the boys’ side, head coach Matt Bloom’s squad had little experience last year, but as they came together throughout the season – playing their typically challenging schedule – they were good enough to outlast Montgomery in the Somerset County Tournament Championship game.

They’ll lose senior John Kelly – who would have been a big contributor had he not missed much of the season due to injury – but have their top six returning scorers back, including uber-freshman Jacob Canton, now a sophomore, who averaged just over 16 points a game last year, as well as now-senior Myles Parker and his 14.7 points a game.

The Argonauts won’t be taking it easy either with the schedule, opening up with Manasquan – last year’s Central Jersey Group 2 champions, who were embroiled in controversy over the end of that group semifinal game against Camden – in the same event the girls will play in Saturday, the Tip-Off Showcase at Montgomery.

That will be Game Three of the day, starting at 1:00, right after the girls take on Ewing.

Click below to hear Rutgers Prep boys’ basketball coach Matt Bloom preview the 2024-25 season with Mike Pavlichko:

by Mike Pavlichko

Morris Catholic beats Rutgers Prep in a battle of the state’s top two teams to win second straight Non-Public Group B title

This year was different, but not different enough, for the Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team.

In the 2023 Non-Public Group B final an early lead evaporated and a third-quarter surge by Morris Catholic did in the Argonauts.

This time, the score was tied at 22 at the half, and there was no big run. But Morris Cathlolic edged ahead a few minutes into the third. The game went into the fourth quarter close, never more than two possessions.

But in the end, Rutgers Prep had some missed shots, and missed opportunities that cost them the game.

In her final game with Prep, Vanderbilt-bound senior Mikayla Blakes led all scorers with 21 points, while sophomore GiGi Battle – part of a core that will return next year with Leah Crosby and Ava LaMonica – notched her fourth career double-double with a solid 14 point, 13 rebound game.

Rutgers Prep didn’t have a great night from the field, shooting 18-of-46, but kept their lead – and stayed in it when behind – with a perfect night from the foul line, shooting 18-for-18.

The Pauldo twins for Morris Catholic were again the focal point for the Crusaders, up by a possession, running the clock down because any defender who doesn’t give Mia or Mya space can get left in the dust by either. It allowed them to run over 40-seconds off the clock on their penultimate possession, which started with about 90 seconds to go in the game.

Mia Pauldo finished with 20, while Mya Pauldo had 16.

Rutgers Prep’s season finished 24-5, with a fourth straight county title and third straight Non-Public South B title. They came into the game ranked No. 2 in New Jersey, with Morris Catholic No. 1.

The Crusaders will finish as the state’s top-ranked girls’ basketball team, 27-1, Morris County Tourney champs, and Non-Public Group B state champions.

Click below for postgame reaction from Rutgers Prep, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Time for another title: Rutgers Prep to take on St. Rose-Belmar in Non-Public South B final

When you talk to Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger in the preseason, she’s quick to point out that the preseason is long. Specifically, 23 games long.

In her world, the regular season is the tune-up. They’ll play their Skyland Conference games, some other top Jersey schools out of league, and go to showcases like the John Wall Invitational in North Carolina to play nationally-ranked foes.

All that prepares her team for the real season: the postseason.

Well, their first postseason ended with their third straight Somerset County Tournament title, and now they’re looking for their next one in the state tourney, in Non-Public South B.

The top-seeded Argonauts (23-4) have won the last two titles in this section, beating Wildwood Catholic each of the last two seasons. Monday, they’ll face third-seed St. Rose-Belmar (19-9) in the Non-Public South B final down at Jackson Liberty High School. Central Jersey Sports Radio will have live play-by-play with Mike Pavlichko on the call beginning with pregame at 3:45 pm, tip-off at 4; click here to listen.

The Purple Roses are led by sophomore Jada Lynch, who’s averaging team-bests 15.1 points per game and 6.5 rebounds. She also leads in assists (89), blocks (11) and steals (62). Meanwhile, junior Cassidy Kruesi is scoring nine points a game and leads the team in threes with 48.

Expect a lot of shots from downtown in this one, if either team can find good looks. Rutgers Prep hits a lot of them, 159 this season in 27 games, an average of almost six per contest. The Purple Roses have hit 183.

Rutgers Prep is led by Vanderbilt-bound senior Mikayla Blakes, who’s averaging 20.7 points per game, and four others are scoring in double figures as well: sophomore GiGi Battle is at 11.7 a game, while sophomore Ava LaMonica and senior Chloe Escanillas are both averaging an even 11 points per game.

