EAST ORANGE, NJ — The East Orange Campus High School girls basketball team is entering a new era.
The Lady Jaguars will be led by first-year head coach Robert Spence, who is quite familiar with East Orange basketball. Spence was a coach for the East Orange Recreation eighth-grade boys and girls all-star traveling teams.
Spence replaces longtime head coach Derrick Johnson, who led the program to numerous Essex County and state sectional tournament titles. Johnson had been the head coach since the 2003-04 season, although he took a hiatus from coaching for one season during that stretch.
Spence is looking forward to the season, which tips off Thursday, Dec. 15, as the Jaguars visit Columbia High School in Maplewood at 7 p.m.
“I’m excited,” said Spence, a 1993 Bloomfield High School graduate, in a phone interview with the Record-Transcript. “I am ready to go. I am appreciative that a lot of the seniors came back. Sometimes it’s difficult when you get a new coach and it’s your last year, but they decided to come back and play, so I am appreciative of that.”
Spence is a physical education teacher who was at Hart Middle School Complex for over 20 years before moving on to EOCHS this year. He has emphasized to his players the importance of academics. “I’m an advocate of education,” he said. “If you are fortunate to get a scholarship, take advantage of it and don’t waste it, because education is key.”
Despite having four seniors, this year’s EOCHS girls basketball team is relatively young. The senior captains are forward Imani Blucher and point guard Simone Spinner, who are both starters.
The Jaguars will start two freshmen — 6-foot-2 center Kerla Mathurin and forward Ariana McKinnon. Senior guard Jazmine Harris rounds out the starting lineup.
Other players who will see action are senior guard Milani Hill, sophomore guard Azire Mistretta and junior center Princess Gary-Boss.
The team’s athleticism is a major strength, noted Spence. The coach also is impressed by the players’ intelligence.
“They are very smart. Their basketball IQ is very high,” Spence said.
The team’s youth bodes well for the future.
“I’m excited for the future, because we have a lot of young talent,” Spence said.
The Jaguars, coming off a 15-9 season, want to continue the program’s winning tradition.
“We want to be very competitive,” Spence said. “When people play East Orange, they know they will get a (tough) game from us.”
The assistant coaches are Shaleah Mitchell, who will also coach the junior varsity team, and Ayesha Barkley, who will coach the freshman team.
Notes: Johnson led the Jaguars to three Essex County Tournament finals appearances. They lost to Shabazz in the 2013 final and won back-to-back ECT titles in 2015 and 2016, beating Montclair 51-32 and Newark Tech 42-40.
The Jaguars also reached a state sectional final six times in Johnson’s 17 seasons at the helm. The state tournament was canceled in the 2020-21 season due to the pandemic.
In Johnson’s third season at the helm, 2005-06, they lost to Bayonne 51-46 in the North 2, Group 4 sectional final to finish 24-4. They won the 2013 North 2, Group 4 sectional title by beating Phillipsburg 48-37, before losing to Paterson Eastside in overtime 42-40 in the Group 4 semifinals to finish 22-6. The following season, they lost to Franklin 50-43 in the North 2, Group 4 sectional final and finished 18-9.
But the Jaguars were dominant the following two seasons. In the 2014-15 season, they won the ECT title and won the North 1, Group 4 sectional title by beating Paterson Eastside 50-40, before losing to Franklin 64-62 in the Group 4 state semifinals to finish 25-3.
The next season, they won the ECT title and defeated Franklin 43-27 to win the North 2, Group 4 sectional title. They then lost to Paterson Kennedy 51-47 in the Group 4 state semifinals and finished 24-4.
The Jaguars reached a state sectional final for the fifth straight season and made a bid for their third straight title but lost to Morristown 45-35 in the North 1, Group 4 final to finish 17-9 in the 2016-17 season.
Johnson took a hiatus from coaching the team for the 2017-18 season, as he served as acting EOCHS athletic director. He returned to coach the team the following season.
Johnson finished with a career record of 301-172 for a .636 winning percentage with only three seasons under .500. He is currently an assistant coach for the Hillside High School girls basketball team and works in the Roselle Park School District.
Photo Courtesy of Robert Spence
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