WEST ORANGE, NJ – Don’t be fooled by the low seed. The West Orange High School girls’ varsity basketball team is as dangerous as any team going into the postseason.
The Mountaineers, seeded ninth, will visit eighth-seeded Randolph in the first round of the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group 4 state tournament on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.
The winner will face the winner of No. 16 seed Bloomfield and No. 1 seed Morristown in the quarterfinals on March 1.
The Mountaineers brought a 10-game winning streak into its Essex County Tournament semifinal matchup with second-seeded Newark Tech on Feb. 21 at Weequahic HS in Newark. One of the wins in the streak was against Newark Tech eight days earlier in a Super Essex Conference-American Division game at WOHS.
Unfortunately the third-seeded Mountaineers came up short in their bid to reach the ECT final for the second year in a row as they fell to Newark Tech, 52-40.
Junior guard Mya Bembry had 18 points; senior guard Nahtali Simpson had 13 points; junior guard Bianca Fede had four; freshman guard Kaya Schultz added three and senior forward Madison Mitchell chipped in two for WOHS.
The game was tied 15-15 at the end of the first quarter before Newark Tech outscored WOHS, 15-7, in the second quarter for a 30-22 halftime lead. The Mountaineers cut it to 38-30 at the end of the third quarter, but Newark Tech maintained control to win.
WOHS moved to an 18-7 record.
The game was a rematch of last year’s ECT championship game won by Newark Tech in overtime in which WOHS was making its first-ever appearance in an ECT final.
The teams split their division meetings this season at their sites. Newark Tech won, 48-45, Jan. 16, and West Orange won, 63-44, Feb. 13.
Newark Tech went on to beat top-seeded University, 71-62, in the ECT final on Saturday, Feb. 24, to win its second straight county title and improve to 19-8.
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