Basketball may be a team sport, but to close out the first week of February, the Bridgewater-Raritan High School girls’ squad put the spotlight on one player.
That distinction went to Bri Cacchio: the lone senior member of Bridgewater-Raritan’s graduating Class of 2026 on her team’s small but tight-knit 10-player roster.
A group Cacchio is leading the way in a program that has continued to improve in her four seasons under head coach Xavier Brooks, who came to Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s campus the same year she did.
She and her teammates celebrated Senior Day before the Panthers’ game against Spotswood High School. As part of an amazing gesture demonstrated by those in attendance on February 7, every player and coach from Bridgewater-Raritan wore a shirt with Cacchio’s name and number on it during pregame warm-ups and a pregame ceremony dedicated to her. During the Panthers’ ensuing contest with Spotswood, multiple spectators in the home stands also wore these shirts in support of the Panthers’ lone four-year varsity starter.
“That was an awesome feeling, because after working hard the past four years, I feel it was a ‘hard work pays off’ moment,” Cacchio said of seeing everyone wear her name on Senior Day.
“It recognizes everything about this program and my personal accomplishments.”
Just from the sea of supporters Cacchio had on her bench and in the stands of Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium alone, one may not realize another key fact about the graduating Class of 2026 senior.
Basketball is actually her second sport.
Though she continues to make an everlasting impact in her last season on the hardwood, Cacchio will soon pick up a bat and glove this spring for what truly will be her final endeavor as a high-school athlete.
Playing softball for Bridgewater-Raritan.
On top of this, Cacchio is officially set to take her softball talents to Rowan University after graduating from Bridgewater-Raritan High School this June.
Understandably so, especially given she has served as an integral part of the Panthers’ defensive infield at third base in her first three softball seasons on campus while boasting a .305 batting average at the plate. Last spring, she also led the Panthers with 21 runs batted in and contributed to Bridgewater-Raritan’s 15-8 record. That season concluded in the state sectional semifinals, saw the Panthers tally their first winning record since 2016-17, and closed out the successful career of longtime head coach Sandy Baranowski, who retired at the conclusion of last school year.
But along with Brooks on the hardwood and Baranowski outdoors, one key member of Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s coaching staff has also guided Cacchio during her journey as a student-athlete.
Her mom has served as an assistant coach on the Panthers’ softball team in each of Cacchio’s previous three seasons.
“They talk about controlling what you can control, communication, and trying to keep a positive mindset,” revealed Bri Cacchio of what she has learned under her coaches’ leadership. “They really stay in the game with us.”
“It helps our energy, and it helps us perform better.”
Even though her future on the softball field after Bridgewater-Raritan was made official on National Signing Day back on November 14, that did not stop Cacchio from stepping onto the basketball court one last time in a Bridgewater-Raritan uniform.
As the lone senior amongst her team’s 10 players, Cacchio leads the way on an up-and-coming roster consisting of three juniors and six sophomores. Through its 23 games played as of February 14, the cutoff date for games counting towards state tournament seeding, not only does Bridgewater-Raritan have a 12-11 record after shutting down West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, 44-23 on Saturday morning.
Cacchio is one of five players who have eclipsed triple digits in points scored so far this season.
This includes her softball teammate in right fielder and sophomore Amanda Ciser, who currently leads Bridgewater-Raritan with 263 points this season and 86 field goals: 47 of them from downtown. Ciser also entered Saturday morning, leading the team with 48 assists, just above sophomore starting point guard Sam Tremarco (46 assists), whose older sister, Angela, played both basketball and softball with Cacchio until graduating from Bridgewater-Raritan High School in 2025.
“I want to see their confidence continue to grow tremendously so they can get out there and play to the best of their abilities,” assessed Brooks of the following steps for his team. “We need to take advantage of our last couple of games and hopefully get us a [state playoff] win. Our season started hot and cold because we have a very young group, and realistically, only one of them in Amanda Ciser had varsity experience coming into this season. Sam Tremarco had her older sister Angela lead the way, so Sam knew the blueprint on how to run our team as a solid point guard and is running with it now. She didn’t get that much varsity experience last year, but she took her nicks and her bumps and is finally coasting, so she knows what she needs to do.”
“She’s leading our team in a variety of ways, shooting the ball well, assisting, and is one of the best defenders on our team.”
Sophomore Safaa Fahkry entered Saturday morning leading the Panthers with 125 rebounds and 36 blocks as part of a quintet of forwards with sophomore Sarah Hurlbut and juniors Maddy Corbitt, Juliet Kohutis, and Sophia Kaschak, all of whom are lockdown defenders.
“Sarah Hurlbut is a straight workhorse for us and does a little bit of everything, including the type of stuff that doesn’t always show on the stat sheet,” Brooks added of Hurlbut (71 rebounds, 18 blocks), who serves as the Panthers’ top defensive interior presence behind Fakhry to go with Ciser’s 89 rebounds and 30 steals in between entering Saturday morning.
