East Orange Campus HS girls basketball team seeks state tourney success; drops 46-44 heartbreaker to West Orange in ECT

EAST ORANGE, NJ – The East Orange Campus High School girls varsity basketball team hopes to make a good run in the postseason.

The ninth-seeded Jaguars will visit eighth-seeded Fair Lawn in the first round Feb. 25.

A victory would most likely give head coach Derrick Johnson’s team another shot at West Orange. The winner will face either top-seeded West Orange or No. 16 seed Bergen Tech.

The Jaguars dropped a heartbreaker to West Orange, 46-44, in the Essex County Tournament quarterfinals Saturday, Feb. 16, at West Orange.

EOCHS, seeded sixth, jumped out to an 18-10 lead at the end of the first quarter. West Orange responded with an 18-4 second quarter for a 28-22 halftime lead. East Orange cut the deficit to 37-36 at the end of the third quarter, but third-seeded West Orange held on for the win.

Senior guard Lakel Willis had a game-high 19 points with five rebounds and freshman Triniti Haskins had 13 points, seven rebounds, four blocks and two steals for the Jaguars, who had their five-game winning streak end and moved to an 11-9 record. Sophomore Destiny Battle had seven points with four steals and senior guard Brianna Mills had five points and five steals for EOCHS. West Orange, which improved to 18-3, was led by senior guard and Penn State-bound Mya Bembry’s 18 points and eight rebounds and freshman guard Kiley Capstraw’s 17 points and 12 rebounds.

West Orange won all three meetings with East Orange Campus this season, two in Super Essex Conference-American Division play. In the season opener, WOHS won, 41-30, at East Orange. WOHS won the second meeting, 52-35, Jan. 22 at West Orange.