PGH NJ’s 2021-22 Team of the Year: St. John Vianney

This is the second-straight year that the Prep Girls Hoops New Jersey team has named St. John Vianney as its Team of the Year and what a year the Lady Lancers had. Even if you weren’t in the know, you knew about the historic season that SJV had this season in New Jersey, beating several nationally ranked teams, running away with a state and Tournament of Champions title and putting a clear divide between them and the rest of the state. When we say a clear divide, it was a clear divide as no team in New Jersey got within single digits of the Lady Lancers the entire season. The closest any team got was a 16-point win over Manasquan in the Shore Conference Tournament final. We’ll reiterate: the closest a team in New Jersey got to St. John Vianney this year was 16 points. The Lady Lancers finished the year 32-1, their lone loss coming at the hands of Sidwell Friends, the No. 1 ranked team in the nation. As a unit, the offense averaged a blistering 77.7 points per game and on defense, SJV allowed just 42.1 points per game. Over the entire season, the Lady Lancers beat opponents by an average of 35.6 points per game, just an insane statistic that reflects the insanity of how good this team was. Let’s talk about the team now, starting with senior star point guard [player_tooltip player_id="134626" first="Madison" last="St. Rose"], who averaged over 21 points a game in her final high school season. St. Rose joined forces with Trenton Catholic transfer [player_tooltip player_id="134644" first="Zoe" last="Brooks"] this season as the junior guard, who was arguably a top-five player in the state last season, was just as effective this season. Brooks averaged 18.1 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.7 APG and 3.8 SPG and will be the go-to playmaker on this team come next season. Behind the dominant duo of St. Rose and Brooks were seven other players who had a significant impact on the season. Down low, senior forward Megan Calahan and junior forward Ashley Sofilkanich averaged over 12 points and seven rebounds a game. On defense, the two combined to swat nearly two shots a game and were incredibly effective as a duo. Junior forward [player_tooltip player_id="134755" first="Mikaela" last="Hubbard"] had her way too in the paint, averaging 4.3 PPG, 2.8 RPG and 0.5 BPG for the Lady Lancers. The backup guards behind St. Rose and Brooks included juniors Janie Bachmann and Bre Delaney, sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="325217" first="Julia" last="Karpell"] and senior [player_tooltip player_id="401143" first="Ashley" last="O’Connor"]. O’Connor and Bachmann were third and fourth, respectively, in steals per game, combining for about three steals a game. Karpell was second in made three-pointers a game for SJV, knocking down 1.2 a game and Delaney hit 0.5 threes a game and averaged nearly a steal a game on defense. What made SJV so unstoppable was their bench depth as from its most productive to least productive player, all 14 players on the roster had a specific role. The main nine-player rotation that was previously discussed had chemistry and played together. The Lady Lancers played for each other and played for the trophy at the end of the year. That’s why St. John Vianney was so dominant, historically dominant at that, and that’s why they are our 2021-22 Team of the Year.