South Brunswick senior guard, Katie Rausch turned in a solid game with a game high 15 points to lead the Lady Vikings to a resounding victory over Freehold Township in the opening round of the 2023 NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 State Tournament on Tuesday afternoon in Monmouth Junction.
Lady Vikings Storm Past Freehold Township in CJ Group 4 Opening Round
MONMOUTH JUNCTION, NJ – In the late afternoon on Tuesday, severe weather gripped a portion of the Central Jersey region just south of South Brunswick High School. Dark clouds lurked off in the distance while a rainbow arched over the SBHS Gymnasium outside. However, a more potent storm was brewing indoors.
The 2nd seeded Lady Vikings were denied the opportunity to take on top seeded St. Thomas Aquinas in the GMCT thanks to a stifling semifinal loss against 3rd seeded Colonia. However, South Brunswick didn’t lament. Instead they started anew and, rolled past 15th seeded Freehold Township, 63-31 behind senior and 1,000 point scorer Katie Rausch in the 2023 NJSIAA Central Jersey Group 4 Girls Opening Round.
Rausch did it all en route to a game high 15 points on 5 total field goals including two three pointers, and three made free throws. Rausch also helped spearhead a smothering pressure defense that produced numerous turnovers as she collected 3 steals. She added a traditional three point play in the third, and even made a three quarter shot at the end of the first half, but the officials waved it off since it was just after the horn.
Junior Meher Vig and sophomore Alexis Lease-Springer each chipped in with 13 points. Vig collected her 13 points on 6 field goals including an and one just before the end of the first half. Vig also picked up 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Lease-Springer tallied her 13 on five total field goals including a first half three along with 2 made free throws. Lease-Springer also picked up 3 steals, 2 assists, and a rebound.
Leilani Pinder added 7 points, 3 steals, 2 rebounds, an assist, and a block. Pinder scored four of South Brunswick’s first six points of the game, and then capped off her offensive night with a buzzer beating three pointer to end the opening period for a 23-5 Lady Vikings lead. Anjali Mahesh contributed as well with 6 points on three field goals, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and an assist.
Senior guard, Cynai Price only had 2 points on a field goal, but she helped out on other ways including 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals as she was active on both sides of the floor. Leading 56-18 after three periods, South Brunswick head coach, Jeff Johnson was able to give his starters some rest while giving the reserves including several members of the JV Tourney championship team some playing time.
As a result, 14 different players saw action in the contest for SBHS. Of those 14 players, nine scored including Zoe Wilcher (3 points and 3 rebounds), Avery Jenne (2 points, 2 assists, a steal and a rebound), Annabella Curto (2 points and 2 rebounds). Anisha Tahbildar (2 rebounds), Emma Boice (2 steals), Ashley Silva (a rebound), Kendall Dixon, and Trisha Reddy also played.
Leading the way in defeat for the Lady Patriots was sophomore guard/forward, Ava Giordano, who scored a team high 11 points. Madison Sciarrino chipped in with 7 while Sophie Tonino and Julia Wallace each added 4. Gaby Parker (3 points) and Ashley Moore (2 points) rounded out the Freehold Township scoring. All six players that saw action for FTHS scored.
South Brunswick outscored Freehold Township in each of the first three periods en route to a commanding 38 point advantage. As a matter of fact, the Lady Vikings scored the first 14 points of the contest as Rausch, Lease-Springer, Vig, and Pinder scored. Rausch sank both of her threes in the opening frame and Pinder sank her only trey of the afternoon to give SBHS an 18 point cushion heading into the second.
With a roster consisting of only one senior and two juniors, Freehold Township’s inexperienced showed right away against the relentless full court pressure of the Lady Vikings. As a team, South Brunswick swiped 18 steals, and converted many of them into easy baskets. In addition, the Lady Vikes did a solid job of sharing the basketball with 13 assists while also pulling down 27 rebounds.
South Brunswick scored 44 of its points from inside the arc, another 12 from long distance, and 7 from the foul line. The Lady Vikings, which defeated Old Bridge in the opening round a year ago, improved to 18-7 overall and advanced to the CJ Group 4 Quarterfinals, where they will host 7th seeded Long Branch, another Shore Conference school, on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 PM in Monmouth Junction.
The Green Wave easily dispatched 10th seeded Trenton of the Colonial Valley Conference, 64-47 in its first round contest. The winner of Thursday’s game will face the winner of 3rd seeded Monroe and Howell on Saturday, February 25th at the higher seeded team. If South Brunswick wins on Thursday, it will host the semifinal contest.
With the NJSIAA CJ Group 4 Elite Eight set, there are four teams from the GMC still remaining. All four teams are from the Red Division, and were among the top seven seeded teams in the recent GMCT: South Brunswick (2nd seed), Monroe (3rd seed), East Brunswick (4th seed), and Old Bridge (8th seed). The Lady Vikings were a combined 6-1 versus those other three teams. The only loss was to Old Bridge (71-55 on January 31st).
However, South Brunswick’s last meeting with East Brunswick in the GMCT Girls Quarterfinals was an epic one. After defeating EB by an average of 26 points in their previous two meetings, the Lady Vikes were pushed to the limit by the then 7th seeded Lady Bears in the GMCT Elite Eight. In perhaps the best played game of the entire tournament, both teams went back and forth until SBHS won in overtime, 73-70.
East Brunswick and Old Bridge are on the other side of the bracket with the 8th seeded Lady Knights traveling to play Hightstown in Mercer County on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 PM, and East Brunswick hosting Jackson Memorial of Ocean County and the Shore Conference on Thursday evening at 6:00 PM in the Bears’ Den.