Chek-Mate: Nyemchek’s ‘Wild Shot’ Sends Red Bank Catholic to Sectional Final

BELMAR — Staring at a season-ending loss in a gym that was the setting for its only Shore Conference loss this season, the Red Bank Catholic girls basketball team knew which number to call when the situation was at its most dire.

The Caseys put the ball in the same pair of hands that made the game-winning drive and pass in the Shore Conference Tournament final vs. St. Rose and watched her top that with a shot that she – nor anyone else who was at St. Rose’s McCann Activities and Athletic Center on Thursday – will ever forget.

Junior Addy Nyemchek hit an off-balance shot off the glass as she was fouled with 1.1 seconds left, made the ensuing free throw and gave the Caseys another thrilling tournament win over St. Rose, 54-53, in the NJSIAA South Jersey Non-Public A semifinals.

“I pretty much blacked out,” Nyemchek said of the winning play. “I’m just thinking about the seniors and I think we’re a really, really close-knit group, so having their last game end at St. Rose in that situation really sucks. It could have went either way.”

Addy Nyemchek hits a wild shot with one second left, gets the foul and hits the free throw. RBC 54-53 with 1 second left. pic.twitter.com/N6gKWKSwgJ

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 6, 2025

St. Rose came out of a timeout with possession and 14 seconds left with the game tied, 51-51, after the Purple Roses drained nearly a full minute off the clock holding for the final shot. Junior Jada Lynch came off a screen and RBC sophomore Sophie Smith was called for a foul for impeding Lynch well beyond the three-point line.

Lynch stepped to the line with six seconds left and buried both free throws, which completed a 14-for-14 performance from the foul line for the junior standout.

After a timeout, Red Bank Catholic senior Christina Liggio inbounded the ball to Nyemchek, who dribbled the length of the floor and, as she drew a foul on the right side of the court, flung a 14-foot shot off the backboard and in with 1.1 seconds showing on the clock.

“It was kind of a wild shot,” Nyemchek said. “Coach (Joe) Montano has had us practicing late-game situations a lot. It was, honestly, a lucky shot, but I’m not going to complain.”

Staring into a raucous St. Rose student section, Nyemchek hit the game-winning free throw, and junior Daniela Maletsky broke up St. Rose’s ensuing inbound pass to end the game.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Nyemchek said of her winning free throw. “That’s what college is like, so getting used to that is probably a good thing for me. Coach Montano makes us shoot a lot of free throws, and I missed one earlier in the game, so I was focused.”

Neither coach – Montano nor St. Rose’s Christine Hatfield – were pleased with the foul calls that went against them in the final six seconds.

“Give credit to Addy,” Hatfield said. “She made an incredible shot. It was a hell of a shot. But I feel like we should be in overtime right now.

“We knew it was going to be a two-to-four-point game. Both games against them were down to the last couple possessions, so we knew nobody was blowing anybody out. We knew somebody’s season was going to end tonight, but for it to end like that, it definitely hurts a little bit more. But I couldn’t have asked anything more of my kids.”

St. Rose finishes its season as the runner-up in a Shore Conference Tournament game it lost by two points to Red Bank Catholic and one game short of a sectional final after the most gut-wrenching of losses. The Purple Roses outlook for 2025-26 is positive with Lynch set to return for her senior season, but the graduation of senior starters Cassidy Kruesi and Caroline Conforti add to the sting of the season-ending loss to the Caseys.

“My heart goes out to my seniors,” Hatfield said. “I have five of them and those kids give me everything, they gave me everything they had tonight, and I just hate for it to end that way for them.”

Nyemchek left her stamp on the game with her scoring over the final four minutes. With RBC trailing, 45-43, she earned a trip to the free-throw line and knocked down both to tie the game.

On RBC’s next possession, she pulled down an offensive rebound on a miss by junior teammate Katie Liggio, got the ball back on a swing around the perimeter and sank a long three-pointer to put the Caseys ahead, 48-45.

Addy Nyemchek gets the offensive board and buries the 3 to give RBC a 48-45 lead. 2:53 left. pic.twitter.com/AwSRf9lRpZ

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 6, 2025

Lynch cut the RBC lead to 48-47 with a pair of free throws, but Christina Liggio converted a drive to the basket to push the Caseys lead up to 50-47. Senior Caroline Conforti cut the RBC lead to 50-49 with a soft-touch finish in the paint off a pass from junior Belle Alvarado.

Lynch then gave St. Rose a 51-50 lead with 1:35 left with two more free throws. Christina Liggio earned her own trip to the line and hit one of two to knot the score again, 51-51, with 1:06 left, setting up the dramatic finish.

Nyemchek finished with 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists, with nine of her points coming in the fourth quarter. Christina Liggio added 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Smith contributed eight points and five rebounds off the bench, including six points in the first quarter.

The Jada Lynch Show is back on in Belmar. The junior caps a 21-point first half with an all-net, step-back 3 and St. Rose leads RBC 35-34 at half. pic.twitter.com/ZvNLuhyF9L

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) March 6, 2025

RBC overcame another monster performance by Lynch in her home gym. The junior guard scored a game-high 30 points, including 21 in the first half. Kruesi supported Lynch’s scoring effort with 11 points of her own to close out a career where she was a 1,000-point scorer.

“Jada did such a great job of creating things, not just for herself but getting her teammates involved,” Christina Liggio said. “They made some crazy shots, and you have to give them credit for that. In practice, we worked really hard on defending the ball screen and getting out on shooters, so we just went back to our fundamentals and our instincts and that usually works out for us.”

In St. Rose’s 61-54 win over Red Bank Catholic in January, Lynch poured in a career-high 40 points to will the Purple Roses to their biggest win of the regular season.

“It was 1-1 between us this season, so we wanted to play them again to solidify our No. 1 ranking in the Shore,” Christina Liggio said. “This game, our chemistry, how close we are, I don’t think any team can beat that.”

Red Bank Catholic paid St. Rose back for the regular-season loss in the SCT championship game at Monmouth University on Feb. 21. The Caseys rallied from down five in the final three minutes to win, 50-48, capped by a game-winning layup by senior Tessa Carman with eight seconds left after Nyemchek beat the defense baseline and shoveled a pass to her open teammate.

On Thursday, Nyemchek was looking only at the rim as the final seconds ticked away.

“We know Addy is such a good playmaker,” Christina Liggio said. “We trust her with literally everything. We knew she was either going to find one of us or she was going to take it herself.”

Red Bank Catholic will face top-seeded Paul VI Monday at Lenape High School at 5 p.m. in the South Jersey Non-Public A final. The Caseys are searching for their second straight overall Non-Public A championship, with Paul VI looking to avenge a 44-26 loss to RBC in last year’s sectional final.

“I don’t think we ever had any doubt,” Nyemchek said. “Six seconds left, we didn’t have much to work with, but we got it done.”