Pope John, Sparta to meet for H/W/S girls title
Sparta. Pope John XXIII Regional High School and Sparta High School advanced to the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex girls basketball championship while the Kinnelon/Jefferson/Sparta hockey tri-op earned a berth in the Mennen Cup final.
Hamburg /
| 16 Feb 2026 | 12:37
The Pope John and Sparta High girls basketball teams will tangle for the title.
The top-seeded Lady Lions and third-seeded Sparta each won their respective Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon to set up a clash between the two in the 16th annual tri-county championship game on Friday, Feb. 20, at Hackettstown High at 7 p.m.
Sparta is making its fifth appearance in the finals in the last six tournaments and is seeking its second straight title and fifth overall. The Lady Spartans defeated Pope John in the finals in 2022, ‘23 and last year.
Pope John won its only H/W/S crown two years ago, when it bested Voorhees, 45-36.
On Saturday, Pope John (17-4) defeated fourth-seeded Hunterdon Central, 65-37, at Wallkill Valley High in Hamburg.
Mia Washington led the way with 30 points, six rebounds, three steals and two assists. Natalija Novkovic had 14 points, five rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal with Rose Kraus adding 11 points, three rebounds and two steals.
Washington, who was the MVP of the H/W/S in 2024, is averaging 35.0 points in two tournament games this winter.
Sparta (18-5) won its 11th straight game with a 51-44 victory over second-seeded Voorhees on Saturday in Hamburg.
Kaelyn Sabanosh led the way with a career-best 20 points followed by Isabella Van Winkle (eight points), Moira Sweeney (seven points) and Kayla Barreau (seven points).
In the only meeting between the schools this season, Pope John came away with a 37-33 victory on Jan. 15.
Ice Hockey
Braydon Sisco and Eddie Brown each totaled two goals and two assists and Maximo Rodriguez added a goal and two assists to lift the third-seeded Kinnelon/Jefferson/Sparta tri-op squad to a 5-4 victory over second-seeded Randolph in the semifinal round of the Mennen Cup on Monday, Feb. 9, at Mennen Arena in Morristown.
KJS United (11-6-2) was scheduled to meet top-seeded Morristown-Beard for the championship on Wednesday, Feb. 18, at Mennen Arena at 7:45 p.m.
Alex Roslan, Mathew Stack, Cody Sutton and Cormac Gibbons each added an assist against Randolph with goalie Stefan Filewicz finishing with 28 saves.
Brown (20 goals, 34 assists), Sisco (28 goals, 18 assists), Gibbons (16 goals, nine assists), Sutton (seven goals, 12 assists), Rodriguez (seven goals, 10 assists), Michael Pandiscia (five goals, 11 assists) and Roslan (one goal, 10 assists) lead the team in scoring.
