Sidney Smith – Central Jersey Sports Radio

Just by looking at the final score, it looked like second-seeded Bound Brook girls basketball worked a ho-hum, big-time victory in the Central Jersey Group 1 semifinals against sixth-seeded Roselle Park.

But for those watching — and listening on Central Jersey Sports Radio — it was anything but.

The Crusaders (25-3) trailed 17-2 in the first quarter, but rallied back to take a double-digit halftime lead, and continued to build in the second half for a 62-41 victory over the upset-minded Panthers (18-8).

Bound Brook clinched a win, and its first appearance in the sectional title since 2020, when it won the Central Jersey Group 1 title and was won the Group 1 semifinal to end the COVID-19-shortened season.

Freshman guard Peytan Pugh paced the Crusaders with 17 points, while continuing her work as the state’s steals leader with countless swipes at the ball, turning into extra possessions on the offensive end. Bound Brook had three other scorers in double figures, as senior wing Ty Ferguson added 14 — all in the second and fourth quarters — while Lauren Polakiewicz made a trio of three-pointers for 12 points, and Jayden Campbell scored ten.

Roselle Park star guard Sidney Smith — the leading scorer in the state — finished with a game-high 26 points and was the only Panther in double figures. She finished five points shy of her season average, as the Crusaders threw multiple different looks and defenders at her to try to contain her premiere shotmaking.

Roselle Park took all of the momentum to start, playing uptempo on both ends of the floor as Smith scored eight points in the opening quarter and the Panthers’ supporting cast helped lead the way, as Hannah Djokic knocked down two three-pointers and Otilla Dobre added another.

After a 17-2 start, Bound Brook stabilized things a bit with two straight baskets to end the frame down by 11.

Then once the second quarter tipped off, the Crusaders were off to the races.

They outscored Roselle Park 28-7 in the quarter, as their own uptempo style got going, led by multiple steals from Pugh to set up transition opportunities. Bound Brook opened the quarter on a 16-0 run to take the lead back, and eventually went into the locker room with a double-digit lead, at 34-24. The trio of Pugh, Polakiewicz, and Ferguson combined for 24 of the 28 second-quarter points, as the Crusaders snatched all of the momentum back and kept it the rest of the way.

The Panthers wouldn’t go down without a fight, though. Early in the third quarter, Smith put on a heroic scoring run to get Roselle Park back within four, knocking down fallaway jumper after fallaway jumper. But Pugh knocked down a three in the final minute of the quarter and gave Bound Brook some breathing room with a seven-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Roselle Park gave the Crusaders an inch, and they took it a mile to open the fourth quarter. They outscored the Panthers 18-6 and put the game away with an increased focus on attacking the basket and continuing to double-team — and sometimes even triple-team — Smith, daring the superstar scorer to give the ball up and force someone else to beat them.

In the sectional semifinals, Bound Brook shook off a rough start and battled to dominate the final 24 minutes of the game to snap a six-year sectional title appearance drought. The Crusaders will move on to face New Providence in the Central Jersey Group 1 championship game, set for Saturday between the section’s top two seeds.

Click here to listen to postgame comments from Bound Brook head coach Jen Derevjanik and freshman guard Peytan Pugh, with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Alec Crouthamel, presented by the Sportsplex at Metuchen:

The task was a tall one. Bernards knew that coming in.

The 7th-ranked Mountaineer girls basketball team was a perfect 10-for-10 in 2025-26 heading into Saturday afternoon’s non-conference home game with Roselle Park and the state’s top scorer, Sidney Smith.

And it would be a good test against a solid squad not from their league, a chance to see how they stacked up.

Bernards hung in there, never leading in the game, but keeping it close. They trailed by ten at the half, 35-25, and got it to single digits on a couple of occasions, even as close as six late in the first half.

But the Elon-committed Smith was too much for the Mountaineers, either scoring from what would be the college three-point line, or getting to the basket, drawing contact and going to the line, where she picked up even more points.

It all resulted in a 67-52 win for Roselle Park (8-2), and Bernards’ first loss of the year (10-1).

She finished with a game-high 35, scoring 17 in a third quarter that proved to be the difference, and had five triples in the game. With Bernards keeping it close, she took over the game in the third.

Aletha Reynolds was high scorer for Bernards, scoring 26, including five treys.