NO. 2 RED BANK CATHOLIC WINS SECOND-STRAIGHT SCT TITLE OVER NO. 1 ST. JOHN VIANNEY

There’s been a lot of pressure on this Red Bank Catholic team over the last four years. According to head coach Joe Montano, before this current group of seniors ever played a game at Red Bank Catholic they were heralded as “the greatest team, and we only had an undefeated team that was nationally ranked, before they even stepped on the floor.” Last year, the Caseys won their first Shore Conference Tournament title since 2013 with the likes of Tessa Carman and Christina Liggio, who were both 1,000-point scorers. Those two were lost to graduation last year, but the expectations were still very high for Red Bank Catholic. On Friday night, Red Bank Catholic did not disappoint as the top-seeded Caseys, ranked No. 2 in the NJ.com Top 20, rallied in the final minute to beat second-seeded and No. 1 St. John Vianney 53-49 to win their second-straight Shore Conference Tournament final at Monmouth University. “How many people lost two 1,000-point scorers, that’s a lot of points, and then came back and won it again the following year,” Montano said. “Shows a lot for our guys to do that against a great team. You saw how they fought back and played, it’s amazing. I’m really proud of these guys.” Friday night was the third time this season that these two Shore Conference A North Division rivals had met. Red Bank Catholic won the first meeting 62-51 on Jan. 6, while St. John Vianney picked up a win in the second game on Jan. 22, 61-52. “It definitely prepared us, I think it hurts us both because we know each other a little bit too well,” Red Bank Catholic’s Addy Nyemchek said. “So again it’s the people who come out and play harder and ultimately makes more shots.” Red Bank Catholic jumped out to a very fast start and led 22-6 after the first quarter, with 12 points coming from senior Tessa Liggio. “I think we came out with the best defense I think we’ve had all year,” Katie Liggio said. “We got steals, we got the ball up and we knew we wanted to run the court, especially in this big gym. We started out great, so that was good for us.” St. John Vianney began to fight back in the second quarter. In the final 2:55, the Lancers hit four-straight 3-pointers to cut the Caseys’ lead to 27-24. A 3 from Tessa Liggio with 18.7 seconds left sent the game to halftime with Red Bank Catholic up 30-24. “They hit a lot of big threes, I think we started getting a little bit tired, but again having each other’s back, being composed,” Nyemchek said. “We knew they were going to go on runs, and in that environment just staying calm and then coming back and getting stops on defense and making shots.” St. John Vianney didn’t slow down in the third quarter, once again outscoring Red Bank Catholic 16-10. The Caseys led 40-34 with 1:53 remaining in the third, but a 6-0 run with baskets from Taylor Sofilkanich, Tatum Sharpe and Stella Lockhart tied the game 40-40 heading to the fourth. Lockhart scored to open the fourth quarter, which gave St. John Vianney its first lead of the game, 42-40. From there, the two teams traded baskets until two free throws from Sofilkanich gave the Lancers a 49-46 lead 3:23 left. “We know Addy is going to see two or three kids, we know that certain guys on our team in certain spots on the floor, they’re not going to play them, and (St. John Vianney coach) Dawn (Karpell) did a nice job with that,” Montano said. “So we had to play differently, we had to put other guys in position to score and Tessa shoots the ball really well. You have to give Addy a lot of credit, she didn’t force a lot of stuff, she made big passes when she had to. It really wasn’t anything more than us taking what we did and trying to put people in spots where they can be effective.” Nyemchek scored with 3:12 remaining to cut the lead to 49-48, and with 1:14 remaining Katie Liggio hit her first 3 of the game to give Red Bank Catholic back the lead 50-49. Nyemchek and Tessa Liggio both went to the line in the final 21.3 seconds and hit 3-of-4 for the 53-49 final. Red Bank Catholic’s Daniela Maletsky then intercepted the inbounds pass as time expired for the win. “I think we trusted in each other, we had confidence in each other,” Katie Liggio said. “Not at one time did one of us look at each other without positive energy and I think that’s what wins games. Just having trust in your teammates that they’re going to make the right play, like I know Addy’s going to make the right play when she gets the ball, so I think it’s just trust.” For St. John Vianney, which had a 12-game win streak snapped, Lockhart posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Madison Kocis and Sofilkanich each finished with 11 points and four rebounds. Tessa Liggio led Red Bank Catholic with 21 points, while Nyemchek contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and added a game-high six assists. Sophie Smith chipped in 11 points. “I don’t want to see them again, but if we do that means we both did something pretty good,” Montano said of St. John Vianney. “I’m just really proud of our kids.”

NO. 2 RED BANK CATHOLIC WINS SECOND-STRAIGHT SCT TITLE OVER NO. 1 ST. JOHN VIANNEY

LAUREN KNEGO

NJAM | 2/25/2026

PHOTO CREDIT: Scott Faytok