Knights earn another shot at GMC title
Old Bridge girls lowest seed to ever advance to GMCT final
BY WARREN RAPPLEYEA
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above, Old Bridge’s Jaime Capra tries to score over the South Brunswick defense during the GMC semifinal on Tuesday at Middlesex County College in Edison. At left, South Brunswick’s Heather Domotor and Old Bridge’s Sierra Allen fight for a rebound.

For the second successive year the Old Bridge High School girls basketball team will meet J.P. Stevens for the Greater Middlesex Conference championship.

The Lady Knights upped their overall record to 18-8 by downing South Brunswick, 49-37, in the GMC semifinals at Middlesex County College on Tuesday. After jumping out to an eight-point first-quarter lead, Old Bridge found itself down 24-21 at the half.

Following a relatively even third stanza that left the score tied, the Lady Knights held the Vikings to just two fourth-quarter points while scoring 14 of their own. Old Bridge canned 18 free throws and out rebounded the Vikings by a healthy 28-9 margin to help avenge two regular-season defeats at the hands of South Brunswick.

Point guard Cathy Rutter, who only recently returned from a sprained ankle, led the Old Bridge offense with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Rutter, who missed two weeks of action, returned a week ago, but played just six minutes in the Lady Knights opening round victory over Mother Seton. She did, however, play key roles in her team’s other tourney wins over Woodbridge in the quarterfinals and Carteret in the second round.

Jaime Capra, the Lady Knights stalwart forward who has also played well throughout the GMC Tournament, added 16 points. With a 20-point average, Capra is Old Bridge’s top scorer.

The Vikings (17-7) were led by Heather Domotor, who finished with a team-high 13 points and notched her 1,000th career point with a coast-to-coast lay-up in the third quarter.

But it was all Old Bridge from there, as the Knights scored 24 of the next 31 points to earn another shot at the conference crown. In doing so, the team became the lowest seed in conference tournament history to reach the final.

Defending GMC champ Stevens, meanwhile, edged fourth-seeded Piscataway, 44-31, on Tuesday, also at Middlesex County College to advance to the finals. The triumph upped Stevens’s record to 22-2, and set up what should be another competitive final.