NHS hoop teams fall in county tourneys; hockey splits two games; swimmers excel at county meet

By Joe Ragozzino
Sports editor
The Nutley High School girls’ varsity basketball team lost a heartbreaking 36-35 decision to Bloomfield in the second round preliminary of the Essex County Tournament this past Monday Jan. 30 at NHS.
Bloomfield, seeded 19th, tied the game at 34-34 on Megan Hanna’s three-pointer with 1:30 left in the fourth quarter. Hanna hit a running layup with 40 seconds left to put Bloomfield up 36-34.
Jaimie Towey scored 15 points and Tonianne Dematteo had 10 points for the 14th-seeded Raiders. The loss snapped the Raiders’ 10-game winning streak and dropped their record to 11-4. The last time NHS lost was against Cranford in the Cranford Holiday tournament on Dec. 27.
Bloomfield defeated No. 26 seed Newark Vocational, 58-11, in the first round preliminary last Saturday. Nutley received a bye in the first round preliminary.
The Raiders defeated Livingston and Kearny last week.
Towey had 18 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Raiders to a 54-25 home win over Livingston on Jan. 26. Dematteo had 11 points, two rebounds, five assists and two steals;  Eileen Purcell had 10 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three assists and Grace Montgomery added 10 points, three rebounds and three steals for the Raiders.
Towey had 15 points and Dematteo had 12 points in the 32-30 win at Kearny last Saturday. The Raiders outscored Kearny, 10-8, in the fourth quarter to win it.

NHS boys’ hoops fall in ECT
Nick Gariano had 17 points and Joe Feraco had seven points but the No. 26 seed Nutley High School boys’ varsity basketball team lost to No. 19 seed West Orange in the first round preliminary of the Essex County Tournament last Saturday Jan. 28 at WOHS.
Nutley led 30-26 at the end of the third quarter, but WOHS outscored the Raiders, 21-12, in the fourth quarter.
Jonathan Russo had five points and Christian Schroeder and Josh Thomson each had four points for NHS, which fell to 7-10.
Russo scored 12 points and John Llano had seven points to lead the Raiders to a 41-36 home win over Montclair Immaculate Conception on Jan. 24.  Schroeder, Thomson and  Gariano each had four points for the Raiders.
Joe Feraco scored eight points; Gariano had seven points and Russo netted five points in the 29-25 loss to Cedar Grove on Jan. 26.

NHS hockey defeats Verona/GR, falls to Red Bank
David Fierro and Anthony Gandolfi each had two goals and one assist as the Nutley High School varsity ice hockey team defeated Verona/Glen Ridge, 6-4, on Jan. 25 at Codey Arena in West Orange.
Richie LaFiura and Mike Frade each had one goal and one assist and Justin Souza had an assist for the Raiders, who avenged a 5-4 loss to Verona/Glen Ridge on Dec. 19.
The Raiders then lost to Red Bank, 2-1, on Monday at Codey Arena. Matt Basile scored in the first period to give NHS a 1-0 lead. Red Bank scored two goals in the second period. NHS fell 8-8.

NHS swimmers excel at county meet
Tara McGarty and Allison Collins, representing Nutley High School, enjoyed fine efforts at the Essex County Swimming Championships last Sunday Jan. 29 at Seton Hall University.
McGarty took fifth in the girls’ 100-yard freestyle in 57.51 and sixth in the 100-yard backstroke in 1:03.95. Collins finished ahead of McGarty in the 100-yard backstroke, taking fifth in 1:03.82.