Defending champ TCA gets top seed
The Trenton Catholic Academy girls basketball team is primed to defend its Mercer County Tournament championship.
Bob Fusik’s Iron Mikes (18-3) earned the top seed and a first-round bye in the county’s showpiece event, which begins on Thursday and finishes on Feb. 21 with the final at the CURE Insurance Arena in Trenton.
TCA is the No. 1 seed for a second straight season. It defeated Pennington, 59-55, in last year’s title game.
Those two teams could very well meet again after Jeff Eckerson’s Red Raiders (15-4) picked up the No. 2 seed. Stuart (13-9) is the No. 3 seed and Notre Dame (167) rounds out the top four.
Defending Central Group III champ and state runnerup Ewing (14-6) is the No. 5 seed, which likely sets up a mouth-watering quarterfinal against Notre Dame on Saturday.
A path to a ninth MCT title for TCA won’t be easy. The Mikes face a potentially tricky quarterfinal against either No. 8 Hopewell Valley (14-6) or No. 9 Steinert (11-9).
Another team to keep an eye on is No. 6 seed Trenton (14-8). Marlene Neal’s Tornadoes have a victory over Notre Dame this season and will be a trendy pick to reach the semifinals.
Princeton (14-6) is the No. 7 seed and hosts No. 10 Allentown (12-8) in what looks like one of the more competitive first-round games.
Quarterfinal games are set for Saturday with semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at the CURE Insurance Arena and the final on Thursday night.
MCT Girls Basketball
Thursday, Feb. 14
(1) Trenton Catholic bye
(9) Steinert at (8) Hopewell Valley (12) Hightstown at (5) Ewing (13) WW-PS at (4) Notre Dame (14) Nottingham at (3) Stuart (11) WW-PN at (6) Trenton
(10) Allentown at (7) Princeton (15) Robbinsville at (2) Pennington
Quarterfinals
Saturday, Feb. 16 Hopewell/Steinert winner at Trenton Catholic Hightstown/Ewing winner vs. WW-PS/ Notre Dame winner Nottingham/Stuart winner vs. WW-PN/ Trenton winner Allentown/Princeton winner vs. Robbinsville/Pennington winner
Semifinals
Tuesday, Feb. 19, at CURE Insurance Arena, 3 and 6 p.m.
Final
Thursday, Feb. 21, at CURE Insurance Arena, 6 p.m.