EOCHS girls' hoops capture sectional crown

By Joe Ragozzino
Sports Editor
East Orange Campus High School girls’ varsity head basketball coach Derrick Johnson has a message for young girls’ basketball players in East Orange.
Come to EOCHS.
After all, championships can be won at EOCHS, just like on March 8, as Johnson’s team defeated Montclair, 41-26, to capture the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association North Jersey Section 1, Group 4 tournament title.
Junior center Linda Hamilton scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the 11th-seeded Jaguars, who won their fifth straight and improved to 18-10. Montclair, the fifth seed, fell to 16-12.
The Jaguars also beat Montclair in the two Super Essex Conference-American Division regular-season meetings this season.
The sectional title was the first for the Jaguars since 2003, when Johnson was an assistant coach on the team. Johnson took over as head coach the following season.
EOCHS was scheduled to face Section 2, Group 4 champion North Hunterdon in the NJSIAA Group 4 semifinals March 10 in Union.
The NJSIAA Group 4 final will be held this weekend.
The Jaguars had to win four games to win the sectional tournament title, despite missing junior point guard Shailah Johnson, the coach’s daughter who was dismissed from the team because of disciplinary reasons.
Coach Johnson was ecstatic for his team. The title also proved that East Orange youngsters don’t have to play for other schools for a chance to win a championship.
“It’s a good feeling,” said coach Johnson. “But I am not really happy for myself. I am happy for the girls. With this accomplishment, I wanted to show all the girls that choose to go to Bloomfield Tech, Newark Tech or any other school, that we should stay home. Our girls in the recreation department should stay home, to build things.”
Hamilton, in particular, has stepped up her game, evidenced in the semifinal win over Randolph and in the final.
“Since the state tournament started, I haven’t seen her this focused,” said coach Johnson. “When we played Randolph and they double- and triple-teamed her, she made correct passes. But in the sectional final, she felt she had to put the team on her back.”
Junior guard Delisha Thompson scored 17 points and senior forward Ava Burke added 11 points to spark EOCHS to a 47-41 win over No. 7 seed Randolph in the semifinals on March 6 in Randolph. EOCHS and Randolph were members of the Iron Hills Conference that was disbanded at the end of the 2008-09 school year.
Thompson had 27 points and Hamilton had 22 points and 12 rebounds in the 72-29 home win over 14th-seeded Kearny in the quarterfinals on March 4.
Thompson scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Hamilton had 12 points and 21 boards to power the Jaguars to a 93-77 win over sixth-seeded Hackensack in the first round on March 2 in Hackensack. Freshman Teana Muldrow also had 19 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists for the Jaguars.
Box scores
EOCHS 20 26 26 21 - 93
Hackensack 24 23 17 13 - 77
EOCHS: Raven Bass 1-0-0-2, Ava Burke 4-0-0-8, Linda Hamilton 4-0-4-12, Domonique Herring 3-0-3-9, Teana Muldrow 5-0-3-19, Precious Osagie-Erese 3-1-4-13, Delisha Thompson 11-1-5-30.
Kearny 2 10 8 9 - 29
EOCHS 27 19 19 7 - 72
EOCHS: Ava Burke 1-0-2-4, Linda Hamilton 10-0-2-22, Domonique Herring 2-0-1-5, Teana Muldrow 3-0-0-6, Precious Osagie-Erese 0-1-1-4, Delisha Thompson 13-0-1-27.
East Orange14 10 13 10 - 47
Randolph 11 13 6 11 - 41
EOCHS: Ava Burke 3-1-2-11, Linda Hamilton 1-0-3-5, Domonique Herring 3-0-0-6, Teana Muldrow 2-0-0-4, Precious Osagie-Erese 1-0-2-4, Delisha Thompson 4-1-6-17.
EOCHS 5 11 16 9 - 41
Montclair 3 6 11 6 - 26
EOCHS: Raven Bass 0-0-0-0, Ava Burke 0-0-0-0, Krystal Gardner 0-0-0-0, Linda Hamilton 10-0-1-21, Domonique Herring 1-0-2-4, Teana Muldrow 0-0-1-1, Precious Osagie-Erese 2-0-3-7, Delisha Thompson 4-0-0-8, Khadijah Whitehall 0-0-0-0.

Williams leads OHS girls’ hoop team
Senior guard Qyidirah Williams averaged 9.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and two steals for the Orange High School girls’ varsity basketball team this season. The Tornadoes, like EOCHS, competed in the SEC-American Division, which was the toughest division in the league.