The numbers 2,000 and 2,038 were within reach. The year 2026 was more important.
For Gloucester Catholic High School basketball forward Jahzara Green, the individual accolades and milestones were there for the taking if she wanted to focus her senior year on chasing records.
But Green decided that a chance to win the program’s first state championship since 1983 was much more important than going for personal glory. Lisa Cermignano’s 33-year-old career scoring record of 2,038 career points remains safe. A 43-year state championship drought is over.
“Yes, I could have gotten 2,000 or I could have broken the record and all these other things, but what matters to me is winning the game,” Green said. “Let’s say I did all that and we didn’t win the state championship game. I would have been so disappointed. It would be for nothing.”
Instead, Green routinely shared the ball with fellow 1,000-point scoring seniors Talia Shumate and Jalyn Moore, as well as sophomore deadly 3-point shooter Amanda Eggers, to achieve a common goal. Green ended up with 1,890 career points, which is the fifth-highest on the program’s scoring list.
“My teammates are great players, so if I can give them the ball when they get hot, that makes me just as happy as me scoring,” said Green, who will play at St. Joseph’s University next year. “We’re all on the same team. When they win, I win.”
Green helped the Rams add a 10th state title to the trophy case by defeating Gill St. Bernard’s, 62-39. It was the program’s first state championship since 1983, when current head coach Lisa Gedaka (formerly Angelotti) was a junior in high school. As a player, Gedaka won state titles her first three seasons at Gloucester Catholic before getting ousted by Wildwood Catholic in the South Jersey championship during her senior year in 1984. And it became a long road to get back to that stage.
After a great playing career at Villanova University, Gedaka returned to coach Gloucester Catholic 37 years ago. During that time, she became a full-time nurse, a wife and a mother of four. But the Rams never made it back to the state championship until last year, losing to Immaculate Conception High School (Montclair) at Rutgers University. Gedaka knew she had all her starters returning for another shot this season.
“Going into this year, I thought we had a pretty good chance, but that’s on paper,” Gedaka said. “You have to have some luck and avoid injuries and the kids have to play well. And they did it today. I’m so happy for my players. That’s where my focus is.”
In all the years leading up to the historic win, Gedaka said she never applied any pressure to herself to win a state title.
“Maybe Lisa in her 20s thought about ‘oh God I need to get a championship.’ But thank God you mature with age,” she said. “You realize it’s never about you and you just coach the kids you have as best you can and try to do the best for them and put them in the best position to be successful.”
Gedaka has the most high school girls basketball coaching wins in South Jersey history at 761 and counting. Each one is special in its own way due to the long-lasting bonds of friendship that were formed with each crop of players that she coached.
“That’s it. If it was driven by championships, I never would have lasted 37 years,” Gedaka said with a laugh. “For me it’s the practices and the teaching and relationships with the kids and watching them out on the court. When I was watching them today, I was like a proud mom. I was like ‘wow, they’re doing it.’ All the work they put in – they are seeing the fruition and the reward from it. For me, it’s totally about the player development and the relationship with the players.”
One particular player changed her whole approach to help the Rams win that big, elusive game.
“I thought Jahzara’s game today and throughout the playoffs showed that the sky is the limit for her,” Gedaka said. “We’re just touching the surface for her. I think what separates her and makes her special is defensively. Her defensive prowess is there all the time and her skill keeps getting better and better.”
After all the smiles, the tears of joy, and a great big hug from her coach, Green couldn’t have been happier after not breaking a school scoring record.
“She has made me the player I am today,” Green said of Gedaka. “Freshman year I was just tall. Now I can do just about anything on the court. She instills confidence in me – in all of us.”
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