And that’s where the difference may lie. St. Rose has won low scoring games, averaging just 54.1 per game, but the Argonauts are averaging 71 per contest on the season. Although the Purple Roses scored a lot in the first two rounds of the sectionals – in an 82-11 win over St. Joseph-Hammonton in the first round and a 76-34 victory over Holy Spirit in the quarterfinals – they just eked one out against Ranney in the semis, 46-43.

Meanwhile, all but two of Prep’s wins this season have seen them score at least 60 points.

Click below to hear both head coaches preview Monday’s Non-Public South B Final:

Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger
St. Rose head coach Chrissy Hatfield
by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep girls face toughest battle all season, but prevail 58-55 over Gill in SCT title tilt

The Rutgers Prep girls basketball team had beaten Gill St. Bernard’s twice this season, both times by large margins.

But Saturday, in the Somerset County Tournament title game at Montgomery Township High School, it was much closer.

In a game that featured nine ties after 0-0, and 14 lead changes – and saw the Argonauts trailing at halftime for the first time since the 2019 SCT final, a loss to Franklin that remains their most recent defeat to a Skyland Conference opponent – Rutgers Prep ultimately came out on top.

The No. 1 seed Argonauts beat second-seeded Knights 58-55.

Prep was without sophomore Ava LaMonica, who injured her ankle early against Franklin Thursday in the semifinals. It forced head coach Mary Klinger to adjust her rotation.

And early on, Prep wasn’t hitting shots. But they did down the stretch, and that was the difference. That and Gill’s Gandy Malou-Mamel fouling out in the fourth quarter.

Mikayla Blakes led Prep (21-4) with 18 points, eleven after halftime, and with two three-pointers in the fourth, following another in the third. Chloe Escanillas also had three treys, finishing with 13. Two of those triples came in the fourth quarter.

Brooke Baisley led the Knights (23-4) – and all scorers – with 20.

The win gives Rutgers Prep its 10th county title in program history, and fourth straight, having won in 2020, 2022, 2023 and this season. In between they won the Skyland Conference’s top pod in the 2021 COVID-shortened season.

Click below for postgame reaction with Rutgers Prep’s Mikayla Blakes and head coach Mary Klinger, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep girls headed to fourth straight SCT final with 57-24 home win over Franklin; Gill advances with home win over Hillsborough

Make it 9 straight finals appearances in the Somerset County Tournament for the Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team.

The top-seeded Lady Argonauts – 20 years after head coach Mary Klinger won her first-ever county title – will now have a chance to win their fourth straight, and seventh in nine seasons, thanks to a 57-24 win over fifth-seed Franklin.

Saturday’s final will have Prep against 2nd-seed Gill St. Bernard’s, which beat 4th-seed Hillsborough 76-47 in Peapack-Gladstone Thursday evening. (Scroll down for more on that game.)

From the very first basket of the game – scored by Chloe Escanillas, who bolted like a lighting strike to the basket off the opening tip – the Argonauts were off and rolling.

It was a sign of things to come as the junior led her team with 14 points including a pair of three-pointers.

Vanderbilt commit and senior Mikayla Blakes showcased her incredible speed on the floor off a fast break to lay in a basket with just under five minutes to play in the first.

Overall, it was aggressive offense, stingy-defense, and stellar communication in the first half that had the No. 1 seed up 30-11 at the break with sophomore GiGi Battle leading the team with eight points

Franklin senior Iyanna Cotten led the Warriors (14-12) in points with 6 at the break while the team committed that many fouls in the first half and had an additional 8 fouls in the 2nd half.

Cotten finished the game with 10 points in the loss.

Sophomore guard Ava La Monica left the game midway through the first half for Rutgers Prep (20-4) after appearing to twist her left ankle. 

She didn’t put any weight on her leg and had to be helped off the floor and didn’t return. Coach Klinger said Ava will be going for x-rays and her status for Saturday is unknown at this point.

Click below for postgame reaction from Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Vin Ebeneau, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Rutgers Prep junior guard Chloe Escanillas
Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger

(2) Gill St. Bernard’s 76, (4) Rutgers Prep 47: The Knights led virtually wire-to-wire, ahead 24-12 on the visiting Raiders after one quarter. Gill held a 40-19 lead at the half. Four players scored in double figures for the Knights, who got 18 from Sydney Quinn, 17 from Gandy Malou-Mamel, and 10 each from Maya Abrmson and Brooke Baisley. Hillsborough (16-8) was led by Francesco Schiro’s 23 points, a game high. It’ll be the third straight trip to the finals for Gill St. Bernard’s (23-3), which made it the last two years, losing both times to Rutgers Prep, 64-35 in 2022 and 64-39 last season. Both regular season meetings went to Rutgers Prep this year, 71-46 (as heard on CJSR) on January 4th, and 68-45 on February 6th.

