NUTLEY – The Nutley High School girls’ varsity basketball team began its defense of the state North Jersey Section 2, Group 3 tournament title with a 73-67 first-round win over Cranford, the newly-crowned Union County Tournament champion, Monday, Feb. 29 at Cranford.
Senior guard and McDonald’s All-American Blair Watson put on another incredible show, scoring a career-high 48 points to power the 11th-seeded Raiders, who improved to 19-7.
NHS outscored sixth-seeded Cranford, 18-9, in the second quarter to take a 32-21 lead. The Raiders led 48-36 at the end of the third quarter.
Cranford, which defeated Roselle Catholic to win the Union County Tournament title just a day earlier, mounted a rally in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders held on for the win.
Freshman guard Courtney Wilde scored 15 points for the Raiders, who will visit third-seeded West Morris in the quarterfinals on March 2.
The win was the Raiders’ fourth straight and sixth in the past seven games, with the one loss coming against Shabazz in the Essex County Tournament quarterfinals.
Watson has enjoyed many milestones this season. She first became the girls’ all-time leading scorer for the Raiders, breaking 1999 graduate Kim DiVincenzo Root’s record of 1,602 points, after scoring 27 points in the 59-43 home win over Newark Tech on Jan. 5. Twelve days later, she was named a McDonald’s All-American.
Watson then became the all-time leading scorer for NHS basketball, both boys and girls, surpassing 1988 graduate Marty Higgins’ record of 1,855 points, when she scored 24 points in the 45-41 win at Fair Lawn on Feb. 8.
Watson scored her 2,000th career point in the 49-34 home win over Marlboro on Feb. 22.
Watson now has 2,115 career points. In 25 games played, Watson has 629 points for an average of 25.16 points per game this season.
Watson, who will continue her career at the University of Maryland, will play in the McDonald’s All-American Game on March 30 at the United Center in Chicago, Ill.
Maryland, which went to the Final Four in each of the last two years, clinched the Big 10 Conference regular-season championship after beating Minnesota, 110-77, Sunday, Feb. 28, College Park, Md.
Maryland, with a 27-3 record, is ranked No. 6 in the nation in the Associated Press poll.
About the Author
