Tri-County Conference 2021 Season Recap Finale

With the book closed on the 2021 New Jersey high school girls basketball season, it’s time for Prep Girls Hoops to take a closer look up and down the state to find the best talent, biggest surprises, and more. PGH is concluding its mini-series talking about the Tri-County Conference, a conference that produced some of the best talent anywhere in the state. We looked at the best players throughout the conference and now, it’s time to look at the best teams up and down the conference. Here’s who we thought were the cream of the crop <strong>Gloucester Catholic</strong> The Rams were the class of the Tri-County Conference this season, finishing 12-3, with a perfect 11-0 conference record and 10-0 divisional record. Gloucester Catholic limited opponents to 32.6 PPG while scoring nearly 50.0 PPG, a nearly 18.0 PPG differential overall. The Rams were led by a trio of superstar talent: juniors <strong>Angelina Barrera</strong> and <strong>Natalia Barrera</strong> and sophomore <strong>Macie Nugent</strong>. The Barrera sisters dominated the interior while Nugent lit up the outside, creating a Bermuda Triangle of domination that smothered opponents. All three will be returning next season, putting the Rams in another position to take home more hardware come the 2021-22 season. <strong>Highland</strong> The Tartans were an exciting and fun team to watch this season as they got out to a 6-1 start and finished as co-champions of the Liberty division, a well-deserved championship that stemmed from an influx of young talent. It starts with sophomore <strong>Hope Goodwine</strong>, who continued her dominance on the court this season, leading the team in scoring, assists and steals. Freshmen <strong>Breelyn Leary</strong> and <strong>Dacia Mack</strong> blossomed into reliable scorers and fantastic three-point shooters and junior <strong>Sydni Wright</strong> showed a great knack to crash the boards. The four helped turn the program from a pretender into a contender in one season. Watch out for Highland in 2021-22 because this team isn’t going to go away anytime soon. <strong>Glassboro</strong> Glassboro was one of the highest-scoring teams in the conference, averaging 50.5 PPG while giving up just 36.6 PPG to opponents in 2021. The Bulldogs boasted arguably the best player in the conference in <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="155443" first="Alexis" last="Davis"]</strong>, who was the epitome of the word dominant this season, averaging nearly 30.0 PPG and 20.0 RPG as a sophomore. She’s going to have many eyes on her over the next two seasons, guaranteed. It was a trio of sophomores: Davis, <strong>Jakya Jenkins</strong> and <strong>Karma Payne</strong>, that helped Glassboro to a 10-4 record overall, finishing as co-champions of the Diamond division with a 7-2 record. Payne and Davis have emerged as one of the best duos of any team in the state, and their ceiling is only rising. The Bulldogs have the pieces set for some dangerously good teams over the next few seasons. <strong>Wildwood</strong> Wildwood came up just short in the Tri-County Conference Tournament, losing in the final round of the B Bracket to Williamstown, but that doesn’t take away from the incredible season that the Warriors had, finishing with an 11-4 record. Junior <strong>Imene Fathi</strong> led the team at the point, getting help from sophomore <strong>Maya Benichou</strong> and fellow junior <strong>Ava Troiano</strong>. Senior <strong>Jenna Hans</strong> was a force in the paint, but freshman <strong>Sinaia McGrath Conception</strong> showed that she is going to be a fantastic forward in her own right, picking up right where Hans will leave off in her high school career with the Warriors. Keep an eye on the development of freshman guards <strong>Kaliah Sumlin</strong> and <strong>Sophia Wilber</strong> next season as they should become impact players off the bench or could even sneak into the starting lineup. <strong>Clearview</strong> The patches were filled on Clearview this season as the Pioneers went 11-4, clinching a share of the Royal division title with a relatively young roster. Two sophomores and a freshman helped lead this team in 2021, starting with the two guards: freshman <strong>Ana Pellecchia</strong> and sophomore <strong>Emma Steidle</strong>. The two combined for an average of four made threes a game and are going to be a deadly outside shooting duo for the next several seasons. On top of them, sophomore forward <strong>Payton Foster</strong> was forced to step up this season, and step up she did, leading the team in rebounding and showing a giant jump in her game from her freshman season. The development of those three this season will be the difference maker for when the Pioneers compete for division and conference titles next season, guaranteed. <strong>Williamstown</strong> The Braves had a rough go of things during the regular season, finishing with a 4-8 record. However, the postseason proved to be perfection for Williamstown, beating Delsea and Wildwood to win the Tri-County Conference Tournament in Bracket B. The Braves had a balanced scoring attack, including two players averaging double figures five averaging 6.9 PPG or more. Sophomore <strong>Ava Eberly</strong> led Williamstown in scoring, but it was freshman forward <strong>Iriona Gravley</strong> who had an instant impact, nearly averaging a double-double. Seniors <strong>Casey Appenzeller</strong> and <strong>Jilonne Daley</strong> were consistent the entire season, playing the veteran roles on the team to perfection and junior <strong>Maxine Ampofo</strong> was a massive help on the boards. Williamstown will be building off the late-season success in a big way going into next season so watch out <strong>Timber Creek</strong> Timber Creek started out the season strong with a 6-0 start, but went 2-3 to finish the regular season. However, fortunes were flipped in postseason play as Timber Creek defeated Kingsway and Gloucester Catholic to win the Tri-County Conference Tournament for Bracket A. Junior <strong>Amaya Burch</strong> was the spark-plug of the offense and along with senior <strong>Amiaya Morgan</strong>, the two were the team’s go-to outside shooting options. Junior <strong>Taja Brown</strong> led the team in rebounding with just under 9.0 RPG, and sophomores <strong>Julianna Coluccio</strong> and <strong>Corinna Kolb</strong> will be asked to take on bigger roles next season after both having solid seasons. Expect them to be competing for the starting lineup and making big improvements in their individual play. Stay tuned for more season recaps from Prep Girls Hoops of the 2021 New Jersey high school girls basketball season.