“She is willing to play the best offensive player on the other side of the court.”
Sophomore Erin Brocklehurst commands the Panthers’ offense as their second point guard and is one of six Panthers players who entered Saturday morning with 20 or more steals: a category led by Tremarco’s 38 swipes. Sophomore Sydney Albano rounds out Bridgewater-Raritan’s 10-player roster and has shown potential as another dangerous sharpshooter, particularly given that she has erupted for the majority of her three-point baskets over the past few weeks alone.
For a defensive-minded team in Bridgewater-Raritan, its offense blossoming at the right time late in the season may also further make the Panthers a team no one wants to see in the state tournament.
“Erin Brocklehurst and Sydney Albano are outstanding sophomores who are going to continue to develop,” Brooks revealed. “Sydney played J.V. the majority of last season and a little bit of varsity this year, but recently, she’s been on a roll, hitting two to three three-pointers a game. She’s assisting the ball well and is playing well on defense, so her confidence is shooting up well. Erin is doing a great job assisting the ball for us and being that secondary point guard to give Sam a break, score a little bit, and get our forwards involved.”
“A lot of Erin’s assists are her getting the ball into the paint and our big dogs.”
A great job by Bridgewater-Raritan, with Cacchio leading the way on the court.
However, it took a lot of hard work and dedication on her end over her time on campus for the Panthers to reach this point.
“The people definitely make an impact,” praised Cacchio of everyone around her. “It’s very fun, especially watching this program grow from being 2-22 freshman year to now winning more, and the culture is so much better.”
“It’s amazing to watch that grow, and it’s a great environment to be in.”
Cacchio’s first taste of victory in a Bridgewater-Raritan uniform came in the Panthers’ sixth girls’ basketball game that 2022-23 season at Montgomery High School, December 29, 2022, when the Panthers won a 41-30 meeting away from home in Skillman. Afterwards, Bridgewater-Raritan fell in 17 consecutive games, including 15 by double digits in this span. Still, the Panthers closed out that campaign on the strongest of notes with what ended up being Brooks and Cacchio’s first home victory.
That was not only a 48-20 rout of McNair High School in the Panthers’ 2022-23 finale on February 13, 2023.
Winning the final game of any high school sports season is a rare feat alone, but this particular victory foreshadowed the vision she and her program’s skipper have since established.
Defense first, especially given the Panthers have allowed even fewer than 20 points multiple times in victories this season.
Bridgewater-Raritan improved to 5-20 the following season: Cacchio’s sophomore year. While she is the Panthers’ lone senior in 2025-26, there was also just one senior on that team who had an impact on Brooks’ program and Cacchio’s growth.
Aubrey Bartolotto: a graduate of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2024 and a regular starter for the Panthers at that time.
“Bri has been a part of a lot of different senior classes,” recapped Brooks of his initial years at Bridgewater-Raritan. “Even before Aubrey, we had a great senior class the year before with [Bridgewater-Raritan High School Class of 2023 graduates] Amanda Smith, Morgan Cook, Briana Flatt, and Jackie Maloney. Bri had those four good girls who led by example, and then seeing Aubrey as the lone senior was a huge eye-opening experience for her. A lot of people don’t want to go through things by themselves. They want to have friends with them, so it’s kind of unique being the only senior. Aubrey did a great job of embracing that, being a leader, leading by example on the court, but then mostly off the court.”
“This led the example for Bri, and she kind of knew the outline for how to go about it.”
In Cacchio’s junior year, Bridgewater-Raritan had six seniors in 2024-25: Gianna Callari, Emily Leppert, Kaitlin Leppert, Jessica Paxson, Madison Raub, and Angela Tremarco. This was the most significant number of seniors Brooks had in a single season to date as the Panthers’ head coach, and Bridgewater-Raritan surged all the way up to a 10-15 record last year in a season that culminated with the Panthers’ first state tournament berth since 2021-22.
While the Panthers had more victories last year than in the previous two seasons combined, Bridgewater-Raritan has eclipsed last year’s victory total in Cacchio’s senior year.
Now sitting at a 12-11 record with three regular-season games remaining and at least one state-tournament contest guaranteed, should the Panthers win at least two more games, they will finish with their first winning record since 2017-18.
In addition to a multitude of statistics favoring the Panthers, intangibles have also made a massive difference in Cacchio’s last ride on the basketball court.
“She holds people accountable the right way and at the appropriate times,” praised Brooks of Cacchio’s leadership. “She brings us together when the wheels are kind of falling off in games and gets us back in check. But while also doing that, she knows how to have fun with everybody to make them really understand that basketball season is going to go by quickly. You only have three months at a time you’re with your friends, but after that, you have to make the most of it.”
“I’m very grateful for that.”
Even factoring in what ended up being a 61-48 loss on Senior Day to Spotswood, which saw junior guard Gabby Hill tally her 1,000th career point inside the Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium, the Panthers hold a record of 11-6 against public high school teams.
