NORTH CALDWELL- It’s been a challenging time of late for West Essex, what with a 7-game losing streak, its veteran senior point guard Ava Brignola missing three games with an ankle sprain and the team still struggling to put four good quarters together.
Assistant coach Tim Glenn, who has been filling in as head coach with Amber Tobia finishing up a brief maternity leave after recently giving birth to daughter Lucciana, has kept ‘coaching-up’ the Knights while hoping to see the struggling team have that full, consistent performance for 32 minutes.
Mission accomplished, even if it’s a brief sample size. Seventh-seeded West Essex (6-11) broke open a close contest in which the strong defense was already there with a blistering stretch of offensive proficiency in the third quarter while rolling to a 53-38 victory over 10th-seeded Newark Tech (18-2) in an Essex County Tournament first round game on Saturday.
The Knights will travel to meet second-seeded and defending ECT champion West Orange next Saturday (Feb. 7) in the ECT quarterfinals.
Whatever happens moving forward in a very challenging county tournament and in the rigorous Super Essex Conference-American Division, if the team can continue to execute with proficiency at both ends of the court, there are good possibilities for a better month of February before the NJSIAA North 2, Group 3 state tournament gets underway with the Knights a possible upstart factor.
“After we played what I thought was a really good first half (leading 18-15) - especially on defense- I told the girls, ‘Hey- you’ve played two great quarters, now let’s play two more great quarters,” said Glenn, a longtime Wessex assistant girls basketball coach along with being a nearly-4-decade assistant football coach for the North Caldwell-based regional school. “We’ve struggled to play four good quarters, and to see them go out in the second half with great intensity and success at both ends of the court was terrific to see!
“Hopefully, we can build on this win which came against a good team in Newark Tech, and we get a ton of power points for the state seedings in defeating an 18-1 team.”
Junior Yazmy Scruggs, Newark Tech’s only upperclassmen starter who led her team with 19 points, scored on a strong drive to the basket to cut the Knights’ lead to 23-20 with 5:12 left in the third quarter before West Essex went on a nice run with six points from sophomore center Jordan Salisbury, a basket by freshman Riley Guevera and a ‘3’ from senior Brooke Balazano as part of an 11-2 run.
The Knights then built on a 35-26 lead entering the fourth quarter with a 17-12 edge over the final eight minutes, including eight points from Guevara, who sank a pair of 3’s, as West Essex finished what was indeed a complete effort.
Epitomizing the type of intensity a coach loves to see was senior Maddie Schlosser, who had as fine an all-around game as a team could want with 12 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists and 6 steals, while doing a little bit of everything to help propel the Knights’ ECT victory.
“Our whole team brought the energy,” said Schlosser. “I know that my role is to give my best right from the first whistle every time I step on the court. I am thinking about those hustle stats and I’m not worried about points because I know they’ll come. I just try to get all those loose balls and rebounds to help us win.”
Glenn was thrilled with his senior’s efforts.
“Maddie was beast today,” he stated. “She always plays with that kind of intensity; and - among the girls who I’ve coached - she is the most intense player I’ve ever coached.
“Plus, she made her shots today, and her rebounding and hustle were amazing!”
Salisbury, who spent a good portion of the first half on the bench after picking up two early fouls, came on like gangbusters in the second half and finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and 4 steals while dominating the inside against the young Terriers, who start four freshmen under second-year head coach Derrick Johnson.
“I was frustrated with the early fouls, but I knew that I had to come back out there and play well for my team,” said the 5-11 frontcourt standout. “We came out of the locker room at halftime ready to play as hard as we could, and it feels awesome to earn a win like this, and in the county tournament, which will be good for our confidence.”
Guevara was another source of immense energy in boosting the Knights as she hit two fourth quarter ‘tri-fectas’ and finished with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Senior Brooke Balzano chipped in with 7 points and junior Lexi Castro had 6 points on a pair of ‘3’ plus grabbed 4 rebounds.
“We were trying to be aggressive and push the ball when we could,” said Guevara, who has been a starter with Brignola sidelined of late with her sprained ankle. “This was a total team effort, everyone played great and a win like this will help build our confidence moving forward.”
West Essex can be in good spirits after its very solid ECT win, and Brignola could be back soon. Coach Tobia also expects to return shortly to her accustomed role on the Knights bench, although her veteran assistant has done a very commendable job filling in.
Life in the SEC-American Division with teams such as West Orange, Caldwell and University is never easy, yet West Essex perseveres.
“The American is so tough, but our girls keep working hard and they have a great attitude,” said Glenn. “I think we deserve a 7 seed, and with Ava (Brignola) hopefully back soon, perhaps in time for the quarterfinals, we should be even stronger moving forward.”
Essex County Tournament first round:
(10) Newark Tech (18-2) 9 6 11 12 - 38
(7) West Essex (6-11) 8 10 18 17 - 53
Newark Tech: Kassidy Ahmad 3-1-1-10, Azmirah Jones 2-0-0-4, Yazmyn Scruggs 4-2-5-19, Ava Antoine 1-0-0-2, Allison Martinez 0-1-0-3, Danelladream Williams 0-0-0-0, Himany Santos 0-0-0-0, Nevaeh Witherspoon 0-0-0-0. Totals: 10-4-6-38
West Essex: Riley Guevara 3-2-0-12, Maddie Schlosser 5-0-2-12, Jordan Salisbury 3-0-8-14, Lexi Castro 0-2-0-6, Elyana Ghattas 1-0-0-2, Brooke Balzano 2-1-0-7, Skyla Paladines 0-0-0-0. Totals: 14-5-10-53
ECT First Round Results:
(1) Caldwell 66 (17) East Orange Campus 28
(8) Columbia 58 (9) Verona 45
(4) University 60 (13) Central 21
(5) Glen Ridge 45 (12) Newark Academy 32
(2) West Orange 70 (15) Livingston 24
(7) West Essex 53 (10) Newark Tech 38
(3) Arts 61 (14) Millburn 16
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