MCT semifinalists are same four teams from last season
Talk about consistency. The same four girls’ basketball teams who made it a year ago will take part in the Mercer County Tournament’s Championship Bracket semifinals at CURE Insurance Arena Tuesday, just with different match-ups.
The day of four semifinals (two girls’ & two boys’ games) kicks off with the third-seeded Pennington School (18-4) playing second-seeded Hightstown High (20-5) at 3 p.m. in the Trenton arena.
On the same court three hours later, fifth-seeded Notre Dame High (15-8) goes up against top-seeded Ewing High (22-3) in a rematch of last season’s MCT title game, which the Blue Devils won, 51-46.
For those who cannot be in attendance, both games, along with both boys’ semifinals, will be video-streamed live on wbcbsports.com and on WBCB’s Facebook page.
In the 2022 tournament, Notre Dame defeated Hightstown, 53-41, and Ewing topped Pennington, 67-39, in the semifinals.
Things are shuffled this season, which should create some interesting games.
Led by recent 1,000-point scorer Morgan Matthews, a 5-foot-11 junior guard/ forward who has been averaging 22.8 points per game this season, the Red Hawks go head-to-head with the Rams and their own 1,000-point scorer Kyla Glasser-Hyman, a 5-6 guard who has been averaging 17.3 ppg in this her senior season before she heads to West Chester University. The teams did not meet during the regular season.
The defending champion Blue Devils now have two 1,000-point scorers on their roster after 5-9 junior guard Rhian Stokes (19.2 ppg) and six-foot junior forward Joi Johnson (16.3 ppg) joined the exclusive club this season to go up against the Irish for a second time. Ewing defeated ND, 55-34, Jan. 24 in Colonial Valley Conference play.
The hard-working Irish knocked off fourth-seeded Allentown, 44-42, in Saturday’s quarterfinal round when their leading scorer, 5-6 junior guard Simone Pintinalli (11.8 ppg), hit a 3-point field goal (her 59th of the season) just ahead of the final buzzer.
Tuesday’s winners will return to the CIA Thursday to play for the girls’ title at 5 p.m.
The semifinals of the MCT’s Invitational Bracket, which featured the ninth16th seeds, will also take place Tuesday at the home site of the higher-seeded team.
Fired-up ninth seed Steinert (14-7), unhappy about being left out of the Championship Bracket, will host 12th-seeded WW-P North (10-10) at 4 p.m. At the same time, 11thseeded Hopewell Valley (814) will visit 10th-seeded Princeton (11-11).
It will be a busy week for Pennington since head coach Carmen Cook’s squad also has the New Jersey Independent Schools Athletics Association Prep B Tournament final to play in Wednesday. The secondseeded defending champion Red Hawks will travel to Livingston to play topseeded Newark Academy (18-5) at 5 p.m. that day. The Minutewomen advanced by defeating fourthseeded Villa Walsh, 70-44, Sunday. They did not play in the regular season, but Pennington defeated Newark Academy, 65-53, in last year’s state final.
The NJISAA Prep A Tournament will also get underway this week with the Lawrenceville School (4-15) heading to St. Benedict’s (9-9) at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday and Peddie (4-18) visiting Hun (10-12) at 5 p.m. Wednesday in firstround action.