GRHS girls' hoop team shows fine chemistry

Photo by Delmon Cannon.

Glen Ridge players Mary Alati, No. 23, Maggie Moriarty, No. 12, and Danielle Lisovicz, No. 4, watch as an Irvington player puts up a shot.

By Steve Carfagna
Staff Writer
The Glen Ridge High School girls’ varsity basketball team may have started the season winning two of its first seven contests and one of five Super Essex Conference games but head coach Jackie Cerone isn’t disappointed.
Undoubtedly, Cerone knows her young program is headed in the right direction.
“I’m extremely impressed with the way that the team has started out the season,” she said. “The varsity squad is made up of three seniors, two juniors and six sophomores and they all work incredibly well together. On other teams, I’ve seen girls get ‘cliquey’ with each other, but we just don’t have that on our team. They’ve all shown a lot of improvement over last year and we’ve performed very well against some tough opponents.”
Looking back at the young season thus far, Cerone said her team’s games against North Arlington and Millburn were two that stood out the most.
“In the opening round of the William Ferguson Holiday Tournament in North Arlington, we came from behind to beat North Arlington,” she said. “We were down 17-7 at the end of the first quarter but were able to step up the intensity and outscored them 36-8 over the next three quarters. We were also down two starters because of the holidays and so I was really proud of the way that everyone stepped up in that game and did everything in their power to turn it around.
“We also had our first conference win against Millburn just before the holiday break. We were very evenly-matched with Millburn and were able to come from behind and win at home, 37-34.”
The coach said her Ridgers have been led by their senior captains.
“Our senior captains have really led the way for us so far this season as Mary Alati has 7.7 points per game through six games, Danielle Lisovicz has 8.4 points per game and Maggie Moriarty is averaging eight points per game,” she said. “The sophomore class has also really stepped up this year, including Caroline Smith, who is scoring 4.8 points per game and Tessa Powell, who is averaging 5.4 points per game.”
The Lady Ridgers hope to continue making progress as the season heats up.
“As far as goals for the rest of the season, we’re hoping to just keep playing the way that we have been so far. We have a very challenging SEC-Liberty Division schedule but I’ve been really proud of the way that the girls have kept fighting, even when they know that a game may be out of reach,” she said. “We play against some of the best teams in the state and we play until the very last buzzer. Our goals are to keep working hard and continue to improve with every game.”
Alati had 11 points and  Lisovicz had five points for the Ridgers in a 54-28 loss to University on Jan. 3 in Newark in a SEC crossover game.
Thiele had 11 points; Alati had nine points and Lisovicz added eight points in the 48-29 home loss to Irvington on Jan. 5 in divisional play.