SP-F Girls Basketball Earns 17th Seed for UCT Tournament

To nobody's surprise, defending champion Roselle Catholic earned the top seed for the 35^th annual Frank J. Cicarell girls' basketball Union County Tournament, which was seeded Tuesday morning at the Rahway Library.

Scotch Plains-Fanwood earned the 17^th seed and will play 16^th-seeded Rahway in a preliminary round game at 4 p.m. Friday at A.L. Johnson High of Clark. The Raiders last won the third of their three UCT titles in 2007.

Union Catholic of Scotch Plains earned the 12^th seed and will play fifth-seeded Oak Knoll of Summit in a first round game Monday at 6 p.m. at Johnson. The Vikings have won the most UCT crowns and captured their last one in 2001. Union Catholic last reached the final in 2005.

Roselle Catholic is 17-2, has won six in a row and leads the Mountain Division of the Union County Conference with an 11-1 mark. Roselle Catholic has won the UCT twice, first in 2003 as the seventh seed and second in 2009 as the fourth seed.

The Lions are sparked by returning senior starters Allison Skrec, Jenny Malone and Meghan Faughnan and returning junior starter Melissa Tobie. Their other starter, senior Anthonia Ajumobi, is one of the best rebounders - if not the best – in Union County.

This is the first time Roselle Catholic is the top seed during the 14-season tenure of head coach Joe Skrec, who was the chairman of today's seeding committee and who won his 200^th game earlier this season.

The head coaches on Tuesday's committee included Karen Pierre of Elizabeth, Andy Silvagni of Gov. Livingston, Tony Cafone of Oak Knoll and Justin Meyer of Union.

"I think there are many teams who could get to the semifinals," Skrec said.

For the fifih straight season the championship game will be played at RC and for the fourth consecutive year the semifinals will be played at RC's Lions Den in Roselle.

For the first time this year, the semifinals were moved up a day from the Monday before Friday's championship game to the Tuesday.

"It will be a challenge, we certainly don't take anyone lightly," Skrec said. "I'm happy for the girls that they were recognized as the top seed, because it reflects on the success that they've had. However, I told them that they don't hand out any banners for being the top seed. This has to be done on the court. We want this February to be remembered as a special one here at RC and so far we're off to a good start."

Roselle Catholic's second UCT win last year was a one-point nailbiter over Cranford, which was a game the Lions had to come back late in the fourth quarter to capture. The third victory was a dominating performance over top-seeded Scotch Plains and the fourth triumph was the classic conquest of Plainfield, which was a game that went back-and-forth too many times to count.

Westfield, which begins the week with a four-game winning streak and has won seven of eight to bring its record over .500 at 9-7, earned the seventh seed ahead of Linden. Westfield and Linden split their UCC-Watchung Division contests, with Westfield winning the second one.

Westfield defeated conference rivals Scotch Plains and Rahway on the road last week to get over .500 for the first time this season. Westfield began the season 0-3 and 1-5, including a loss at Scotch Plains, which was a game it was winning 16-7 after the first quarter.

The Blue Devils won their first and only county crown two years ago after losing to Scotch Plains in overtime in the championship game three seasons ago.

Here are the seeds and their records including Monday, Feb. 8 results:

      1-Roselle Catholic (17-2, 6 in a row)

      2-Summit (14-2, 3 in a row)

      3-Roselle (14-5)

      4-Cranford (12-4)

      5-Oak Knoll (13-4, 6 in a row)

      6-New Providence (13-2, 2 in a row)

      7-Westfield (9-7, 4 in a row)

      8-Linden (10-7)

      9-Dayton (13-4, 3 in a row)

      10-Gov. Livingston (9-7, 3 in a row)

      11-Johnson (9-7)

      12-Union Catholic (8-9)

      13-Union (8-10)

      14-Plainfield (7-10)

      15-Hillside (6-10)

      16-Rahway (4-10)

      17-Scotch Plains-Fanwood (4-11)

      18-Elizabeth (2-15)

      19-Kent Place (5-8)

      20-St. Patrick (3-10)

UCC-Valley Division squads Brearley, Benedictine Academy of Elizabeth and St. Mary's of Elizabeth are not included, while Mother Seton of Clark competes in the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament.

      PRELIMINARY ROUND:

      (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

      Friday, Feb. 12

      At Johnson

      17-Scotch Plains vs. 16-Rahway, 4 p.m.

      Saturday, Feb. 13

      At Rahway

      17-St. Patrick vs. 13-Union, noon

      19-Kent Place vs. 14-Plainfield, 1:30 p.m.

      18-Elizabeth vs. 15-Hillside, 3 p.m.

      FIRST ROUND:

      (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

      Monday, Feb. 15

      At Johnson

      9-Dayton vs. 8-Linden, 6 p.m.

      Rahway/Scotch Plains vs. 1-Roselle Catholic, 7:30 p.m.

      At Roselle Catholic

      12-Union Catholic vs. 5-Oak Knoll, 6 p.m.

      Union/St. Patrick vs. 4-Cranford, 7:30 p.m.

      At Rahway

      11-Johnson vs. 6-New Providence, 6 p.m.

      Plainfield/Kent Place vs. 3-Roselle, 7:30 p.m.

      At Union Catholic

      10-Gov. Livingston vs. 7-Westfield, 6 p.m.

      Hillside/Elizabeth vs. 2-Summit, 7:30 p.m.

      QUARTERFINALS

      (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

      Thursday, Feb. 18

      At Rahway (top side of the bracket)

      If Cranford advances, Cougars will be home team at 6 p.m.

      If Roselle Catholic advances, Lions will be home team at 7:30 p.m.

      At Roselle Catholic (bottom side of the bracket)

      If Roselle advances, Rams will be home team at 6 p.m.

      If Summit advances, Hilltoppers will be home team at 7:30 p.m.

      SEMIFINALS

      (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

      Tuesday, Feb. 23

      At Roselle Catholic

      Bottom side of the bracket (3 and 2 seeds side), 6 p.m.

      Top side of the bracket (4 and 1 seeds side), 7:30 p.m.

      FINALS

      (the higher seeded teams wear home uniforms)

      Friday, Feb. 26

      At Roselle Catholic

      Junior varsity: 5:30 p.m.

      Varsity: 7:30 p.m.

      NOTES: Junior varsity UCT games will be played at the higher seeds until the semifinals on Feb. 20 at Rahway at noon and 1:30 p.m.

      The first round must be completed by Feb. 16 and the quarterfinals by Feb. 18.

VARSITY UCT CHAMPIONS

GOING BACK TO 1992:

2009 – Roselle Catholic

2008 – Westfield, first time

2007 – Scotch Plains

2006 – Cranford, first time

2005 – Scotch Plains

2004 – Scotch Plains, first time

2003 – Roselle Catholic, first time

2002 – Roselle, first time

2001 – Union Catholic

2000 – Union, first time

1999 – Summit, first time

1998 – Union Catholic

1997 – Elizabeth

1996 – Elizabeth

1995 – Elizabeth, first time

1994 – Linden

1993 – Linden

1992 – Union Catholic