Blair Watson leads Nutley HS girls’ basketball team to victories

NUTLEY – The Nutley High School girls’ varsity basketball team defeated Bloomfield and Kearny to improve to a 10-4 record.

Senior guard and McDonald’s All-American Blair Watson scored 22 of her 28 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Lady Raiders past Bloomfield, 51-45, at home on Jan. 29, ending Bloomfield’s eight-game win streak.

Watson also had 10 rebounds, five assists, five blocks and three steals. Freshman guard Courtney Wilde had 11 points; sophomore forward Sydney Kunz had five; freshman guard Rebecca Granata had four and junior guard Jen Callaghan had three.

Bloomfield moved to an 11-2 record.

The next day, the Raiders defeated Kearny, 46-21, at home.   Watson had 20 points, 13 rebounds, six assists, six blocks and four steals for NHS, which led 39-4 entering the fourth quarter. Granata had seven points; Kunz had five and Callaghan had four.

Callaghan and Granata provided great defense to help fuel the win, said NHS head coach Larry Mitschow.

Watson became the NHS girls’ basketball all-time leading scorer  this season. She has 1,799 career points. The all-time leading scorer is Marty Higgins with 1,855 points. Higgins graduated in 1988.

On Monday night, Feb.1, the Raiders received the No. 5 seed in the 42nd Essex County Tournament. It is one of the highest seeds the Raiders have received in a very long time. The Raiders have a preliminary-round bye and will play host to a first-round game on Feb. 13.

East Orange Campus, the defending champion, received the No. 1 seed. Newark Academy is the No. 2 seed; University is No. 3 and Shabazz is No. 4.

“I am very happy with the seed we received last night,” said Mitschow on Tuesday night. “We have a home game in the counties, which is great for our players and our fans. It will be a tough road to the finals, with the likes of Shabazz and East Orange on our side of the bracket. If we play hard and limit our mistakes, I think we can be in the game with any team in the county. We would love to reach the finals, and have a chance to win a county title, something Nutley hasn’t done in almost 40 years.”