Andrew Constant – Sports Writer

Piscataway’s Taylor Nelson (23) fights her way toward the basket during the second half of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final on Thursday in Piscataway. Photo by: Mark R. Sullivan

PISCATAWAY — Just like she did as a junior in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final, Kiki Bynes stepped up when her squad needed her most Thursday night.

With the game tied at 42, Bynes knocked down an elbow jumper with 2:16 to play and added a pair of free throws inside of a minute left to boost the second-seeded Piscataway High School girls basketball team to the conference title 50-45 over Bishop Ahr at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.

Bynes, who made the winning shot in the 2013 final inside of the final minute, finished with a team-high 14 points. After her jumper, Wande Adeyemo hit a pair of free throws and Bynes added a pair of her own to complete a game-long comeback for the Chiefs, who won their 10th GMCT title and sixth since 2006.

“In my head, I said we’re winning this game,” Bynes said. “But before I shot that jumper to give us the lead, I saw Wande underneath and got it to her for the tie. It takes a lot of pressure off of us when they have to come from behind. There was a target on our back all season and everybody plays their best game against us.”

Early on, it looked like the 12th-seeded Trojans were going to run Piscataway out of the RAC, with Brianna Foster scoring eight of her 11 points in the opening quarter. Bishop Ahr was up 14-6 after the first, but in the second quarter, the Chiefs cut it all the way down to two at 24-22.

It was in the second quarter when Piscataway amped up its defensive pressure and forced five of their 19 turnovers, while on a 10-1 run at the end of the half.

“I thought that was very big,” Bishop Ahr head coach Kevin Harper said. “We called timeout in the middle of it, but we had unforced turnovers in the middle of the court. I was surprised to see us lose focus during that time. We just had too many empty possessions.”

Lauren Barlow gave Bishop Ahr a big boost in the third quarter, knocking down three 3-pointers and scoring 10 of her team-best 14 points, but Piscataway chipped away in the final stanza and eventually drew within two with an Alleria McCoy layup midway through the quarter.

“We were really just looking for the open shots, but we started to turn the ball over,” Barlow said.

Kendrea Williams of Piscataway was named as the GMCT MVP, even after scoring just four points and collecting just a pair of rebounds Thursday night. Bishop Ahr put Ragen Reddick on Williams all night long, face-guarding her and not allowing the sophomore to get open looks at the hoop. Williams averaged 15.2 points per game in the tournament.

“She has a really quick release and we saw it against Monroe, so we forced them to go somewhere else,” Harper said. “It went pretty much how we wanted it to go; they didn’t shoot all that well from outside the arc, so I thought we did a good job against them.”

Piscataway ended up shooting just 18-54 for the game, but when it mattered most, the Chiefs went to Bynes. She had six of her 14 points in the final quarter, calmly knocking down two free throws after McCoy missed a pair with 1:20 to go.

Jenna Harsh scored 11 points to go with five rebounds for Bishop Ahr, which lost for the first time since Harsh returned from injury in the final week of the regular season. As a team, the Trojans shot 13-37 from the field and 11-14 from the line, but the 19 turnovers proved costly.

The trip to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament for 12th-seeded Bishop Ahr hasn’t been an easy one, not when you consider that three of its four victories in the tournament have been over Red Division teams and the one that wasn’t came against a squad they had lost to twice before in the regular season.

But since getting sophomore forward Jenna Harsh back from a shoulder injury on Feb. 11, Bishop Ahr is 6-0 and Harsh has averaged nearly a double-double per game over that stretch.

The Trojans will try and win their first GMCT title since 2001 tonight against second-seeded Piscataway at the Louis Brown Athletic Center at 6 p.m. While trying to end a 13-year drought of its own, Bishop Ahr will be trying to end a dominant run by the Chiefs.

In what should amount to another home game for Piscataway, the Red Division champions will be seeking a 10th GMCT title overall and sixth in the last nine seasons.

“Bishop Ahr travels pretty well,” Bishop Ahr head coach Kevin Harper said. “We’ve got a pretty loud contingency, so I’m not worried about that.”

Even if he’s not worried about the crowd, a Piscataway team that’s coming off arguably its best game of the season will keep Harper and his staff busy.

Monday night in its win over Monroe, Piscataway got 50 points combined from Kendrea Williams and Kiki Bynes. The duo teamed up for eight 3-pointers on the night and controlled the pace from the start. Bynes, last season’s GMCT MVP, and Williams, who’s scored 10 points or more in 18 straight games, gave the Chiefs all they needed against the Falcons. When asked if it was the best performance of the season by his squad, Piscataway head coach Corey Floyd answered emphatically.

