Nutley HS girls basketball team clinches divisional title

NUTLEY, NJ — The Nutley High School girls basketball team is having a great season.

The Raiders, under head coach Larry Mitschow, clinched the Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division championship with a recent 10-1 mark in the division.

Nutley, the No. 4 seed, took a 13-game winning streak into the Essex County Tournament quarterfinals, but lost to fifth-seeded and defending champion West Orange, 43-41, on Feb. 15 at home to move to an 18-6 record on the season.

The Raiders have been led by senior Abigail Scheidel, who scored her 1,000th career point earlier this season and will continue her basketball career at Muhlenberg College. Other key players for the Raiders are senior forward Jaden Long, sophomore guard Mackenzie Albert, senior forward Sofia Lamond, freshman Liana Minichini, sophomore center Stephanie Luberto and sophomore guard Alex Twomey.

NHS hopes to make a strong run in the postseason. The Raiders are the No. 3 seed in the North Jersey Section 2, Group 3 state tournament and will host No. 14 seed Parsippany Hills on March 2 at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the quarterfinals on March 4 against either No. 6 Mendham or No. 11 Cranford. The semifinals are March 6 and the final is March 10. Chatham is the top seed and Warren Hills is the No. 2 seed.