Athletes Of The Week: Laura Gregory and Justin Singer

Laura Gregory

Without question, it's evident that Senior forward Laura Gregory is a leader on the girls’ varsity basketball team.

In most games, Gregory has racked up points in the double digits, sometimes as the leading scorer.

At the Union game on Feb. 25, which was fittingly Senior Night, the Lady Pioneers triumphed behind . This was just one night after the team was

Gregory went to the bench with foul trouble late in the third quarter. Coming back in the fourth, Gregory and the Lady Pioneers weren’t able to overcome the Highlanders lead and were knocked out of the tournament.

“It was obviously a big deal because we always want to beat G.L. because they’re our rivals,” Gregory said. “Also, it was the Union County semifinals and we haven’t made it there in the last five years. The only thing we haven’t been able to prove is the Union County tournament, which is the only title I haven’t won [while on the team]. And then to see Governor Livingston vs. Roselle Catholic in the final, when we beat Roselle Catholic just a week before, is kind of frustrating.”

But Gregory and the No. 4 seed Lady Pioneers have been successful so far in the state tournament. In the first round of the state tournament on March 1, Cassandra Squeri and Gregory combined for 28 points and

“I’m confident we’re going to go all the way again [in the state tournament] this year,” Gregory said. “We’re ranked number four this year and I have no doubt that we should be number one, we should have all our games home and we’re going to go all the way again.

And so far, Gregory has been correct. Against Dayton last Thursday, Gregory scored 16 points, brought down 16 rebounds and was constantly on the glass to snare a missed free throw or missed shot to keep the play alive.

“We had a tough time getting it together in the first half,” Gregory said after the game. “Honestly, I didn’t think we’d go to overtime, because we had the ball in the final minute, but it was a good win.”

On Saturday, Gregory led the team with 13 points.

The Lady Pioneers now face No. 7 University tonight at 7 p.m.

Looking back on Gregory’s high school career, she helped guide the team to four straight conference titles, two sectional state titles and one group title.

“I have been in awe that we won this much because a lot of teams can’t say that they started as freshmen and we’re winning state sectional titles,” Gregory said. “Everyone has doubted us. All the news reporters are telling me, ‘We didn’t really think you guys would make it this far’ because we’re such a young team, but every single year, we’ve proven something.”

At the end of last season, Gregory said the team lost many seniors to graduation. As a result, this was a rebuilding year, not to mention the team having to compete in a tougher conference. But overall, the Lady Pioneers were able to finish with a solid record and a decent ranking in the state tournament.

“We’ve had our ups and downs. We had three losses to Governor Livingston, I don’t know if it's jitters," Gregory said. “I can’t say one thing that caused us to lose those games. But then another loss was to Point Pleasant Boro, which is a really good team, by one point, and we didn’t even play that well.

“In the next , which we were up by 12... myself and Emma Culleton got a technical foul, which tied the game. So they are frustrating losses and they are all close games,” Gregory added. “The first two losses, we had an injured starter so I think every loss is from another factor.”

While Gregory thinks the team has played well, she says there's still room for improvement.

“I think we’re a great team and we’re not playing to our full potential yet,” Gregory said. “Even the win against Roselle, we didn’t reach our full potential still.”

Even though Gregory used to play softball and volleyball, she now plays basketball year round with the New Jersey Panthers, which attracts players from around the state.

Looking ahead, Gregory said she has already decided where to attend college in the fall.

“I actually think I’m going to Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania and play basketball there,” she said. “My sister is a senior there and I was kind of persuaded in the last week to go there. They just won a championship for their league and they’re going onto the NCAA tournament for Division 3.”

Justin Singer

Senior Justin Singer had a solid season as a starting guard and forward on the boys’ varsity basketball team.

Singer racked up 11 points against North Plainfield on Feb. 23 and

Entering the state tournament on March 2 against Weequahic High School, Singer finished with 16 points and

“In past games, we haven’t been playing as well as we can,” Singer said. “We’ve been trying to do too much with dribbling. But in recent games, especially against Weequahic, we came together and starting passing [the ball] more and started scoring. We won that game comfortably I think.”

When Patch spoke with Singer last Thursday before the No. 2 Pioneers faced No. 10 Bloomfield Tech in the quarterfinals, Singer was confident his team would win.

“We watched film on [Weequahic] yesterday against Weehawkin and they look pretty solid and it should be a good game tonight,” Singer said last Thursday. “I think we should win tonight and after that, I don’t know who we’re be playing but we definitely have a tough road to the sectional final.”

Unfortunately, the Pioneers were knocked out of the state tournament The loss ends a season where the Pioneers won 19 games and finished with a tie for first in the conference with two other schools.

“I think we had a good season. We played a lot of good teams and we have a pretty good record,” Singer said. “There weren’t many teams where we weren’t in the game.”

Singer recalled two games where the team didn’t play that well, including Roselle catholic, which is one of the top 20 teams in the state, and Rahway, which is a quick team.

“Every other team we’ve played, we’ve always been in the game and we got lot of wins this season so I think we had a great season,” Singer said.

When we asked Singer if he has accomplished any personal goals this season, he said, “I like to help the team as much as possible, score if I can [and] get assists.”

Looking ahead, Singer has an idea of where he may attend college next fall.

“I haven’t committed anywhere, but I’m looking at St. Joe’s in Philadelphia so that’s probably where I’m going to end up going,” Singer said. “I’m still waiting to hear from a couple schools.”

Singer, who also , may play one or both sports on the club level in college.

Congratulations, Laura and Justin!

— Thomas Harrigan contributed to this report.

Note: Patch's Athletes of the Week normally runs on Friday afternoons.