Tyara McQueen, who helped propel Roselle Catholic High School’s girls’ basketball team to a Union County Tournament championship in 2018, will continue her academic and basketball career at St. Peter’s University. 

A three-year starter for the Lions, McQueen averaged 13.1 points and 4.5 assists per game, including six a piece in wins over Rumson-Fair Haven and West Orange. A co-captain (with fellow seniors Victoria Jacobs and Princess Moise), McQueen helped the Lions go 22-5 and finish in the top 25 of NJ.com’s season-ending, statewide rankings. 

Defense was also a calling card for McQueen and she finished the year with 2.5 steals per game, including one to in the final seconds to help secure Roselle Catholic’s 55-52 victory against The Patrick School in the UCT final at Kean University on Feb. 24. 

McQueen was the Union County Player of the Year, according to NJ.com. 

A National Honor Society member, McQueen will play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) for Marc Mitchell, who was hired at St. Peter’s in March after spending the last last nine seasons as head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham in Madison, New Jersey where he won six straight conference titles and claimed a Division III undefeated national championship.

“I chose St. Peter’s because it’s close to home and has pretty much all I was look for in a school,” McQueen said. “And I like the coaching staff.” 

Last fall, McQueen led all Union County soccer players with 25 goals. She completed her soccer career as the No. 2 all-time goal scorer in program history. 

McQueen earned Union County Conference All-Sky recognition in soccer and All-Watchung honors in basketball.

McQueen’s sister, Tyffani McQueen, who helped Roselle Catholic win the 2014 UCT title, will be a senior at Marymount University, a Top 20 Division 3 women’s basketball program in Arlington, Va. 

On Feb. 24, at just about the same time Tyara McQueen and RC secured the UCT title, Tyffani McQueen and Marymount pulled out a last-second, 61-60, victory against Christopher Newport in the Capital Athletic Conference championship game. Marymount and McQueen, who assisted on the game-winning shot, made its third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. 

Victoria Jacobs, Tyara McQueen’s RC teammate and fellow co-captain, Victoria Jacobs, will attend and play basketball at Centenary University in Hackettstown. Jacobs, who played the entire season with an injured shoulder, received All-Watchung recognition from the division coaches.