Top Greater Middlesex Conference Guards – Red Division

The 2021 New Jersey high school girls basketball season is officially in full swing and the excitement is brewing up and down the state. Prep Girls Hoops is covering all of the excitement and more throughout the season and that continues in this article as PGH takes a closer look at the top guards in the Red Division of the Greater Middlesex Conference. <strong>Nina Branchizio, Monroe:</strong> Branchizio is one of three seniors in this year’s class that is going to dominate for Monroe during the 2021 season and is the team’s best returning perimeter shooter. She averaged 9.4 PPG and 1.7 made threes in 2019-20 and her presence is going to grow that much more this season. Branchizio has double-digit scoring potential and should average somewhere between 2-3 threes a game this season for Monroe. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="159099" first="Tori" last="Fisher"], Piscataway:</strong> Fisher returns for the 2021 season as Piscataway’s best scorer and outside shooter as well as its best passer and one of its best defenders. She averaged 15.4 PPG, 1.6 made threes a game, 3.3 APG and 2.3 SPG last season and expect those numbers to rise in her senior season. Fisher has shown the ability to excel at the next level and this season will only cement that. <strong>Payton Alcorn, Old Bridge:</strong> Alcorn relied on the three-point shot to succeed for Old Bridge last season and the success she found from beyond the arc will continue in 2021. She averaged 10.6 PPG and 2.4 made threes a game in 2019-20, sinking over 1.5x more threes than two-pointers during the season. Alcorn has developed into a lethal perimeter shooter now going into her junior season, so expect her to shoot from the outside at a higher clip this season. <strong>Erin Cosio, East Brunswick:</strong> Cosio is a sharp-shooter, East Brunswick’s best perimeter scorer during the 2019-20 season and returns to that role in 2021. She averaged 6.9 PPG and 1.3 made threes last season and will be really helping to fill the void left by Brianna Sliwinski, who graduated last spring. Cosio, now a senior herself, will be that veteran guard presence at the top of the key and should average close to double-figure scoring averages this season. <strong>McKayla Duffy, J.P. Stevens:</strong> Duffy will be relied upon more in 2021 after her sister, Megan, graduated last spring. McKayla is J.P. Stevens’ best returning outside scorer and the team’s leading passer in 2019-20, averaging 5.9 PPG, 1.1 made threes a game and 2.6 APG. Expect Duffy to continue to fill up the assist sheet and make her mark from beyond the arc and now as a senior, that veteran leadership is really going to boost her game tremendously. Keep following Prep Girls Hoops for more player profiles and team previews for the 2021 New Jersey high school girls basketball season.