Trenton Catholic ineligible for girls' basketball tourney

Trenton Catholic Academy, the 2008 girls' basketball Non-Public B state champion, has been ruled ineligible for this year's tournament.

Trenton Catholic had a 9-5 record as of Saturday's cutoff date when teams needed a .500 or better record. However, according to NJSIAA assistant director Larry White, the school failed to comply with the 70 percent rule.

According to NJSIAA rules, a team must play at least 70 percent of its games against New Jersey schools by the cutoff date in any sport.

According to White, Trenton Catholic played five of its 14 games against out-of-state competition, meaning only 65.4 percent of the games were against New Jersey schools.

The same rule is what eliminated High Point from the NJSIAA wrestling tournament, according to White.

Trenton Catholic athletic director Robert Harris said yesterday that his school plans to appeal the decision.

According to White, the seedings, which were posted on the NJSIAA Web site Thursday night, are not official.

"I had to re-seed seven or eight brackets," White said.

He said one of those brackets included the girls' basketball team from West Deptford.

The Eagles were originally left off the South Jersey Group 3 bracket, but did qualify for the tournament with a 10-9 record at the cutoff date.