North Jersey Defending Sectional Champs – Group 3

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With less than two months until high school tryouts, let's take a look at our defending Sectional Champs from the North and where they stand entering the 2025-26 season. These are your Group 3 Sectional Champs from the 2024-25 season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">North 1</span></strong> - <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Morris Knolls</span></strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>North 1 Group 3 was one of the most competitive sections in all of NJ last year and #2 seed Morris Knolls came out on top. Not only did they dominate 2-time defending sectional champ and #3 seed Teaneck in the semifinals, they went on the road and overcame an 8 point deficit entering the 4th quarter to beat #1 seed Demarest in OT on 2 free throws with 4 seconds left to earn their 1st sectional title in 31 years. They lose 5 seniors from the historic team that fell to Chatham in the Group 3 semifinals, including Charlee Perna who was 3rd team All-Group 3. With those departures Morris Knolls loses 63% of their 3-point scoring, 52% of their points, 58% of their rebounding, 41% of their assists, 88% of their blocks and 53% of their steals. However, not all is lost as Morris Knolls returns 4 key players from last year's rotation who will look to increase their production this year. They are senior Kenzie Comprelli (5th in 3-pointers last year, 2nd in scoring, 5th in rebounding and 5th in steals), junior Dani McNally (5th in assists), senior Lucia Nash (4th in 3-pointers, 1st in assists and 2nd in steals) and junior [player_tooltip player_id='1157956' first='Tessa' last='Simone'] (3rd in 3-pointers, 5th in scoring, 3rd in rebounding, 4th in assists and 5th in blocks). They will need increased production from these 4 and others to repeat in a section with Teaneck, Demarest, Old Tappan, West Essex and Ramapo looking to take the trophy away. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">North 2</span></strong> - <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline">Chatham</span></strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coming off a Group 3 finals loss in 2024, Chatham went 31-3 last year with only one loss coming to a public school team. Unfortunately for the Cougars that loss came in the Group 3 State Championship where they fell 34-19 to Cherry Hill West after having to play without 2nd team All Group 3 senior Mia Semioli who went down with an injury in the semifinals. With Semioli now playing at Hamilton and the loss of generational talent and 2nd team All State player Ella Kreuzer to Bucknell, Chatham has lost their heart and soul. Combined with losing the rest of their starting 5, with 2 to graduation and 1 to transfer including Arden Alvarez who is now at Washington &amp; Lee, Chatham has some reloading to do. They lost 85% of their 3-point scoring, 88% of their points, 90% of their rebounding, 84% of their assists, 88% of their blocks and 87% of their steals. Though they have been gutted there is a strong nucleus off young players and one experienced senior looking to make sure their is no letdown in the Cougar tradition. The returning cast includes senior [player_tooltip player_id='1247712' first='Ava' last='Paone'] (3rd on the team in 3-pointers last year and 5th in scoring) who is the only returner that played significant minutes. That said, don't think this team is without talent. They have a potential star at PG in sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='986767' first='Lucy' last='Arps'] who is electric with the ball in her hands and can get to the rim and shoot it. She is also a tough perimeter defender. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='959105' first='Shea' last='Lane'] is a high IQ player with the talent to shoot it and attack the rim while making good decisions off the ball on offense. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='651479' first='Noelle' last='Grady'] can provide some scoring as a spot up shooter with range. Factor in a couple of transfers and this team has a chance to win another sectional title contending with Somerville, Mendham and Summit.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->