TCA, Pennington ready for championship rematch
The 2019 Mercer County Tournament girls basketball final will be a rematch of the 2018 championship game between the Pennington School and Trenton Catholic Academy.
It will only be the second time in the history of the tournament that the same two girls teams will meet in consecutive MCT finals. The only other time it happened was in 2010 and 2011 when TCA and Trenton High met in the championship. The Mikes won both, 49-48 and 55-39.
In fact, the Leonard Avenue school has not lost a girls’ title game it has competed in since it became known as Trenton Catholic Academy. Overall, the TCA/McCorristin High girls are 8-2 in MCT finals.
Pennington, meanwhile, will be appearing in its second county championship.
The Mikes, who are known for their smothering pressure defense, will take a 21-3 record and four-game winning streak into the game. The Red Raiders, who have a number of ways to beat teams, bring a 21-4 mark and a six-game winning streak into the final.
Head coach Bob Fusik’s TCA top-seeded squad, which defeated fifthseeded Ewing, 93-41, in Tuesday’s semifinal round, relies on balance, yet is led by 5-foot-3 junior guard Maniya Custis, who averages 14.7 points per game, and six-foot junior guard/ forward Giana Boulden, who averages 11.3 ppg.
Head coach Jeff Eckerson’s
second-seeded Pennington club, which stopped third-seeded Stuart Country Day School, 54-44, in Tuesday’s semifinal round, is spearheaded by three 1,000-point scorers, only two of whom will be playing Thursday.
Taylor Blunt, a 5-9 junior guard/forward, leads the way with 13.4 ppg, and Leah Johnson, a 6-2 senior center, scores 12.3 ppg. Diamond Christian, a 5-5 senior point guard who averages 10 ppg, has run out of eligibility to compete in this year’s county tournament.
That is seen as a big loss for this game because of the Mikes’ defense, which holds teams to 38.5 ppg, but the Red Raiders, whose defense has been limiting teams to 41.4 ppg, have found ways to combat the absence with new younger ballhandlers.
TCA won last year’s MCT final, 59-55, then also defeated Pennington, 54-45, in regular-season action Dec. 17, 2018.
A win would tie Trenton Catholic Academy/McCorristin for the most overall girls county crowns (nine) with Notre Dame High.