RBC Revenge Tour: Caseys Reach Girls Basketball SCT Final

TOMS RIVER — The Red Bank Catholic girls basketball team is looking at the current task at hand not so much as the 2025 Shore Conference Tournament as much as it is the 2025 Caseys Revenge Tour.

Heading into Tuesday night’s Shore Conference Tournament semifinals at RWJ Barnabas Health Arena, standing between the Caseys and their first SCT title in 12 years were two teams that handed them a bitter defeat — one last year and another this season.

First up, RBC was out for revenge against Manasquan — the No. 1 seed in this year’s tournament, which defeated the Caseys in last year’s SCT semifinal round.

Thanks to an impact effort from the bench and a balanced all-around performance on both ends of the floor, RBC crossed one name off its list and now has one more to go.

Senior Tessa Carman scored eight of her team-high 15 points in the fourth quarter to go with six rebounds, while junior Lola Giordano provided 14 points, six rebounds and three assists off the bench to spark the fourth-seeded Caseys to a convincing 60-41 victory over Manasquan Tuesday night in Toms River.

Christina Liggio drains the three off the kickout from Lola Giordano and RBC has run its lead to 48-29 with 4:32 left. pic.twitter.com/JovMgSG1rb

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) February 19, 2025

“Manasquan sent us home last year and these guys don’t forget that,” Red Bank Catholic coach Joe Montano said. “This is the toughest schedule we have played in the history of the school and we have won 17 in a row. St. Rose beat us early in the year too and there is a lot of motivation to make up for  losing those games.”

Giordano gave RBC an immediate lift off the bench, scoring 10 of her team’s 12 points during a 12-0 run that flipped a 12-9 Manasquan lead late in the first quarter to a 21-12 Caseys advantage early in the second.

“Lola Giordano played great coming off the bench,” Montano said. “It’s not your night every night. Maybe they are defending the plays we run or maybe the matchup is not the best for you. It’s next guy up and Lola has been doing that all year long, playing hard for us. Dani (Maletsky) did a great job giving us energy too. Our bench was a big, big asset for us tonight.”

“I think one of my strengths is coming into the game with fresh energy and same goes for the other girls who come off the bench,” Giordano said. “I think when we go in, it’s nice to start with something new and get something going after the starters do their thing.”

Junior Addy Nyemchek also chipped in 13 points, eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of blocked shots for RBC, while senior Christina Liggio and junior Tessa Liggio added to the balance with seven points and five rebounds each.

Manasquan absorbed that mid-first-half run and stayed within striking distance through halftime, entering the locker room trailing, 30-24. Junior Jordyn Hollawell scored eight of her team-high 15 points in the first half and also finished with five rebounds and five assists to lead Manasquan’s effort.

“Lisa (Kukoda) does a great job, and I’m not just saying that because she’s my former player,” Montano said, complimenting Manasquan’s head coach and a former standout player at Red Bank Catholic. “Their kids are well-disciplined, they know how to get shots, she’s got competitive guys out there and they play really well. I just thought our defensive stretch from the beginning of the second half until early in the fourth quarter was the difference in the game.”

Hollawell scored five points early in the third quarter to cut RBC’s lead to 32-29, but the Caseys had one more big run in them that would break the game open. The Caseys reeled off a 16-0 run that extended their lead to 48-29 with 4:32 left in the fourth quarter. Five different Caseys scored during the run, led by Nyemchek with five points.

Tessa Liggio picks up the loose ball and banks in the runner to beat the 3rd quarter buzzer. Red Bank Catholic leads Manasquan 40-29 heading to the 4th. pic.twitter.com/Z6vYm2WX9N

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) February 19, 2025

“They are very tough,” Giordano said of Manasquan. “They go at you and they are always hustling, but that’s what I respect. That’s the way I think we play too, so it’s great to play competition like that because it really gives us a chance to show what we can do.

“When we play the way we know we are capable of playing there is no stopping us. It’s pretty simple for us. Read what they are doing, go off that and then just go play hard and play our game.”

RBC is one year removed from losing to Manasquan in the SCT semifinals. A year ago, a Caseys team heavy on sophomores and juniors lost to a more experienced Warriors team in a game that went down to the wire. That group rebounded by winning the NJSIAA Non-Public A championship and came into this year with much more experience and a schedule that cost the Caseys the No. 1 seed in the SCT but has helped them grow into a harder team to beat now that the postseason has arrived.

After vanquishing Manasquan in the semifinals, RBC turns its attention to St. Rose in Friday’s championship game at OceanFirst Bank Arena on the campus of Monmouth University. St. Rose defeated Red Bank Catholic in January and knocked out defending champion St. John Vianney in the first semifinal on Tuesday.

“One hundred percent,” Giordano said when asked if she and her teammates liked the way the brackets shook out. “We don’t like to lose so if we can get another chance to play a team that beat us, we want it.”

Since RBC’s last Shore Conference Tournament championship in 2012-13, the Caseys have been to the final twice — both in the last four seasons. Most of this year’s team played significant minutes on the 2022-23 Caseys team that lost to St. John Vianney in the SCT championship game. Two years later, the Caseys have a team that has been through the battles and has the scars to prove it.

“This team has been there,” Montano said. “We took them to New York to play Christ the King, we went to Maryland, we went to Delaware, we played all the top teams in the state. I think that hardens you quite a bit”