WEST WINDSOR — The 2025-26 season may not have started out the way the Robbinsville High varsity girls’ basketball team had hoped, but when the dust settled it was very similar to the season before because of their hard work and fun on the court. Even Saturday night when things did not go the 12 th-seeded Ravens’ way in the fourth quarter of their second round NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II Tournament game at Mercer County Community College, head coach Justin Schmid’s young charges saw it as an opportunity to grow. R’ville took a two-point lead into those final eight minutes, but could not stop 13th-seeded Metuchen from putting together a better closing run to pull out a 37-34 victory. So instead of moving on to play at top-seeded Manasquan Tuesday, the Ravens’ season came to a close after a 13-14 campaign. That was just one game off their 13-13 finish of 2024-25 when they still had 1,158-career-point-scorer Ava Aldarelli. When Aldarelli could not play this, her last season because of an off-season injury, it took Robbinsville a bit to find its offense. By the time their 6-10 start headed to the end of January, however, the Ravens switched gears and ended the season with a 7-4 surge that made people take note. “When the season started, I was hoping just to have fun,” R’ville leading scorer Keira Pierini, a 5-foot-7 junior forward, said. “The way things went this was my favorite team in my three years here. Once we got closer, we got better. I learned to enjoy the moment each and every day.” With just two other seniors, the Ravens chiefly relied on a group of about 10-12 underclass players like 5-9 freshman forward Alexa “Lexi” Boss, who became a starter. In their final game yesterday, Boss ended up leading the team in scoring with nine points. Emma Napierkowski, a 5-10 sophomore guard, added eight points, and Pierini was next in line with seven points. “We needed to stay together this season,” said Boss, who is the younger of two sisters on the team, along with 5-10 Julia, a junior forward. “I was not really concerned with being a freshman. I knew I was going to come out and give all I had.” That was definitely evident playing the very evenly matched Bulldogs (15-13) Saturday. Behind the game’s high scorer, senior forward Victoria Zaniecki (16 points), plus 10 more points from junior swing Sammie Powers, Metuchen had a 7-6 lead after one quarter, which grew to 22-17 by intermission. The third quarter was a different story as Robbinsville put together a 15-8 rally, led by five points apiece from Pierini and Napierkowski, to take a 32-30 lead into the final eight minutes. But the Bulldogs outscored the Ravens, 7-2, in the fourth quarter to turn the tables. “This season I learned to always savor the moment and to give it my all every game,” Lexi Boss said. “You need to keep a good mindset.” Those b-ball lessons will carry R’ville’s young players far in life as well as on the court. METUCHEN (37) Zaniecki 6-3-16, VanLeeuwen 1-1-3, Pallotta 0-1-1, Powers 5-0-10, CMurphy 1-2-4, Polakowski 0-0-0, MKarunaratne 0-0-0, Armour 1-0-3. Totals — 14-7-37. ROBBINSVILLE (34) Singh 2-1-5, Leeds 0-0-0, Pierini 3-0-7, JBoss 0-0-0, Godwin 2-0-5, Griffin 0-0-0, Napierkowski 3-0-8, ABoss 4-1-9. Totals — 14-2-34. Metuchen (15-13)                      7    15      8    7    —    37 Robbinsville(13-14)                   6    11    15    2    —    34 3-point goals — Zaniecki, Armour (M), Pierini, Godwin, Napierkowski 2 (R). ...read more read less