Tag: Mount St. Mary

by Mike Pavlichko

Playoff update: Girls’ Basketball Non-Public Sections

Central Jersey Sports Radio continues its breakdown of playoff sections with Saturday’s NJSIAA cutoff fast approaching. Here’s a section-by-section look based on official standings available on NJ.com as of 11 pm Monday:

Non-Public South B: This could come down to the wire, as Rutgers Prep (15-1) sits in first with 417 points, just eight ahead of Wildwood Catholic (16-4, 409 points.) But those are the only two teams in the same realm of power points, as St. Rose of Belmar in third has only 315 points, trailing by 94. This one could come down to residuals for the Argonauts, and Sunday’s game against statewide No. 1 St. John Vianney won’t count – it’s after the Saturday NJSIAA cutoff. Calvary Christian (12-2) out of the GMC Gold is fifth at 269, with Timothy Christian (6-7, 164) in 10th.

Non-Public South A: It’s St. John Vianney leading the pack here by a wide margin, 19-0 with a whopping 501 power points, 99 ahead of Paul VI (15-3, 402). Red Bank Catholic (18-3, 392) is next, followed by St. Thomas Aquinas (14-3, 366). It’s unlikely they could make up enough ground, which sets up a potential matchup with SJV in the sectional semis. It’s no better for fifth=-place Immaculata (11-7, 334), as the winner of that potential 5/4 quarterfinal game would get the Lady Lancers in the semis. Mount St. Mary (10-5, 301) would get them in the quarters if they hold in eighth place. Mother Seton (2-5, 72) brings up the rear.

Non-Public North B: The only real threat here is Gill St. Bernard’s, which is 11-3 with 289 points and sitting in 5th. Even though two of their 13 games are losses, even a couple of wins probably aren’t enough to propel them into third (currently held by Montclair Immaculate at 13-4, 345 points) and away from top-seed Saddle River Day (16-1, 486 points) until the sectional finals. Also in this section: Wardlaw-Hartridge (1-12, 89) in 12th.

Non-Public North A: The only area team here is Pingry, which is 6-10 with 209 points, and sitting ninth in the standings. The Big Blue could edge up into the top eight and even the top seven if they play their cards right. Top seven would avert an early matchup with top-seed Immaculate Heart (16-4, 399 points).

by Mike Pavlichko

No change, top to bottom, in Week 7 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten

Not a single team moved one single place in the Week 7 Bellamy & Son rankings for girls’ basketball, with few losses by anyone, and many out-of-conference or to other ranked clubs.

Rutgers Prep remains No. 1, as the Argonauts have been since the rankings debuted at the start of last season, making it 14 straight week in the top spot for Mary Klinger’s squad. They had a 3-0 week, and a huge win Sunday over the 5th-ranked team in the state, Red Bank Catholic, in the Coaches’ Choice USA College Showcase in Holmdel.

Colonia – at No. 2 – also has a perfect week, going 2-0 with wins at North Brunswick and over Woodbridge. The Patriots have not lost a GMC game yet this season, their only two losses coming in their season opener to Albertus Magnus (NY) and January 12th at Westfield.

Third-ranked Bound Brook lost at Bayonne last Tuesday, while No. 4 St. Thomas Aquinas lost twice, to Long Island Lutheran Tuesday at home, and to Rumson-Fair Haven in the showcase down in Holmdel Sunday.

No. 7 Monroe lost to Bound Brook on Thursday, Watchung Hills lost to unranked Immaculata Thursday, and tenth-ranked Old Bridge lost Saturday at St. Thomas Aquinas.

Below are the full Week 7 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

Top five keep winning and stay in place in Week 6 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten

The top five teams in the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball rankings went a combined 12-0 in the week gone by, with no changes among them.

Led by Rutgers Prep (12-1) at No. 1, the rest – Colonia second, followed by Bound Brook, St. Thomas Aquinas and Gill St. Bernard’s – didn’t budge.

