Enthusiastic Montclair Coach
Enjoys Work With Young Team

MONTCLAIR- There is no summer league this year for Montclair’s girls basketball team; however, second-year head coach Alisa Wiggins has not been wasting any valuable time during July when players regularly gather with their high school teams to either to face competition in one of the available leagues or simply work on skill development while looking to build team chemistry while eyeing the upcoming winter season.    

“Our girls have been coming to the gym and working on their game as we continue to try and further develop this young group,” said the second-year head coach who was once a Mounties scholastic standout and is a former Division I college player. “While we didn’t really have the available numbers this year for a summer league team we are making sure to get in some good work together.”

Montclair finished 11-15 (5-5 in the Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division) last winter in Wiggins’ first season at the helm after she was picked by Athletic Director Matt Belford to guide her high school alma mater following a successful 2-year stint at BeLovED Charter in Jersey City where she is still a physical education teacher.

The Mounties had their ups and downs in the 2024-2025 campaign, including dropping late regular season games to teams such as neighboring rival Montclair Kimberley Academy and Livingston, but continued to show progress with a predominantly young rotation that worked around veteran seniors Annie O’Keefe and Carla Osborne who graduated in June.

Now with a full off-season to work with her young roster, Wiggins is enthused about the potential she is seeing on the hardwood, plus with the inherent knowledge of what the future can hold in the community at large.

“There is definitely talent here in Montclair,” she said. “It’s a great feeling to be back in my hometown coaching in a program that I was once a player with, and I’m confident that we can build something very special basketball-wise in this town that I love.”

The current crop of Mounties features talented rising juniors including 2-year varsity contributor Sofia Portelli and Taryn Gilbert, both 5-foot-6 guards, along with experienced forwards to watch in 5-7 Deliah Levy and 5-10 Orli Dinour.

Rising seniors to watch include the 5-7 guards Zoe Todd and Mattie Rajah-Mandery.

“Sofia is a combo guard who can handle the ball and gets to the basket with authority while creating good contact,” said Wiggins. “With her varsity experience we’re looking to her to take on an even bigger role next season.

“Taryn did a great job finishing last season, Deliah may be our best shooter and we’re confident that Orli can take on an even bigger role as an interior defender plus rebound and be a good rim protector.

“We look for Zoe to continue to step it up defensively and for Mattie to continue to provide some real nice backcourt depth for us.

Wiggins also hopes that a promising freshmen orientation can also translate into producing good numbers as the program builds on the sub-varsity level heading into next season.

Meanwhile, the work continues for a young group as the upcoming fall leading into pre-season drills in late November is right around the corner.

“We knew heading into last season that there would be some growing pains with a mostly young team as they became acclimated to a new coach and new system,” continued Wiggins. “They’re a hard-working group which I know we can build with as we will certainly strive to produce a winning season.”

The 28-year-old Wiggins has a vast amount of basketball experience for a young coach on the rise. During her superb high school career she eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau and helped to lead the Mounties to three runner-up appearances (2012, 2014 and 2015) in the Essex County Tournament. She was also on the team coached by one of her mentors, Bianca Brown, which advanced to the NJSIAA North 1, Group 4 state sectional final vs. Paterson Eastside before dropping a narrow 44-43 decision.

A superb all-around athlete, she was also a key member of Montclair’s first and only Group 4 state championship girls soccer team in 2014.

She then played for three seasons at Kansas State in the Big 12 Conference before finishing up her collegiate career at Northern Colorado.

Coming out of college she landed her first high school head coaching position at BelovED Charter where he team improved from 8-15 her first season to a solid 16-8 (8-0 in their Patriot Division) in the 2024-2025 campaign when she was named as the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League’s Coach of the Year.   

Her BelovED Charter Owls had a North 2, Group 1 first round state tournament win over Bard before falling to perennial state title contender University in the sectional quarterfinals.

She has also had AAU coaching experience with Peak Academy and more recently with United where she directed that program’s successful 17-U national squad.

“Being able to coach the talented, young players who are on the rise in a sport that I love is a dream come true,” said Wiggins. “My goal now is to return Montclair High School to a championship level!”     

NOTES- Set to return for a second season as assistant coaches on Wiggins’ staff are Darrell Quocko and Shaq Smith…Along with Bianca Brown who she played for in her first three seasons at Montclair, Wiggins other mentors include former, fellow Peak Academy coach Tamika Dixon, who is a former WNBA player now coaching her own high school alma mater, Linden…Wiggins’ mom, Shirlese McKinley, has directed the Premier Dance Theater at 180 Bloomfield Ave. in Montclair for the past 36 years. Older brothers Jordan (Cheyney State) and James Wiggins (Centenary College) both played their scholastic basketball at Montclair before continuing with college hoops careers.