Claire McMahon, holding the basketball, and her teammates are all smiles as they celebrate her 1,000th career point milestone.
GLEN RIDGE, NJ – Senior Claire McMahon scored her 1,000th career point to lead the Glen Ridge High School girls basketball team to a 66-30 home win over Montclair Kimberley Academy, Feb. 19, in a Super Essex Conference-Colonial Division game.
McMahon became the fifth girls basketball player in school history to attain the 1,000-point plateau. Needing 10 points, she hit a three-pointer to reach the milestone. She finished with 20 points to up her total to 1,010 points..
McMahon joins Maddie Buttitta (1,354 points, 2004 graduate), Fran Klak (1,303 points, 1981), Andrea Fraser (1,239 points, 2010) and Maddie Buttitta’s sister, Jackie Buttitta (1,212 2001) in the GRHS girls basketball 1,000-point club.
GRHS head coach Joe Mazzarella was ecstatic for McMahon in reaching the milestone.
“It is so well deserved,” wrote Mazzarella in an email to The Glen Ridge Paper and EssexNewsDaily.com. “She is such a hard worker, great leader, on and off the court, and an all-around fantastic young woman. Expectations are always higher for her; her teammates depend on her. I definitely expect a lot from her, and she never disappoints. She’s such a pleasure to coach. Players like Claire make coaching easier. It was a very special night for not only Claire, but for the entire team, and for the basketball community here in Glen Ridge.”
Senior Jenny Lisovicz had 15 points; junior Haleigh Pine had 12 points; freshman Amayah Melbourne had six points; freshman Electtra Giantomenico and senior Zipporah Hommel each had four points; juniors Michaila Dowd had three points and Sarah Cullinan had two points in the win over MKA.
The Ridgers fell to Ridgewood, 52-27, Feb. 21 at home. Lisovicz had 10 points; McMahon had seven points; Melbourne had three points; Cullinan, Dowd, Giantomenico each had two points; and Hommel had one point.
GRHS lost to Verona, 37-28, at home Saturday, Feb. 23, in the final regular season game to move to a 16-10 record. Lisovicz had nine points and McMahon had eight points.
GRHS, seeded third, will host 14th-seeded Whippany Park in the first round of the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 2, Group 1 state tournament Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.
“We’re very pleased to be the 3 seed,” wrote Mazzarella “We’ve worked hard all year to earn such a high seed. Unfortunately, we ended up on the side of the bracket that has Arts and University on it. Obviously, two of the top teams in Group 1 in the state. However, that’s all stuff we can’t control. Sometimes it just shakes out like that. We’ll be ready for whoever comes our way. Whippany Park is our first round match-up and they’ll be a tough test in the first round as well.”
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