Antunes and deVoogd Lead JFK Past New Brunswick in GMCT Girls Play-In Round
ISELIN, NJ – On Saturday morning, GMC Hoops took in the first half of the 2023 GMCT Girls Play-In Round game between 20th seeded J.F. Kennedy and 29th seeded New Brunswick before heading over to Metuchen for the Bulldogs GMCT Boys Play-In Round game against South Amboy. While the Lady Mustangs have fought an uphill battle against the GMC White in 2022-23, they have had two splendid bright spots: Sidney deVoogd and Paula Antunes.
Entering Saturday’s contest against New Brunswick, deVoogd, a senior forward, was just 32 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Through 19 games, deVoogd was averaging a double-double of 16.3 points and 12.2 rebounds per contest. She also was averaging 3.7 blocks per contest as well. JFK’s leading scorer and rebounder has had 10 double-doubles this season including a 26 point, 20 rebound effort in a loss against North Plainfield on January 14th.
Meanwhile, Antunes, a junior guard, who has 476 career points and 220 career rebounds entering play on Saturday, was averaging 12.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.6 steals, and 1.9 assists per game. Antunes scored in double figures on 16 occasions thus far this season. She has matched her season high of 18 points on four occasions this season including most recently against Woodbridge (lost 73-42) on Thursday.
Both deVoogd and Antunes played prominent roles in J.F. Kennedy’s 47-31 victory over New Brunswick on Saturday. Scoring 15 of her game high 22 points in the first half, deVoogd also pulled down 13 rebounds and blocked 7 shots. Meanwhile, Antunes scored 6 of her 14 points over the first two periods as the Lady Mustangs took a 26-16 halftime lead. The duo of deVoogd and Antunes combined for 76.9 of JFK’s first half points.
Kennedy jumped out to an 18-6 lead as deVoogd scored 10 of her points in the opening quarter. Antunes added four points of her own as the JFK duo scored 14 of the Lady Mustangs 18 points in the frame. Both also did a tremendous job of settling the other players down on the floor when things got crazy. New Brunswick battled back in the second with a 10-8 showing including a steal for a score by Kennedy Johnson.
The Lady Mustangs then put the game out of reach by outscoring the Lady Zebras by a margin of 13-6 in the third to increase its lead to 39-22 heading into the fourth. New Brunswick then outscored JFK by a 9-8 margin in the final period to round out the final score. Mia Montanez chipped in for the winners with 6 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a steal.
Kristi Kuzar added 3 points, 11 steals, 6 rebounds, and a block while Ja’Nai Ebinim-Reaves contributed 2 points, 4 rebounds, and a steal. Anastasia Kotsakis (7 rebounds and an assist) and Tejaswi Jeyanthinathan (5 rebounds and 4 assists) also played in the win for J.F. Kennedy. As a team, JFK connected on 20 total field goals including two threes (both by Antunes), and made 5 of 9 foul shots.
J.F. Kennedy also collected 47 rebounds, 17 steals, 11 assists, and 9 blocked shots. With the victory, JFK improved to 7-15 on the season overall including a 4-14 mark in the GMC. New Brunswick dropped to 2-16 overall and 1-13 in conference play. The Lady Mustangs advance to the GMCT Girls Preliminary Round to face 13th seeded North Brunswick on Saturday while New Brunswick finishes out its season with a road game at Matawan on February 9th, and versus Plainfield at home on February 14th.
GMC HOOPS JFK FACT: Sidney deVoogd, is the daughter of J.F. Kennedy boys basketball coach, Sebastian deVoogd, who also celebrated a win on Saturday. In the GMCT Boys Play-In Round, 25th seeded JFK defeated 24th seeded Highland Park, 61-58 to advance to take on 9th seeded Perth Amboy in the GMCT Boys Preliminary Round on Tuesday.
The elder deVoogd has been at the helm of the JFK boys hoops program since the 2016-17 season. Prior to that, deVoogd served as an assistant coach with Lenny Reyes at Metuchen in 2002-03, Jeff Lubreski at South Plainfield in 2004-05, and Art Cattano at New Providence. At South Plainfield, deVoogd was on the staff for the Tiger boys hoops team that won its 2nd straight GMCT title.