There have been impressive stretches of success during the past half century in terms of teams having their runs with repeat appearances in the latter stages of the Essex County Girls Basketball Tournament.
The top performer was Shabazz, under the direction of longtime coach Vanessa Watson, with its record 21 ECT finals and 17 titles. Joanna Wright’s Columbia teams in the 1990s, Jim White’s Bloomfield squads from the 1980s, and other impressive stretches by teams such as Clifford Scott, Immaculate and University, which has appeared in 11 finals, all come to mind.
Newark Tech and coach Keith Jefferson won a couple of titles in recent years as has current state-ranked West Orange, including last year’s crown achieved with a narrow win vs. Immaculate which was appearing in its sixth straight final with three titles under coach Jimmy Kreie, before the Montclair Catholic school closed its doors for good this past June.
All that time, dating back to the start of the girls’ hoops ECT in 1975 Caldwell has never been a No. 1 seed or won a county tourney title.
Could that change this year as the undefeated Chiefs (14-0 overall and 7-0 in the highly-competitive Super Essex Conference-American Division) have been selected as the top seed in the field as a total of 38 teams are set to get started in both the traditional ECT field with the first 24 schools involved, and the second-year Essex Invitational Tournament starting with the next 14 schools and adding eight more following the preliminary round action (see full bracket on ‘Page 2’).
Following the Chiefs among the top 5 teams to watch in this year’s 51st ECT are 2-West Orange (15-3), which is the defending champion; 3-Arts (13-3), 4-University (11-5) and 5-Glen Ridge (9-8).
The top 8 seeds have a bye into this Saturday’s (Jan. 31) first round at the higher seed’s home court.
Caldwell is a proverbial ‘New Kid On The Block’ when it comes to pursuing a berth in the latter stages of the ECT. There was last winter’s 26-4 squad that reached the North 2, Group 2 state sectional final and was a perfect 10-0 in going undefeated in the SEC’s second division, the Liberty; however, the Chiefs were handled quite decisively by University in the ECT quarterfinals.
This season’s team, despite still being extremely young, is a year older, wiser and more dangerous with a defensive-minded and tenacious squad ,which despite not having a ton of size inside, has great athleticism and even better chemistry.
Junior guard Addy Keenan, who already has a Division I offer from Wagner, and senior forward Tea Fiore, who both eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau this season, are the team’s top two ‘go-to’ scorers in the lineup; however, there are superb role players and key defenders in Tea’s sister, Fallon Fiore and other sophomores in starters Aailyah Rodriguez and Elena Kearns and key reserve Adriana Brown. Depth is also provided with senior Kaci Pace and freshman Scarlett Schlomann.
“We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished so far, and that’s a credit to our players and thew way they compete every day,” said eighth-year head coach Amanda Keenan, who is Addy’s mom. “Nothing changes for us.
“Our mindset is still to prepare the same way, play together, and take it one game at a time.”
The Chiefs will host the survivor of the preliminary round contest between 17-East Orange Campus and 16-North Star Academy in this Saturday’s Round of 16 opening round.
