Blue Jays get the best of the Blue Devils

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

During the 2025 NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 quarterfinals, Ava Coyle (4) of Shore Regional scored 13 points.

The historic run by the Shore Regional High School girls’ varsity basketball team to win four consecutive NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 sectional titles came to an end on Saturday, March 1. They were at Middlesex High School where they faced and lost 64-52 to the Blue Jays in the quarterfinals.

This was the third consecutive year that the two schools faced off in the tournament. The past two years, Shore Regional defeated Middlesex 36-44 in 2024, and 62-31 in 2023 to win the sectional finals. Back in 2022, Shore Regional beat South Hunterdon 67-48 to win the title. Middlesex did not qualify that year.

Shore Regional entered the tournament this year as the fifth seed, is which they had four years ago when they beat South Hunterdon. In the opening 2025 playoffs, Shore hosted and beat 12th seed Highland Park 78-32, which set up the quarterfinals in Middlesex.

The first quarter showed how equally matched these two schools were as Middlesex held a 14-13 lead over the Blue Devils. Shore had their best quarter of the game closing out the first half outscoring the Blue Jays 14-9 and took a 27-23 lead into the halftime break.

Starting the second half Shore scored 17 points and allowed 16 in the third quarter. However, the fourth and final quarter was all Middlesex, as they bested Shore 25-8 taking the 64-52 victory. All season long, the Blue Devils had every girl on the floor playing high pressure defense. On the offensive side, they counted on three key players for all the points. Senior co-captains and both 1,000 plus point scorers Reese Fiore and Kimi Sayson along with junior Ava Coyle.

In the loss to Middlesex this year, Sayson had 17 points, Fiore finished with 20 and Coyle scored 13. That was 45 of the 52 points, Grace Ascolese and Angela Christopher accounted for the remaining seven points. Shore Regional closed out the season with a 15-13 overall record and were 4-6 in the Shore Conference A North division.

Middlesex High School was the better team on the floor this season. They made adjustments to the high pressure Blue Devil defense and also pounded the offensive and defensive boards. Like Shore Regional, Middlesex had three big scorers. Avery Iskra led with 20, Mallory Gianchiglia scored 19 and Jessica Devine had 15 points. The other 10 came from Alyssa Young and Taylor Lawrence who each had five. The Blue Jays are now 21-8 overall, 12-2 in the GMC White division, and will face top seed New Providence in the NJSIAA Central Jersey, Group 1 semifinals. The other half of the bracket has Bound Brook facing Thrive Charter.

Shore Regional High School has had four players reach and break 1,000 points in the past four years. Madison LaRosa, class of 2021 scored 1,182 points, Rylee Drahos, class of 2023 scored 1,660 points. Reese Fiore, who graduates this year, finished her high school career with 1,434 points. She also had 536 rebounds, 128 assists, 29 blocks and 241 steals.

Also graduating in 2025 is Kimi Sayson. Her first two years of high school basketball were played at Long Branch High School. As a Green Wave player she had 469 points, 155 rebounds, 118 assists, 1 block and 136 steals. The past two years as a Blue Devil she had 689 points, 240 rebounds, 241 assists, 15 blocks and 205 steals.

Sayson finishes her high school career with 1,158 points, 395 rebounds, 359 assists, 16 blocks and 341 steals.

Going into next season, Ava Coyle will be 216 points away from getting her name on the 1,000-point scorer banner hanging in the gym. The junior closes out her three seasons with 784 points, 254 rebounds, 121 assists, 1 block and 252 steals.

William Wishart, who just completed his ninth season as head coach has had some very explosive players over the past four years. Last season, he earned his 100th career victory as head coach. He knows that next year will be a rebuilding season, but he is very optimistic on the Blue Devils future.

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