A couple of their six losses amongst these games also came without Bridgewater-Raritan at full strength.
These are dangerous numbers that bode well for its public-school bracket in the upcoming state playoffs, which currently has Bridgewater-Raritan slotted as the No. 7 seed in the NJSIAA North New Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 Girls’ Basketball Tournament.
As part of Cacchio’s senior season, which has already seen Bridgewater-Raritan win its first game in the Somerset County Girls’ Basketball Tournament in Brooks’ tenure, when the Panthers rolled to a 57-14 victory over Manville High School in the opening round, her squad is on pace to make even more history.
This includes what is projected to be Bridgewater-Raritan’s first home playoff game in Brooks’ tenure as head coach and first postseason game at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium overall since 2017-18, when the Panthers had a roster that consisted of 14 players who were all juniors or seniors, advanced to the state sectional semifinals, and finished with a record of 19-8.
A fantastic job by the Panthers’ 10 players, whose returners are set up to have a bright future at Bridgewater-Raritan no matter how this season ends.
“As they get older, everybody is maturing in a basketball sense and just understanding IQ on the court as well,” Cacchio shared of the future of Bridgewater-Raritan girls’ basketball.
“You can tell they’re definitely growing to be better basketball players at such a young age.”
This turnaround by Bridgewater-Raritan serves as one essential reminder.
Anything is possible with hard work and dedication – traits amongst many that Cacchio has displayed as Brooks’ first-ever four-year varsity starter.
“Bri has worked with me through the ups and downs,” reflected Brooks. “We’ve gone from two wins to five wins, to 10 wins. Now, we are at 12 wins and counting. It just shows the commitment and her work through all of this. A lot of kids might see two wins and be done with basketball, especially with it being a second sport for her.”
“She stuck with it, came to summer workouts, and is a leader in a variety of ways.”
The most recent playoff victory for Bridgewater-Raritan (12-11) came away from home on March 3, 2020, when the Panthers upset seventh-seeded Elizabeth High School, 48-40, as the No. 10 seed in the opening round of that year’s state sectional tournament. That squad fell at the second-seeded Bayonne High School in the quarterfinal round, 43-30.
To round off Cacchio’s final regular-season games as a basketball player for Bridgewater-Raritan, the Panthers will get three valuable state-tournament tune-ups on their home court: one each against teams from the Greater Middlesex Conference, Shore Conference, and Skyland Conference. Next up will be a home matchup against Carteret High School (13-9) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 17, followed by Holmdel High School (8-14) at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, February 19.
Bridgewater-Raritan will then serve as host to a massive regular-season finale against reigning Group 4 state champion Hillsborough High School (16-6) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, February 21, before the state tournament officially begins.
“This year is a growing year for our sophomores, but they’ve done a great job in being battle-tested by playing against the top teams,” recapped Brooks of the Panthers’ schedule. “They have also played against teams that are at our level, and most importantly, have been winning games. We have a few big wins over Hunterdon Central, Watchung Hills, and Ridge. Now, since they’re battle-tested and they know what they have to do to win, junior year is going to be even better, but everybody’s got to watch out for their senior year.”
“This group of girls is going to take off that year, so I’m super excited for that.”
While the Skyland Conference is loaded with state championship contenders from public schools, Hunterdon Central, Franklin, and Hillsborough will each compete in the Central, Group 4, state sectional playoffs.
Notably, Hunterdon Central (15-8) will be the No. 4 seed in this bracket, and Bridgewater-Raritan has a 42-36 road victory in both teams’ lone regular-season meeting on December 18.
The Panthers, Watchung Hills, and Ridge will be among the teams in the 16-team North 2, Group 4, state sectional playoff field, but Bridgewater-Raritan has victories over both of these teams.
Including one that will also be the Panthers’ first opponent in the state playoffs.
No. 7-seeded Bridgewater-Raritan (12-11) will then make its state tournament debut against No. 10-seeded Watchung Hills (10-12) at home on a date to be determined but no later than Tuesday, February 24, at Vaughn Stapleton Gymnasium in Bridgewater. The Panthers edged the Warriors, 50-49, on the road in their lone regular-season meeting in Warren back on January 20.
The winner of this matchup will advance to the state sectional quarterfinals against either No. 15-seeded J.P. Stevens High School (9-14) or No. 2-seeded Westfield High School (17-6) later that week.
“Bri is a huge part of my identity as a coach here at Bridgewater-Raritan, and basketball-wise, she is a great asset to the team,” concluded Brooks of Cacchio, his team’s lone graduating senior after this 2025-26 school year. “She has literally been with me from day one. I remember the first time she walked into our gym for summer workouts, when she was in eighth grade going into her ninth-grade year being this little incoming freshman. Now, I am seeing the woman she has developed into today, and it is an awesome thing from a personal standpoint.”
“I’m very proud of her and looking forward to what she can accomplish.”