Even the rest saw minimal changes. Monroe flip-flopped with Franklin to take 6th place after the Warriors lost to Gill St. Bernard’s last Thursday (on Central Jersey Sports Radio) 35-33 on a buzzer-beater by Brooke Baisley, while Monroe went 2-0. The Falcons have the longest active win streak in the GMC at the moment, at nine games.

Watchung Hills did the same with Mount St. Mary, moving up to 8th after the Lions split with Pingry last week, while the Warriors went 2-0.

Old Bridge held in tenth, despite a 48-36 loss last Tuesday at Monroe.

Below are the full rankings for Week 6:

by Mike Pavlichko

Big shuffle in Week 5 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten, though Rutgers Prep remains at the top

Only one team in this week’s Bellamy & Son Girls’ Basketball Rankings was in the same place a week ago. Other than Rutgers Prep, everyone shuffled into a new position, thanks to a couple of upsets.

Most notable was Monroe, previously unranked, knocking off No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas by 12 on Thursday night, a little more than a month after losing to them in the season opener by 38. It was a convincing win, too; the Falcons led virtually wire-to-wire.

Not to be outdone, unranked Watchung Hills beat No. 3 Gill St. Bernard’s, while Franklin beat Watchung Hills and now just has two losses; to Gill and No. 1 Rutgers Prep, which has now held the No. 1 spot every week of the Central Jersey Sports Radio/Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten, since its inception in CJSR’s inaugural season last year, a total of 13 weeks.

Many other teams also shuffled around with a mix of wins and losses. Below are the full Week 5 Bellamy & Son rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

Another unbeaten week keeps Rutgers Prep atop the Week 4 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten

There’s no change in the top three places of the Week 4 Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Rankings, with No. 1 Rutgers Prep, No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas and No. 3 Gill St. Bernard’s combining to go 9-0 in the past week.

Colonia and Bound Brook flip-flopped, with the Patriots (11-2) going 3-1 last week, losing only at Westfield. The Crusaders (8-3) also lost at Westfield, by fewer points, but dropped a second game in a 2-2 week, losing out-of-state to St. Joseph by the Sea of Staten Island.

Mount St. Mary (6-3) went 2-0 for the week to hold in sixth, while Woodbridge jumped from n inth to seventh on the strength of a 3-0 week. Old Bridge (6-2) held in 8th after a 1-2 week, losing to Monroe and No. 2 St. Thomas Aquinas, but they picked up a win over a ranked foe, too, edging No. 7 South Brunswick 47-46. That loss put the Vikings (7-2) behind them in ninth, down two spots.

Middlesex (5-2) holds in tenth at 5-2, following a 2-1 week that included playing all the way up to the Red Division in a 58-48 loss to East Brunswick.

Below are the complete Week 4 rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

Another week at No. 1 for Rutgers Prep girls in Bellamy & Son Paving Top Ten

On the strength of a 2-0 week after a COVID pause, the Rutgers Prep girls remain the Number One team in the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Week Three Top Ten.

The Argonauts got back into action with a pair of games this past weekend, beating Camden Catholic Saturday 78-46, then topping Long Island Lutheran 68-49 down in West Deptford at the Blue Star High School Invitational.

There was a little movement this week, as St. Thomas Aquinas – with a 2-0 week – jumped over Gill St. Bernard’s. The Knights went 0-1 this week, losing their only game 45-42 at Hillsborough. The Trojans beat Edison by 24 and South Brunswick by 14.

Bound Brook held in fourth, while Colonia – which went 3-0 this week with wins over North Brunswick, at Woodbridge, and at Carteret – vaulted up to fifth, and Mount St. Mary held in 6th.

South Brunswick went 2-1 – the loss coming to St. Thomas Aquinas – and moved to seventh, while Old Bridge – undefeated at 5-0 – jumped into the rankings at No. 8. The Vikings had wins over South River and Edison.

Woodbridge went 1-1 and dropped to ninth, while Middlesex – which beat Spotswood and South River in the week gone by – held in tenth.

Below are the Week 3 rankings:

by Mike Pavlichko

Two new teams debut in Bellamy & Son Paving Girls Basketball Top Ten, but Rutgers Prep remains No. 1

Despite not playing a game last week due to COVID-related issues, Rutgers Prep remains No. 1 in the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls Basketball Week 2 Top Ten.

