Sadie Fleming – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Outside of Gladstone, New Jersey, it looked like the Gill St. Bernard’s girls basketball team may have been headed for a retooling year.

Five seniors graduated, and all played college basketball this season as freshmen at the next level. With a solid stable of underclassmen returning, there was a relative unknown with the Knights.

On campus, though, the belief never wavered, even dating back to the summer.

Gill St. Bernard’s proceeded to go 22-6 and win its first sectional title since 2012, making it all the way to Rutgers in the Non-Public B Final.

All that has earned the Knights Central Jersey Sports Radio Somerset County Team of the Year honors, with senior leader Addy Platt named Girls’ Player of the Year in Somerset.

After playing a smaller role in her junior year, Platt burst onto the scene as a senior. She stuffed the stat sheet, averaging 19.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 4.1 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game. The future Saint Joseph’s Hawk also consistently picked up the opposing team’s top option, while drawing the same assignment on the opposite side.

But championship teams aren’t made by just one player, even a star of Platt’s caliber.

A returning junior class that developed into a dangerous supporting cast propelled Gill into the Team of the Year conversation. Platt’s sister Katie, point guard Melina Miller, and wing Sadie Finn all took advantage of the opportunities in front of them, and altogether, the Knights took another leap forward into the state’s cream of the crop.

Add in an exciting stable of younger talent, and Gill St. Bernard’s won’t be going anywhere.

But for the 2025-26 iteration of the Knights, Platt’s do-it-all leadership and ability to take over games earned her the distinction as the top Player of the Year, and the collective earned Team of the Year.

Click below to hear Knights head coach Mark Gnapp and Platt talk about the 2025-26 season, and what the future holds for both Platt and Gill St. Bernard’s with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel:

Honorable Mentions:

Hailey Benbow, Rutgers Prep: There was no sophomore slump for Hailey Benbow, who averaged 13.1 points and 6.6 rebounds for the Argonauts, leading the team in both categories in her second season as a starter. She also sunk 25 triples on the year, and led a defensive-oriented squad with 60 steals.
Aleah Sunkins, Franklin: It may take five to play basketball, but the Warriors don’t get where they got this year – to the Somerset County Tournament final, and winning Central Jersey Group 4 – without Sunkins, a junior who averaged more than twice the next leading scorer, at 17.9 points per game. In fact, she averaged a double-double with 10.9 boards per contest, while also hitting 36 threes and tying for team-high honors in steals with Alissa Myers, at 62. A seniors, Myers will be gone next year, but Sunkins will remain the focal point next season.
Aletha Reynolds, Bernards: A double-double machine, with 16 during the season, Reynolds averaged 14.8 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. She helped the Mountaineers to a 10-0 start, and a trip to the North 2, Group 2 semis, where they lost to defending and eventual champion Madison. The senior will attend Catholic University in Washington, D.C. next fall.
Peytan Pugh, Bound Brook: Just a freshman, Peytan and Company nearly knocked off Rutgers Prep in the Somerset County Tournament semifinals, and reached the Central Jersey Group 1 title game. Why? Because she registered 254 steals, tops in New Jersey, nearly nine per game! A great focal point to build around for the Crusaders over the next three years!
Sadie Fleming, Manville: With 13 double-doubles this season, Sadie had another fantastic year to cap off a four-year varsity journey. She averaged 13.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game – helping Manville to a school record 17 wins – finishing the her time with the Mustangs as rare member of the “Double 1K Club” – with 1,238 career points and 1,217 rebounds. Sadie is just the second girls’ player at Manville to crack a thousand, but holds the record for most rebounds in a career – by far! Fleming will attend Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania next year.

It was supposed to be a celebratory night in Manville, with senior Sadie Fleming needing just nine points to join the 1,000 point club, with just four others in Mustang girls’ history.

And it was, but not just for that reason.

While Fleming easily cracked the milestone, it was the last basket she hit, a layup in the lane with two seconds to go that broke a 34-34 tie, that really set off a celebration. It gave Manville a rousing 36-34 home win over College Achieve Central Thursday night.

Even more unique, as if you needed anything else, she’s just the second in school history – girls or boys – to score a thousand points, while also grabbing 1,000 rebounds. Fleming got that the day after Christmas in a 50-25 win over Dunellen in the opening round of the Manville Holiday Tournament, had ten on Thursday to give her her fifth double-double of the season, and is 38 away from breaking the all-time record set by Candy Kaschak in 1980, now at 1,040 in her career.

Kaschak also is a member of the “Double 1K” club.

Fleming is now fifth on the all-time girls’ scoring list, behind Julie Pankowski (1,205), who graduated in 2017.

“Personally, for me it’s cool to have coached two 1,000 point scorers, said head coach mike Knitkowski, a Manville alum himself. “I was 25 points short of my 1,000 and ended with 975 in 2007, but I only played in 68 career games, and missed 12 games my freshman year due to injury, or I would have easily gotten it too.”

Knitkowski called it a “full circle moment” for the team, which, with the rest of the starting five – including Val Fonseca, Sarah Alfraro, Deanna Betancourth and Sophia Grosk – “have all been playing basketball together since fifth grade recreation, and have basically grown up together.”

Fleming is committed to play basketball next year at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, just outside of Harrisburg.

Currently fifth overall on the all-time girls’ scoring list, depending how deep Manville goes in the Somerset County and state tournaments this year, Fleming – a four-year varsity player – has a legitimate shot to end up at least fourth, perhaps third on the all-time scoring list. Sandy Baranowski (1986) is No. 1 all-time, at 1,796

Click below to hear Manville senior Sadie Fleming talk about being the newest member of the Mustangs’ 1,000 point club with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: