Glen Ridge HS girls basketball team advances to North 2, Group 1 final

GLEN RIDGE, NJ — The Glen Ridge HIgh School girls basketball team has shown tremendous resiliency.

The Ridgers started the season at 1-4. But their perseverance has paid off with an appearance in the state sectional final for the first time in 17 years.

The third-seeded Ridgers defeated 15th-seeded Newark Arts, 37-32, on March 6 to advance to the North Jersey Section 2, Group 1 state tournament championship game. GRHS, under head coach Joe Mazzarella, will visit top-seeded New Providence in the final on March 10 at 7 p.m.

It marked the Ridgers’ first North 2, Group 1 final since the 2002-03 season when the team lost to Butler.

Senior Haleigh Pine had 11 points, senior Michaila Dowd had nine, senior Sarah Cullinan and sophomore Amayah Melbourne each had seven, and sophomore Elettra Giantomenico had three for the Ridgers, who improved to 14-13 on the season. It was the Ridgers’ first sectional semifinal since the 2009-10 season. GRHS avenged last year’s loss to Arts in the North 2, Group 1 quarterfinals.

The Ridgers defeated sixth-seeded Shabazz, 39-33, in the quarterfinals on March 4 at GRHS. Giantomenico had 12 points and six rebounds,  Dowd had 10 points, five rebounds and three steals, Melbourne had six points and 11 rebounds, Pine had five points, and Cullinan had five points and four assists.

In the first round, GRHS defeated No. 14 Dayton, 41-23, on March 2 at GRHS.

New Providence defeated No. 16 seed Palisades Park 46-5, in the first round; ninth-seeded Whippany Park, 46-21, in the quarterfinals; and fourth-seeded Belvidere, 49-33, in the semifinals to improve to 25-3.