It was a sad day when Immaculate Conception closed its doors last June after 100 years. Anytime another New Jersey Catholic school has to cease to exist due to financial issues it’s not a positive development.
In Immaculate’s case, the state also lost a talented high school girls basketball team which had been to six straight Essex County Tournament finals – while winning three titles- did win the Non-Public B state championship last March to make its final game a memorable one.
And, while the county is now down one ‘mega power’ among the elite level teams, the dispersing of the Montclair Catholic school’s underclassmen hoops talent to other schools this season has helped spread the wealth – so to speak – as former IC players are boosting the fortunes of Arts High School in Newark which has perhaps its best team in program history, and has also helped the defending ECT champion and Group 4 state runner-up West Orange Mountaineers who have had to find other talent outlets with the graduation last June of standout 6-foot-1 center Ayana Karriem who is now a freshman forward on the Division I level at North Carolina A&T.
Immaculate’s state championship point guard Nilah Rivera is now the top player as a senior leader for Arts which has also been helped immensely with the addition of another former IC Lion, Niaja Troutman.
Siena University commit London Caldwell has moved her talents from IC to West Orange where she helps complement the immense talents of the Mountaineers’ returning third-team all-state junior guard Rhyan Watt, who just recently eclipsed the 1,000-point career plateau.
Although not an Essex team’s asset, another former IC standout and the team’s leading scorer form last year, Jayah Curtis, is now excelling for state power Morris Catholic up in Denville as the Crusaders look to try and ease the pain of graduating the ultra-talented Pauldo sisters, Mya and Mia, who are now freshmen helping to boost the fortunes of the University of Tennessee’s women’s program.
What the movement of now former IC players has helped create this season is perhaps a more balanced elite-level group of teams, and in looking ahead to the upcoming ECT, which seeds its field on Monday night (Jan. 26), there is a lot of intrigue with just how the 2026 countywide girls hoops extravaganza will ultimately play out since Arts, West Orange and undefeated Caldwell are all very legitimate threats to win this year’s ECT crown, while both University and Glen Ridge could also make some significant noise, certainly leading up to who will encompass the Final Four to be contested on Saturday, Feb. 14, at West Orange High School’s Tarnoff Gymnasium, which will also serve as the site of the championship girls and boys finals on Saturday, Feb. 21.
“This year’s Essex County Girls Tournament should be outstanding,” said Arts Coach Tarik Brown after his team dropped a recent SEC crossover contest to coach Amanda Keenan’s Chiefs in the James Caldwell High School gym. “We believe that we have the potential to be a championship team, certainly in Group 1, and we feel we should also be able to battle for the county championship as well.
“Caldwell is a good team and they did a great job coming from behind against us, and hopefully we will see them again.”
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