WEST ORANGE- It could be a decade, or even a dozen years from now considering both college, medical school plus the required time as a resident in order to then be a full-fledged anesthesiologist, but one can expect that West Orange’s Rhyan Watt will be ready for any challenges along the way.
Whether it is indeed fulfilling her dream of one day filling the pivotal role in medicine involving carefully monitoring a patient’s vital signs while preparing for the operating room, or being a standout facilitator in the success of the West Orange girls basketball team, the 5-foot-7 junior guard can be counted on to be composed and prepared at crunch time.
A third-team all-state selection last winter when she led the Mountaineers to an Essex County Tournament championship and a berth in the Group 4 state final opposite Hillsborough, Watt has been the consummate cool customer when the game is on the line.
Now, Essex County’s top backcourt performer is preparing to try and lead second-seeded West Orange (23-3, 9-1) to a second straight ECT title when the Mountaineers take on fourth-seeded University (17-7, 4-5) at 3 p.m., Saturday, in Tarnoff Gymnasium.
For her recent efforts, which included scoring all 15 of her points in the second half of a 38-33 ECT quarterfinal victory over. third-seeded Arts following a game-high 24 points in an important 64-53 triumph vs. Super Essex Conference-American Division co-leader Caldwell (20-2, 8-1), Watt is the latest Parisi Fairfield/Sideline Chatter Athlete of the Week.
Possessing a 4.4 GPA to go along with her team-leading 18 points and 6.9 rebounds per game, Watt is the consummate student-athlete.
When her team trailed Arts until midway through the third quarter of last Saturday’s ECT quarters, Watt and company remained focused on the ultimate mission, regardless of the fact that the contest had started out as a rather sloppy and poor offensive showing by both teams.
“We struggled early on against Arts - no doubt about that - but when it mattered most, we made the stops we needed to, grabbed key rebounds, and scored the points we had to have, and that’s all that matters in the end,” said the personable West Orange floor general. “A lot of us went through this type of tournament experience last year and we also know this court well, which helps.
“Now, we have to be ready to face a very good University team which has two very good ‘bigs’. We’ve been watching film, analyzing what we have to do to try and slow down ‘Ari’ (Arielle Edwards) and Brianna (Holt), and then it’s up to us as a team – not just me – to make sure we hit our shots.”
The 6-foot-1 Edwards, an in-season junior transfer from Hudson Catholic, made her 2025-2026 debut with University just two weeks ago (Feb. 5), leading her team with 17 points and 8 rebounds, including helping to ignite a late run in a narrow 45-40 Mountaineers victory in Newark.
Holt, a powerful 6-1 senior, managed a ‘double-double’ with 11 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out with 5:35 left in the fourth quarter of her team’s narrow 48-46 ECT quarterfinal win vs. top-seeded Caldwell.
It will be University’s pair of quality ‘bigs’ looking to set the tone vs. West Orange’s guard-strong lineup spearheaded by Watt and senior teammate London Caldwell (14.7 ppg), the Siena-bound impact transfer from Immaculate Conception.
Although the Mountaineers graduated a pair of Division I players off last season’s Group 4 runner-up squad with star center Ayana Karriem now playing for North Carolina A&T and guard Kyley Gary-Grayson at Coppin State, the current squad might be a deeper unit with veteran senior guards Kennedy Curry and Jordyn Batts providing steady play while contributing in a number of ways on both ends of the floor that don’t always show up on the stat line, while talented sophomore Taraji Muhammad (7.4 ppg) continues to raise her game and is the team’s third-leading scorer. The Mountaineers’ inside game is boosted with the continued solid efforts of seniors Lynn Charles and Tyonna Barnes along with junior Elianna Dennis.
