WEST ORANGE, NJ – The postseason always is filled with excitement.
The West Orange High School girls’ varsity basketball team experienced such exhilaration in back-to-back games to advance to the NJSIAA North Jersey Section 1, Group 4 tournament championship game.
Junior guard Mya Bembry, arguably one of the best girls’ basketball players in the area, hit one of two free throws with 11 seconds left to lift the ninth-seeded Mountaineers to a 46-45 upset over top-seeded and defending championship Morristown in the quarterfinals March 1 at Morristown. Morristown missed a shot at the buzzer to end its season at 20-4.
Bembry finished with 16 points, including a whopping 12 free throws, to go along with 12 rebounds and two assists. Senior guard Nahtali Simpson had 13 points and five steals, junior guard Bianca Fede had eight points, five assists and three steals; freshman guard Mackenzie Dover had six points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals and senior forward Cassidy Ferrell pulled down 15 rebounds. Senior forward Aliya Perkins added two points and junior guard Kaija Jones added a free throw.
The Mountaineers then knocked off fifth-seeded Ridgewood, 67-59, in triple overtime on Saturday night, March 3, in the semifinals at Ridgewood. Bembry had 22 points, 17 rebounds and five rebounds and Simpson had 25 points, 10 rebounds and four steals for the Mountaineers, who improved to a 21-7 record.
West Orange, under head coach Caniece Williams, will host 11th-seeded Hackensack in the championship game on March 6 at 7 p.m. The winner will advance to the Group 4 state semifinal against the North 2 champion winner between Franklin and Watchung Hills. Franklin is the defending Group 4 and state Tournament of Champions winner. The Group 4 state championship will be Sunday, March 11, at the RWJ Barnabas Healthcare Arena on the campus of Toms River North HS.
Trailing 24-22 at halftime, West Orange outscored Ridgewood, 16-11, in the third quarter for a 38-35 lead. Ridgewood outscored the Mountaineers, 12-9, in the fourth quarter to tie it 47-47 and force overtime. Both teams scored two points in the first overtime and four points in the second overtime. West Orange then took control in the third overtime and outscored Ridgewood, 14-6, to win it.
Dover had nine points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals; freshman guard Kaya Schultz had five points and two assists; Ferrell pulled down eight rebounds; and Fede, Jones and Perkins each scored two points.
Bembry had 13 points, 15 rebounds, six steals and five assists; and Fede had 14 points in the 49-40 upset win over No. 8 seed Randolph in the first round on Feb. 27 at Randolph. Schultz had nine points; Dover had seven points; Simpson posted four points and seven rebounds and Perkins added two points.
Hackensack defeated No. 10 seed Paterson Kennedy, 62-40, in the semifinals to improve to a 12-15 record.
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