Immaculate Conception boys, girls hoops head to state sectional championship games

The Immaculate Conception girls and boys basketball team are heading to the state sectional finals.

Both Lions teams showed their might on Monday night with decisive victories in their respective Non Public North B state semifinal.

The sixth-seeded Immaculate Conception boys team avenged a loss last season at second-seeded Gill St. Bernard's with an 80-57 victory on the road this season. The Lions (20-10) lost to Gill St. Bernard's 80-59 in the 2022 Non Public North B quarterfinals.

For the fourth-seeded Immaculate Conception girls basketball team (22-5) they took control of the game at top-seeded Saddle River Day in the first half and never let go.
The Lions moved on to the Non Public B North final with a 58-43 win over Saddle River Day.

The Immaculate Conception girls hoops team takes on second-seeded Morris Catholic on March 1 at Kennedy High School in Paterson at 5 p.m. in the Non Public B North title game. The Lions lost 65-59 at Morris Catholic in the 2022 Non Public B North semifinals.

And the Lions boys hoops takes on fourth-seeded Roselle Catholic, considered one of the top teams in New Jersey, also on March 1 at Franklin High School at 5 p.m. in the Non Public B North championship.

For this go around for the Immaculate Conception boys basketball team at Gill St. Bernard's, the Lions held serve and closed the deal in the fourth quarter where they outscored Gill St. Bernard's, 23-10.

The trio of junior TJ Robinson, senior Tavian Pullock and freshman Jaren Barnett led the way offensively. Robinson had a game-high 22 points while Pullock and Barnett chipped in 13 and 11 points respectively.

In another part of the state, the Immaculate Conception girls basketball team started to take control at the end of the first half at Saddle River Day with a three from senior Ciera Cevallos just before the buzzer went off.

The Cevallos bucket gave the Lions a 27-19 lead and then they went on a 11-3 run in the third quarter that set the tone for the rest of the game.

Senior Tyonna Bailey scored 16 of her 20 points in the second half that helped Immaculate Conception pull away from Saddle River Day.

In the first half it was the inside play of sophomore Nila Giraud who helped keep Immaculate Conception ahead. Giraud registered 15 points, 11 of which came in the first half.