In fact, three of the top five teams didn’t play at all over Christmas break, including No. 2 Gill St. Bernards, third-ranked St. Thomas Aquinas, and 5th-ranked Monroe. Tenth-ranked Franklin didn’t play, either, and dropped out, as two GMC teams moved into the Top Ten, also bumping previous No. 8 North Brunswick.

Woodbridge (4-1) made its debut at No. 8, while South Brunswick (3-0) took its place at No. 9.

The full rankings are below:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep drops its first game in 15, but stays No. 1 in Bellamy & Son Paving Girls Basketball Top Ten

Despite having a 14-game winning streak snapped in a 62-51 loss to Westtown, PA, Rutgers Prep remains the top team in the Bellamy & Son Paving Girls’ Basketball Top Ten.

The Argos won their opener 60-34 on Central Jersey Sports Radio back on December 17, and face Southern in their opening game of the Score at the Shore Tournament Monday.

No one dropped out of the Week One rankings, with four teams only managing one game due to COVID-related cancellations either of their own doing or by their opponents.

Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko break down the full Top Ten, complete with notes on each team:

by Mike Pavlichko

Rutgers Prep steamrolls everyone, runs wire-to-wire with No. 1 ranking to be named CJSR Girls’ Basketball Team of the Year

Here are the two numbers you need to know: 31 and 45.

Want us to use them in a sentence? OK.

The Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team allowed a paltry 31 points per game this year, while beating teams by an average of 45 points.

And we did not just pull those numbers out of a hat.

En route to a perfect 13-0 season, and the Skyland Conference Tournament’s top pod title, Rutgers Prep blitzed all comers this season, and finishes 2021 where it began: as the Number One team in the Central Jersey Sports Radio Top Ten, earning them the honor of our 2021 Girls’ Basketball Team of the Year.

No one even came close.

How good was Rutgers Prep?

Let’s put it this way. No disrespect to any other team, but if you actually ranked the teams in terms of how good they were, Rutgers Prep would be No. 1, and the next team behind them might be at No. 3.

The Argonauts are also ranked No. 21 in the nation – not the state, the nation – by ESPN, behind No. 13 St. John Vianney, but a spot ahead of Trenton Catholic, which is scheduled to close after this academic year, and to whom Rutgers Prep lost last year in the Non-Public South B finals.

LISTEN: An audio retrospective on Rutgers Prep girls’ dominance in 2021, with Mary Klinger, Christina Dalce, Belle Pellecchia

Monroe – the winner of the Greater Middlesex Conference’s top bracket, the Somogyi Family Pod – checked in at No. 2, avenging its only loss of the season in the Somogyi Pod title game, using a second half rally to beat St. Thomas Aquinas in their second meeting of the year.

Below are the final girls’ basketball rankings for 2021, including postseason achievements:

by Mike Pavlichko

Mount St. Mary’s stellar season continues as Lions face big challenge in Skyland Blue semis

There’s Rutgers Prep. There’s Franklin. There’s Bound Brook.

Now, there’s Mount St. Mary.

The Lions might not be the surprise team in the Skyland Conference to anyone in the locker room, which they can’t use because of COVID-19, but they’ve turned more than a few heads this year.

And for a small school in its first year in the Mountain Division, to have the year they’re having – one of 13 undefeated teams left in the final week of this wacky season in New Jersey, sitting at 13-0 – is a major accomplishment.

They’re No. 17 in the NJ.com statewide rankings.

They have their sights set on something bigger, though. Throw out the record, because they just knocked out – in the first round of the Skyland Conference Tournament’s top pod, the “Blue Division” – the mighty Franklin Warriors.

Next victim? Might be second seeded Gill St. Bernard’s. Sure, they’ve got Ella Fajardo and big Caileigh Walsh, but 13-0 is 13-0.

Click below to hear Mount St. Mary Head Coach Ryan Shellhammer and senior point guard Natalie Mathern talk about the Lions, and their stellar season so far: