WEST ORANGE – Senior forward Candis Ferrell hit two free throws and junior guard Jewel Burnet hit one free throw to lift the eighth-seeded West Orange High School girls’ varsity basketball team to a 49-46 double-overtime win over Bloomfield in the first round of the Essex County Tournament on Feb. 13 at WOHS.
Freshman guard Mya Bembry had 25 points, 13 rebounds and four steals and Burnett had 12 points, five assists and three steals for the Lady Mountaineers, who snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to a 7-12 record. Bloomfield outscored WOHS, 15-7, in the fourth quarter to tie it 45-45 to force overtime. Each team scored one point in the first overtime. Bloomfield moved to 14-4.
WOHS will visit top-seeded East Orange Campus in the quarterfinals on Feb. 20.
The Mountaineers will face Bloomfield again in the state North Jersey Section 1, Group 4 tournament in the first round on March 1. WOHS is the No. 14 seed and Bloomfeld is the No. 3 seed.
In earlier action, the Mountaineers lost at Millburn, 46-39, Feb. 9. WOHS led 22-14 at halftime. Millburn outscored the Mountaineers, 12-8, in the third quarter and 20-9 in the fourth quarter. Bembry had 10 points; sophomore forward Aliya Perkins had nine and Burnett had eight.
WOHS lost to Morristown, 50-45, Feb. 11 at home. Bembry had 15 points and Burnett had 10.
Essex County Tournament
First round
1-East Orange Campus defeated 16-Caldwell, 75-47
8-West Orange defeated 9-Bloomfield, 49-46
5-Nutley defeated 12-Columbia, 53-15
4-Newark Shabazz defeated 13-Orange, 54-44
2-Newark Academy defeated 15-Mount Saint Dominic, 42-24
7-Newark Tech defeated 10-Bloomfield Tech, 74-57
11-Millburn defeated 6-Montclair, 61-52
3-University defeated 14-Barringer, 76-52
Quarterfinals, Feb. 20
8-West Orange at 1-East Orange Campus
5-Nutley at 4-Newark Shabazz
7-Newark Tech at 2-Newark Academy
11-Millburn at 3-University
North Jersey Section 1, Group 4 tournament
First round
March 1
16-Kearny at 1-Morristown
9-Montclair at 8-Fair Lawn
12- Memorial at 5-North Bergen
13-Mount Olive at 4-Kennedy
14-West Orange at 3-Bloomfield
11-Morris Knolls at 6-Eastside
10-Randolph at 7-Livingston
15-Hackensack at 2-Ridgewood