PGH NJ 2021-22 Season Preview: Trenton Catholic

Coming into what would have been the start of the 2020-21 New Jersey high school girls basketball season, no one knew the future of Trenton Catholic’s girls basketball program. That was because no one knew the future of Trenton Catholic as there was great speculation that the school would close. Those playing on the Iron Mikes didn’t care much about the surrounding circumstances of the school because on the court, it was all business and that business involved a lot of winning. Trenton Catholic went 14-1 in the regular season, it’s lone loss coming to St. John Vianney in a highly-anticipated No. 1 v No. 2 showdown. The Iron Mikes are looking to avenge that one loss, but it’s going to come without star players Aalyah Del Rosario and [player_tooltip player_id="134644" first="Zoe" last="Brooks"] as both transferred before the season: Del Rosario to the Webb School in Tennessee and Brooks to the aforementioned St. John Vianney. That, combined with Jasmin Boyd graduating in the winter, means that just one of TCA’s top four scorers is returning for the winter. However, there’s a strong group of players who look to dominate the state. Prep Girls Hoops New Jersey continues its season preview series with a look at Trenton Catholic, a program in transition, but isn’t looking to miss a step in the battle for the best in the Garden State. We mentioned the departures already, but let’s take a look at who’s returning for the Iron Mikes in the winter, starting with junior Angelica Velez, who led TCA in assists, was second in steals and third in scoring. Velez averaged 11.0 PPG, 5.8 APG and 3.6 SPG as a sophomore and with the departures of Boyd, Del Rosario and Brooks, she’s going to be the go-to playmaker on this team coming into the season. Sophomores Aurora Almon-Sanchez and [player_tooltip player_id="325212" first="Eva" last="Andrews"] will be starters, with Almon-Sanchez being the main forward for the Iron Mikes. She was second in rebounds and fourth in steals as a freshman while Andrews was third in three-point shooting, nearly hitting one three-pointer a game her freshman year. Junior [player_tooltip player_id="321600" first="Joniyah" last="Bland-Fitzpatrick"] will be the other forward option for Trenton Catholic and provides great shot-blocking ability as well as an aggressive player in the paint. After those four, there’s uncertainty as to who will be taking that final starting spot. A few possibilities include senior guards Gayelle Labissiere and Niesha Louis, who each averaged around 2.0 PPG last season. Sophomore Ciani Thompson is another possibility and looked promising when she touched the floor as a freshman. There’s more uncertainty with this team than in recent years, but there’s been such great balance on this roster for so long that there really shouldn’t be any significant setbacks if any this season. Trenton Catholic is going to ball out like any previous season this winter and they’ll continue to put the entire state on watch.