“I have to say yes; the other night everything just flowed very well,” Floyd said. “The chemistry between Kiki and Kendrea put everything in perspective.”

Piscataway is also riding a winning streak, having won seven in a row and 11 of its last 12. Floyd noted that when tournament time nears, the Chiefs just find another gear.

“This time of the year, we peak,” he said. “We’re starting to gel with the younger players becoming more comfortable with the older players. We just have to keep getting better every game.”

The two teams met in a regular season, non-division matchup on Jan. 11 in Piscataway, with the Chiefs winning 51-41. In that one, Harsh just missed a double-double (16 points, nine rebounds) and Foster pulled down 16 boards for the Trojans. Williams (13 points) and Bynes (13 points) once again paced the Chiefs, but Harper knows his team will not be phased by the atmosphere or the opponent Thursday night.

“It’s so helpful to see someone the first time,” Harper said. “We’ve experienced it in their gym and that’s a big deal. When we won in [the GMCT] in 2001, we came through the Red Division, so I liken this run to that one. It’s not going to be an ‘oh my gosh’ moment when we get on the floor.”

Bishop Ahr’s Lauren Barlow looks to pass over East Brunswick’s Kaitlyn Roughan on Monday in South Brunswick. Photo by: Jason Towlen

MONMOUTH JCT. — For the first time since 2001, the Bishop Ahr High School girls basketball team will play for the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament title, thanks to a convincing 41-35 victory over East Brunswick Monday night.

The 12th-seeded Trojans took the lead for good with 1:45 remaining in the third quarter and never looked back, knocking down clutch free throws in the final minutes to clinch the win.

Freshman Elle Cimilucca calmly made a pair of free throws with 1:32 remaining to push a three-point lead into a five-point one, providing a final bit of breathing room.

“This is tremendous. We have had teams that were more highly seeded and came up short. But this group, we got piled on early because we didn’t finish our schedule and we were seeded where we belong, but we got healthy and started playing the right way,” Bishop Ahr head coach Kevin Harper said. “The younger kids grew up and they started playing better. I had a vision and it just took a while for everything to come.”

The front-court duo of senior Brianna Foster and sophomore Jenna Harsh combined for 19 points and 20 rebounds, dominating the top-seeded Bears in the paint all night long.

“That’s a big part of what we do,” Harper said. “The outside shooting comes and goes but the inside game is consistent. I thought East Brunswick did a good job of leaning on the big kids inside and not making it easy for them, so a lot of credit to them. It took us a while to get it together this year but that’s what we lean on.”

Lauren Barlow led the Trojans with 13 points, connecting on 4-5 free throws in the game. As a team, Bishop Ahr shot 15-23 from the line.

Harsh continued her strong play since returning from a shoulder injury in Bishop Ahr’s second-to-last regular season game, posting 12 points and four rebounds. She had seven of her points in the second quarter, converting a key and-1 to give the Trojans a lead.

East Brunswick, which didn’t blow through 16th-seeded Metuchen or 24th-seeded South Amboy in its two prior GMCT games, got off to a good start Monday night, jumping out to an 11-10 lead after one quarter and only trailing by four at the half. But the Bears scored just 15 points in the second half, and committed five turnovers down the stretch.

Julia Simoes led East Brunswick with 10 points and Dayna Sclafani just missed a double-double with eight points and 11 rebounds, but the Bears shot 12-47 from the field and didn’t knock down enough jumpers to close the gap.

“We saw some film on them and we were worried about them driving-and-kicking and so we just tried to keep them on the perimeter and live and die with the threes,” Harper said. “But rebounding helps and we did a good job of limiting their second chances.”

The Trojans will face second-seeded Piscataway, a 62-48 winner over Monroe earlier Monday, in the GMCT final Thursday night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center at Rutgers, looking for their fourth county championship.

Having already seen Piscataway during the regular season — a 51-41 Chiefs victory on Jan. 11 — is something that should help Bishop Ahr, according to Harper.

“It’s so helpful to see someone the first time,” he said. “We’ve experienced it in their gym and that’s a big deal. When we won in 2001, we came through the Red Division. So I liken this run to that one. We’ve already played five Red Division teams this season, so it’s not going to be an ‘oh my gosh’ moment when we get on the floor.”

EDISON — With her team trailing by four and the clock winding down, Monroe High School sophomore Ashlyn Petersen stepped up and made the biggest shot of the day.

After getting multiple screens along the baseline, Petersen popped out in the right corner and knocked down a 3-pointer while being fouled to send the Monroe bench into a frenzy.

After she stepped to the line and knocked down the free throw, the game was suddenly tied and third-seeded Monroe had miraculously forced overtime.

In the extra session, the Falcons got yet another huge 3-pointer from senior Demi Rousseau and held on for a 53-51 victory over sixth-seeded Sayreville to advance to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament semifinals.

“I was very surprised I got fouled and I was equally surprised that I made it, but when that happened all the adrenaline just went through my body,” Petersen said. “I was so excited for myself and for my team, but there were a lot of nerves when I was stepping to the line because I knew I needed to hit that as well in order for us to get to overtime.”

Petersen finished with a team-high 20 points to go with six rebounds in leading Monroe into a meeting with second-seeded Piscataway Monday night at 5:30 p.m.

The Falcons trailed by as many as nine points in the third quarter, as they went through a stretch of more than 10 minutes of game time without a point. After scoring 15 points in the first quarter, the Falcons registered just two points in the second. But late in the third quarter, Cindy Foresta knocked down a pair of free throws and Petersen came up with a steal and a layup before Linda Wallentine canned a long 3-pointer to cut the lead to 27-26.

In the final stanza Sayreville refused to go away, turning to 1,000-point scorer Jackie Rodriguez for a scoring boost. The senior guard scored eight of her game-high 22 points in the fourth, adding six more in overtime.

A Ryane Brush layup with 27.4 remaining pushed the lead to 40-36, setting up Petersen for the heroics.

“That last play in regulation, we set it up for Ashlyn off a double-screen, which amazingly worked,” Monroe head coach Leigh Vogtman said. “These girls are so resilient and they had it in their heads to fight back and keep their heads in it.”

In overtime, Monroe scored the first five points, with Rousseau’s second 3-pointer of the game forcing Sayreville to use a timeout. The teams went back and forth after that, with Amanda Quintero knocking down a triple before Petersen answered with one of her own. Petersen broke the final tie of the game with a layup after collecting an offensive rebound to put Monroe up 51-49.

Playing without leading rebounder Erin Seppi, Monroe was out-rebounded 40-23. Quintero had her way inside for Sayreville, collecting 12 rebounds to go with eight points. Denby added 10 points for the Bombers.

Erica Junquet had another all-around game, scoring nine points — all of which were in the fourth quarter and overtime — to go with seven steals and three assists.

“Erin is huge on the boards; she positions herself well to get rebounds, so everybody had to step it up today,” Vogtman said. “We struggled underneath, but we stressed that it was going to be something we’d have to pay attention to.”

East Brunswick’s Dayna Sclafani (3) goes around Metuchen’s Lianne Cifrodelli on Wednesday in East Brunswick. Photo by: Ed Pagliarini

EAST BRUNSWICK — Down by a point with nine seconds remaining, the East Brunswick High School girls basketball team was facing an upset in the eyes against 16th-seeded Metuchen.

The Bulldogs had just taken the lead and head coach Keith Lane called timeout to set up a play for junior Dayna Sclafani. As the guard drove towards the hoop, she was fouled and made the first of two free throws. But Sclafani missed the second and the game went to overtime.

“To be honest, when I was standing at the line to tie the game and I missed the second free throw, I thought we were down by two, and I thought the game was over,” Sclafani said.

In the extra session, Sclafani knocked down 4-5 free throws to ease her nerves and help the top-seeded Bears survive, 54-48, to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals against 24th-seeded South Amboy.

“As soon as we got to overtime, it was go-time,” Sclafani said. “We went into this one focused and this was a great win. When it came to the last couple of seconds, I just felt happy. This was the best accomplishment for us right now.”

Sclafani made a pair from the line with 12 seconds left in the extra session and on the ensuing inbounds play, she stole the ball, got fouled again and calmly sank another pair to put the game out of reach for good. Sclafani finished with a team-high 19 points — 9 of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime. In between the two sets of free throws, she said that the only thing going through her head were nerves.

“But when I got to the line, I just took a deep breath and just shot and it went in,” she said.

In the fourth quarter, East Brunswick saw a five-point lead go away completely when Cassie Smith drilled a long 3-pointer to tie the game at 39-39 inside of a minute to play. After a Bears miss at the other end, Sam Streckfuss was fouled for Metuchen and she knocked down 1-2 from the stripe to give the Bulldogs the lead.

In overtime, Smith hit another 3-pointer and Lianne Cifrodelli canned a triple of her own, giving Metuchen a two-point lead. But Smith got a little out of sorts and missed her next three shots and East Brunswick capitalized at the line.

“My team is a lot tougher than I thought they were,” East Brunswick head coach Keith Lane said. “We talked about them being a little nervous, being the No. 1 seed, playing the 16-seed and the girls felt like they had a lot of pressure on themselves and it showed in the early part of the game. But at the end, they pulled themselves together and were confident and made some big foul shots.”

Smith, the conference’s leading scorer, nearly gave her squad a huge upset all by herself, scoring 13 of her game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter. She finished with seven rebounds and five steals, shooting 8-20 from the field and making all eight of her free throws.

“For the most part, I was pretty happy with how we defended her,” Lane said. “We got some good pressure on her, but she’s a really good player.”

Sclafani said that Sydney Greenspan, one of East Brunswick’s taller players, asked for the assignment of defending Smith one-on-one.

“Before the game, at halftime and before overtime, Sydney said she was going to lock Cassie down and she did. It was great,” Sclafani said.

Cifrodelli chipped in seven points and Kelly Beck knocked down three jumpers for Metuchen, while Allie Warren supplied a bit of help for Sclafani, scoring nine points to go with seven rebounds.

Julia Simoes and Greenspan each added eight points for the Bears, who will play the surprising Governors from South Amboy in the fourth of Saturday’s four quarterfinal games at 6:30 p.m. South Amboy was a 56-50 winner over Timothy Christian Wednesday.

“When you get to this point in the season, everybody is bringing their A-game and everybody is playing hard,” Lane said. “We’re going to get everybody’s best shot, so we’ll talk strategy and we just need to play hard.”

EDISON — When a team has a star player capable of scoring at will, that team is never out of the game.

Saturday afternoon the Wardlaw-Hartridge High School girls basketball team was rescued by its star, Taylor Gerhart, who dragged her squad out of a 10-point halftime hole to a 53-47 victory over Perth Amboy in the preliminary round of the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.

The 23rd-seeded Rams advance to Monday’s first round against 10th-seeded Woodbridge.

Gerhart led all scorers with 30 points, including 21 in the second half, when Wardlaw-Hartridge used an 18-6 run to erase the halftime deficit and take its first lead since early in the second quarter with 6:30 to play. Gerhart made all 13 of her free throws in the game, including 8-8 in the final eight minutes, to go with 12 rebounds, five steals and three assists.

“I feel like in games like this, where there’s more pressure on us, it’s easier to play well,” Gerhart said. “Once I’m into the game, nothing else matters and I just play.”

In the third quarter, Gerhart out-scored Perth Amboy by herself, 8-6, knocking down a long 3-pointer and converting all three free throws after being fouled behind the arc. But the Rams still trailed by five heading to the fourth quarter, before Joanna Brautigan gave Gerhart and Wardlaw-Hartridge a boost.

“Joanna is always a big rebounder for us. Sometimes she gets into foul trouble, so we just try to keep her on the floor,” Wardlaw-Hartridge head coach Mike Howell said. “And when she gets into a rhythm, she’s really good for us inside and she’s a good free throw shooter. That was a big help and she fought really hard. She always seems to be around the ball.”

Brautigan scored seven of her 10 points in the fourth quarter, adding five rebounds in the final eight minutes to help take some of the pressure off of Gerhart. As a team, Wardlaw-Hartridge made just 5-14 shots in the stanza, but Brautigan and Gerhart knocked down 11-14 free throws.

“The difference for us today was just having everybody step up,” Gerhart said. “We started talking on defense and we really got into it. Our problem this year has been that we haven’t wanted it enough, but we really came out in the second half and stepped it up. Having Joanna grab some rebounds and put them back was huge.”

Wardlaw-Hartridge opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run to put 26th-seeded Perth Amboy away for good. The Panthers looked like they’d spring the upset early on, when Desirae Rivera went off for 13 points in the second quarter. The freshman guard finished with 22 points, including three 3-pointers, to go along with six rebounds.

But only two other players scored for Perth Amboy and Howell said his defense locked down in the second half to earn the win.

“We put pressure on their guards, which was key,” he said. “Desirae carried them in that second quarter, so we knew that would happen. But we locked down in the second half and we didn’t underestimate Perth Amboy. They play in a tough division and they’re a good team.”

Oldania Perez scored 14 points and added nine rebounds and Sam Nunez chipped in 10 points for the Panthers, who scored just 16 points in the final 16 minutes.

With the win, Wardlaw-Hartridge will get a chance to take out two Red Division teams in three days, when they travel to Woodbridge. To keep this run alive, Gerhart believes it has to be about more than her.

“Everybody has to contribute; it’s a five-person sport,” she said. “We can’t have just one player or even two play well. But as long as we play defense, we have a chance.”