Addy Nyemchek of RBC is the N.J. girls basketball Player of the Year for 2025-26

When Addy Nyemchek was in eighth grade, her biggest aspiration was making the varsity basketball team at Red Bank Catholic and seeing playing time as a freshman. Fast-forward four years and Nyemchek’s star is one of the brightest to have played for the Caseys. This season the 6-foot-1 guard helped lead Red Bank Catholic to its second-straight Shore Conference Tournament title, the South, Non-Public A title and its second Non-Public A title in three years as the Caseys finished ranked No. 1 in the NJ.com Top 20 with a record of 30-2. The Indiana University-commit averaged 19.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.7 assists, three steals and hit for 33 3-pointers. She posted six double-doubles and became Red Bank Catholic’s all-time leading scorer in the final game of the season. She scored 22 points in the final against Morris Catholic for 1,781 career points, which surpassed 2008 graduate Kristina Danella’s 1,771 points. Which is why Nyemchek is the NJ.com Girls Basketball Player of the Year for 2025-26. “She’s meant an awful lot to the team,” Red Bank Catholic coach Joe Montano said. “I think the thing with Addy is she’s such a great teammate. It’s always been about winning with Addy and being there for her teammates and instilling confidence in her teammates. She’s really good with telling them how well they can play and what they can do. It’s always great when your best player is your hardest worker, but more importantly isn’t looking for the headlines and just wants to be part of the team.” Nyemchek, a four-year starter, was also the lone player from New Jersey to be selected to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game, and was also named the Gatorade New Jersey Player of the Year. Nyemchek said she had goals for her high school career entering her freshman year, but she never imagined the accolades her senior year would bring. “I remember when I was in eighth grade I talked to Montano, not really having crazy expectations because I knew RBC was always a very good school basketball-wise so I was kind of going into RBC hoping to make varsity, hoping to play,” Nyemchek said. “Obviously I had the goals to be a really good high school player, play Division I basketball but I never knew the scale of the goals that I could achieve freshman year. Over the course of time I knew that I could push those goals bigger and farther and again, as we all kind of got better and grew those goals got a lot bigger.” Nyemchek said she started playing basketball in the first grade and also played soccer growing up. When COVID hit she had to choose between the two sports and decided to stick with basketball. “Obviously playing the game, the competitiveness, the fast-paced type of game,” Nyemchek said of what sparks her joy for the sport. “Then kind of off the game, the people I was surrounded by, the people that I was training with and everything kind of motivated me to love the game even more.” Nyemchek has always been the type of player who was willing to do anything to help her team win, but after losing captains Tessa Carman and Christina Liggio to graduation last year, Montano had a new role for Nyemchek entering this season. “I think as a senior and talking to Montano a lot, I had to really take on that leadership role and I think I did a pretty good job this year kind of taking on that role,” Nyemchek said. “We lost two of our seniors last year, who were both our captains, so kind of taking that in and holding myself responsible, making sure I’m holding my teammates responsible, whether that’s practice, on the court, off the court. So I think that’s what I kind of improved on this year.” Along with her leadership abilities, Nyemchek did a little bit of everything on the court this season to help Red Bank Catholic win. While she was the team’s leading scorer, she was also second on the team in assists as she had no problem spreading the ball around in order to get baskets. If she had to focus on defense instead of scoring she was fine with that as well, as long as the team was winning. “I think the thing that impresses me the most is that she just has a great understanding of the game,” Montano said. “She can go into a game and say, ‘Today I’ve got to pass the ball to my teammates,’ or ‘Alright it’s the fourth quarter and I need to score 15 points or else we’re not going to win. Today I have to play defense for my team to win, I have to stop somebody who’s really good on the other team.’ For her to be able to do those things and kind of switch gears in the middle of the game is really impressive.” Nyemchek’s high school career in New Jersey might be over, but she’s nowhere near done with basketball just yet. She’ll play in the McDonald’s All-American Game on Monday night in Glendale, Arizona and will take her talents to Indiana in the fall. No matter where her basketball career takes her, Nyemchek will always remember what Red Bank Catholic was able to accomplish during her four years with the team. “It was so fun,” Nyemchek said of this season. “Obviously the last four years have been super fun, but again coming out with both championships, the last kind of go-around with the girls I think was a little bit more special this year than it was the last few years. We all kind of soaked it up, we knew we were moving on to different chapters after this season so basically having more fun and not taking anything for granted because we knew it was our last year.”

ADDY NYEMCHEK OF RBC IS THE N.J. GIRLS BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR FOR 2025-26

LAUREN KNEGO

NJAM | 3/30/2026

PHOTO CREDIT: Dave Hernandez