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep’s Mary Klinger picks up milestone 700th win as Argonauts roll past Ridge

With all due respect to the opponent, the pizza got there early.

More than a dozen boxes, all for friends, family, alumni, fellow coaches, former coaches to honor Mary Klinger after the game on her 700th win.

Of course, the game was played, and Ridge hung in tough early. But keep in mind, Rutgers Prep girls basketball hasn’t lost a game to a Skyland Conference opponent since a defeat at the hands of Franklin and her good friend Audrey Taylor in the 2019 Somerset County Tournament Final. And, of course, the Warriors went undefeated that year, winning the Tournament of Champions.

Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger (left) and her college coach, former Rutgers mentor Theresa Grentz, with whom they won the 1982 AIAW National Championship, after Klinger’s 700th win as a head coach on January 18, 2024. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

And for all the threes Mikayla Blakes sunk, or the and-ones Ava LaMonica got, or the hard trips to the foul line GiGi Battle earned, this night was about their coach, their mentor, Mary Klinger.

Whatever happened in the 85-42 win was secondary to what would happen when the final horn sounded.

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO OF THE FINAL HORN, WITH POSTGAME INTERVIEWS ON OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL!

In the fourth quarter, Prep staff handed out “700” signs for the crowd to hold up. Audrey Taylor was in the house. So was former Rutgers basketball coach and color commentator Dick Lloyd. So was Mary’s college coach, Theresa Grentz, with whom they brought Rutgers the 1982 AIAW National Championship.

If you really want to know what happened in the game: Battle led Prep (12-3, 6-0 Skyland Delaware) with 16, LaMonica chipped in 16, and five-star recruit Mikayla Blakes scored 14, including four treys. The starting five came out midway through the third quarter. Sophia Georgiades led all scorers with 17 for Ridge (5-9, 3-3 Skyland Raritan).

Rutgers Prep’s GiGi Battle drives to the basket against Ridge in the game that would give her head coach, Mary Klinger, her 700th win. (Photo: Mike Pavlichko)

Klinger has been at Prep since the 1984-85 season, almost right off The Banks. She was already an impressive 469-217, with a winning percentage of .683, over her first 30 seasons. 

Over the next ten? Well, she’s 232-37 since the start of the 2014-15 season.

The win was the Argos’ 46th straight against Somerset County opponents, and 59th in a row against the Skyland Conference. 

That’s almost as impressive.

Click below for postgame reaction after Rutgers Prep coach Mary Klinger’s 700th win, presented by Sportsplex at Metuchen:

Rutgers Prep coach Mary Klinger
Chloe Escanillas and Mikayla Blakes
by Mike Pavlichko

No. 1 Rutgers prep girls return home for a big battle with No. 3 Gill St. Bernards

Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball coach Mary Klinger may call the regular season the preseason, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t like her team facing challenges.

After all, they played some of the toughest teams in the country down at the John Wall Invitational in North Carolina over the holiday break.

Coming back home, they’ll face another stiff challenge when they open the 2024 portion of the campaign against Gill St. Bernard’s.

The Lady Argonauts (5-2) are ranked No. 1 in the latest Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, with the Knights (8-0) ranked third behind St. Thomas Aquinas. And it’ll be their only meeting this season, meaning the top seed in the Somerset County Tournament could very well be on the line Thursday evening in Somerset.

It’s a game you can hear on Central Jersey Sports Radio at 5:30 pm, with pregame at 5:15. Mike Pavlichko and Chris Tsakonas have the call; click here to listen.

The biggest challenger for Klinger’s squad in the first seven games was playing four of them without Mikayla Blakes, a highly sought after major Division 1 recruit, with Rutgers, Indiana, Wisconsin, Tennesee, UCLA, Vanderbilt and Stanford among her final seven. Many consider her a future pro, but she’s been banged up, and her status for Thursday’s game is uncertain.

Still, there is a ton of talent on the court regardless. Blakes still has a higher points per game average (18.3) through three games, than anyone else through seven, but the Argos are still averaging 68.4 points a game, and their top scorer otherwise is senior Chloe Escanillas, who has hit a team-best 24 threes already on the young season. She also is tops in assists (22) and steals (18).

Junior Leah Crosby – who transferred in from St. Thomas Aquinas – is leading the team with eight rebounds.

Click below to hear Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko talk with Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger: