The 2023-24 girls basketball season should be an exciting one for the five Hunterdon County teams. Each one returns enough experienced players to improve on last year’s records, including Voorhees which led the way with a 17-9 mark.
While there doesn’t appear to be any individual milestones on the horizon this season, expect all five squads to be playing their best basketball when the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament followed by the NJSIAA sectional playoffs roll around.
Delaware Valley
Second-year coach Ben Ibach returns three starters – all underclassmen – and statistical leaders from last year’s squad that went 11-16 overall and 4-4 in the Mountain Division.
“We are a little more athletic this season compared to other seasons and will be looking to be more aggressive both offensively and defensively,” Ibach said.
Junior guard Elana Falkenstein earned All-Mountain Division first-team honors after leading the Terriers in scoring (10.7 ppg) and assists (62). Junior guard Lindsey Ditmar (4 ppg) paced the team with 29 3-pointers.
Forward Maggie Simpson was All-Mountain second team after producing a freshman campaign that included a team-high 194 rebounds (7.8 rpg.) to go with 44 assists and 48 steals. Simpson is coming off a successful volleyball season in which she set a record for most assists (386) in a season.
Junior guard Katie Nolan is the most experienced player off the bench. She scored 28 points in 13 games. Others who look to boost their contributions are senior guard Linsey Godown, senior forward Courtney Janetzko and senior center Katie Moschberger.
“We bring back some experience but will be getting help from some new faces,” Ibach said.
Those new faces include junior guards Keira White and Mikaila Messenger and sophomore forwards Klaudia Burke and Peyton Dierker, who appeared in 10 varsity games.
“For us to be successful we need to play great defense and limit our turnovers,” Ibach said. “We also need to finish at the basket, which we struggled at a little last year. The energy and attentiveness in practice so far has been outstanding.”
Hunterdon Central
Hunterdon Central won’t be one of the taller teams in the Raritan Division, but coach Jim Casertano believes the Red Devils will be extremely strong in other areas.
“Our speed, quickness, court awareness and aggressiveness will help out in areas where being undersized may hurt us,” Casertano said. “This also may be the first time in the history of the program that every girl on the court can knock down an outside shot.
”From our forwards to our guards we are seeing our ability to spread out the defense with our shot-making ability, which helps since we have several players who also have great first-move/step which leads to great drives to the basket.”
Sophomore forward Nikki Costantini (4.5 ppg) and senior guard Margaret D’Alessandro each swished 22 3-pointers last season. Senior forward Bri Mastriano (4.1 ppg) was second on the team with 93 rebounds. Junior guard Maggie Scally grabbed 44 rebounds in just 15 games, junior guard Jackie Dvoor appeared in six games and senior point guard Jasmine Revolsky, who’s committed to play at FDU Florham, saw action in 13 games.
Newcomers who hope to help fill the void left by the graduated Tabby DeVries (10.7 ppg, 6.8 rpg), Kylie Siebert (7 ppg) and Emily Walsh (30 steals) are senior guard Lauren McCarthy, junior guard Cassie Stallwood, sophomore guard Bethany Ramos and freshman forward Katie Schwartz.
“Last year, we felt like there were a lot of games where we hung in there close and played a great game for most of the game but came up short,” Casertano said of the 9-18 season (2-8 Delaware Division). “This year, we are doing a lot of work preparing to play a full 32-minute game.”
North Hunterdon
North Hunterdon graduated 2023 Hunterdon County Democrat Player of the Year Emma Hall (15.1 ppg, 9 rpg), who’s now playing at Brandeis University. The Lions do return the other half of their “Em & Em” duo in senior guard Emma Miller, who scored 10.2 points a game, was first in steals (78) and added 77 rebounds and 36 assists, and three other starters from a 12-15 campaign.
Miller will be backed by junior guards Taylor Joshi (4.2 ppg, 72 steals, 43 assists) and Katie Reed (3.8 ppg, 92 rebounds, 27 steals) and senior forward Abby Young, who was third on the team with 119 rebounds.
Senior guard Julia Cutarelli (27 games, 39 rebounds) and junior Sam Dougherty (21 games, 22 rebounds) played off the bench last season. Sophomore guard Amara Scully should make an impact in her first season on the varsity.
“We will rely upon our defense to set the tone for games,” sixth-year coach Justin Matisak said. “Our keys to success will be playing team basketball, being able to execute and constant defensive showings.”
South Hunterdon
Kelly O’Connell brings more than 20 years of experience to her first season as South Hunterdon’s head coach. O’Connell has a pair of All-Mountain Division second-team selections to build around who were part of last year’s 14-11 squad that defeated Manville in the Central Group 1 sectional first round and finished second in the division at 6-2.
Junior 6-foot guard/forward Kadie Fleming led the team with 191 rebounds, 56 assists and 51 blocks and averaged 10.7 points a game. With 499 career points, Fleming is well on her way to becoming the program’s next 1,000-point scorer.
Junior 5-9 guard Sophie Hinman topped the Lions with 35 3-pointers, was second with 166 rebounds and scored 8 points per game.
Fleming and Hinman will be backed in the early going by senior center Brianna Garcia and sophomore guards Ariday Cruz, Lucy Spreen and Jiondae Deward. Spreen played in 15 games, Cruz in 11 games, Garcia five and Deward in one contest last year. However, the quartet combined to only score 11 points.
Voorhees
It’s not very often a team that won nearly twice as many games as it lost returns its three leading scorers and they all averaged within a point of each other.
“We are entering the season with high expectations for this group,” said seventh-year coach Mitch Collins, whose team is coming off a 17-9 season. “We bring back a core group of varsity players who bring with them experience, talent and a hard-working mentality. We hope to compete at a high level in the conference, HWS county tournament and sectional tournament.”
Junior guard Christina Sullivan paced the Vikings in scoring (9.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.2 rpg) in being selected to the Hunterdon County Democrat All-County team. Senior guard Sarah Pettegrove dished out a team-high 97 assists while averaging 9.3 ppg. Both were chosen All-Valley Division second team.
Guard Madie Petak was second in scoring (9.8 ppg) and rebounding (4.2 rpg) and led the team with 49 steals and 32 blocks as a freshman last winter. Senior guard Maansi Patel came off the bench to deposit a team-high 28 3-pointers while averaging 6.3 points.
Collins also is counting on senior guard Maya Wurst and junior guard Ali Leibensperger, both of whom missed last season with injuries. Sophomore guard Alex McComb and senior guard Summer Ona also are expected to see playing time.
“This team is a group of student-athletes who are very responsible mature young ladies who are an absolute pleasure to coach,” Collins said. “… Overall, we feel like we’ve had a few competitive seasons in a row, but we want to improve upon them and make this an even better year.”
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