Third-seed Rutgers Prep won its second straight Non-Public South B title, beating top-seed Wildwood Catholic 70-40 in the sectional title game at Seneca High School in Medford Lakes. Junior Mikayla Blakes led the Lady Argonauts with 22 points, while Katie Ledden followed up with 22.
Click below to hear Mike Pavlichko call all the action on March 1, 2023 on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
Press. Score. Defense. Rebound. Transition.
Repeat.
The same tried and true formula that has worked her entire life at Rutgers Prep worked again on Wednesday night for head coach Mary Klinger’s squad, as the third-seeded Argonauts “knocked off” top seed Wildwood Catholic in the Non-Public South B championship game at Seneca High School, as heard on Central Jersey Sports Radio.
And so, it’s back-to-back sectional titles for Klinger, Mikayla Blakes, Katie Ledden and Co. with one more game to play, the Non-Public Group B final, to be played Saturday at the RWJBarnabas Health Arena in Toms River, at a time to be determined.
Rutgers Prep (25-6) will face 2nd-seed Morris Catholic (26-3), a team they lost to in December, after giving up what was a 13-point third-quarter lead to lose by three. Morris Catholic beat 4th-seed Montclair-Immaculate 55-49 Wednesday night in the Non-Public North B final.
For Rutgers Prep, it was the usual: Blakes leading on offense with 22 points, Ledden adding 20. Zahra Alexander finished with ninr.
Prep never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 9-2 lead they would never relinquish, and holding Wildwood Catholic without a field goal for most of the second quarter. The Argonauts built the lead to as many as 36 in the fourth quarter before the starters came out.
Click below to hear for postgame reaction brought to you by SportsPlex at Metuchen:
This is the real season. The second one.
Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger considers the regular season the preseason. Not to demean it, but other than a division championship, which is nice, there’s no trophy for the regular season.
There is for the Somerset County Tournament. Check.
There is for the Non-Public South B section of the state tournament. 32 minutes remain.
The defending champion and third-seeded Lady Argonauts (24-4) will play for back-to-back titles this evening when they take on top-seed Wildwood Catholic (24-4) down at Seneca High School in Medford Lakes, NJ. You can hear the game broadcast live on Central Jersey Sports Radio, beginning with pregame at approximately 4:45 pm; tip-off is scheduled for 5:00.
Click here to listen to the live broadcast tonight, starting at 4:45 pm.
Rutgers Prep has been the dominant girls’ basketball team in the Central Jersey Sports Radio coverage area for several years now. In the last seven seasons, they have only lost seven games to four different New Jersey schools: Paul VI, Morris Catholic and St. Rose once each, and Trenton Catholic and St. John Vianney twice.
They haven’t lost to a public school since falling to Franklin in the Somerset County Tournament final in 2019, a year the Warriors finished just 34-0, winning the Tournament of Champions.
Prep is led by junior Mikayla Blakes and senior Katie Ledden, but has plenty beyond that. Blakes, though, leads in most statistical categories: 21.9 points per game, 72 threes, 126 made free throws, 92 assists, 87 steals. The Rhode Island-bound Ledden – the only senior in the starting lineup and who sees significant playing time, meaning don’t expect much to change in Prep’s dominance next season – averages 14.6 points per game, second on the team, and is the top rebounder at 6.6 per game.
Scroll down to hear Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger talk with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko, and for prior coverage of the Rutgers Prep girls’ basketball team.
Then there’s a freshman who’s made serious contributions as a starter: GiGi Battle. She’s scoring a shade under 10 points per game, and is second on the team in rebounds (5.5 per) and third in steals with 47.
Zahra Alexander (7.8 ppg) and Chloe Escanillas (7.3 ppg) round out the starting lineup.
As for Wildwood Catholic, junior Kaci Mikulski is the leading scorer at 14.9 points per game. The point guard also has a team-leading 81 assists and can shoot the three-ball, hitting 70 times from downtown. As a team, they’ve hit just a handful fewer threes than Prep (175, compared to 184 for the Argonauts) but they are content to play a lower scoring game, averaging just 48.2 points on offense. Prep scores about 72 per game on offense.
Rutgers Prep was able to beat St. Rose of Belmar on the road in the semifinals despite ending the first quarter without a lead, something they had not done since January 8th, when they trailed 16-12 after one against McDonough of Maryland, and lost 53-43. They also trailed after one in losses to Montverde (FL) and Morris Catholic in the She Got Game Classic on December 17, as well as in wins over Pickering Central (OH) and South Shore (NY).
But mostly, Prep likes to start games hot. Besides the sectional semis, when they trailed St. Rose 10-9 after one quarter but wound up winning by 23, they shutout Moorestown Friends 27-0 in the opening quarter of their first round game, and had a 29-8 lead in the first 8 minutes over Trenton Catholic. Still, those leads will be harder to come by in the later rounds.
A win would put Rutgers Prep in the Non-Public Group B Final for the second year in a row, down at Toms River North’s RWJBarnabaas Arena, Sunday at a time to be determined. They won there last year, beating Saddle River Day 62-51 to move on to the Tournament of Champions, which was eliminated last season by the NJSIAA in order to give student-athletes more down time between seasons.
Click below to hear Rutgers Prep head coach Mary Klinger talk about the Lady Argonauts, and the matchup with Wildwood Catholic:
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