The Lincoln High School girls’ basketball team has captured the last three Hudson County Tournament championships.
Head coach Tommy Best is pushing for a fourth.
“We’re definitely trying to win another championship,” said Best, who was a standout player during his heyday at Lincoln and St. Peter’s College. “We have to keep up the standards that we have created for ourselves. We know we have a good team, so we want to play the better teams.”
That’s going to happen this year, as the Lions have been placed in a new division of the Hudson County Interscholastic Athletic League, facing the tougher teams like North Bergen, Bayonne, St. Dominic Academy and Union City during the regular season.
“We’re going to get a good idea of just how good we are,” Best said. “I like being in the new division. We’re Lions. We’re hunters, not the hunted. Everyone wants to beat us. Well, we want to beat them. But we have to bring our ‘A’ game every night this year.”
Best said that he put his team in the Jersey City Recreation summer league, as well as another summer tournament in New York.
“It gave us a chance to have other girls get better and get some playing time,” Best said. “We went all over to get better competition.”
Best said that his entire team improved by playing so much during the summer months.
“A lot of our girls have improved, so we’re looking to get started,” Best said.
The Lions begin their season this weekend at Orange High School.
Best believes that the Lions will play a lot of four-guard sets this season to capitalize on the team’s roster filled with talented guards.
“We can put the guards in at any given situation,” Best said. “We’re not really a big team.”
But the Lions do have one of the premier post players in northern New Jersey in senior Kiante Johnson.
The 6-foot Johnson averaged 21 points and nine rebounds per game last season, earning Hudson Reporter Player of the Year honors.
“She’s improved a lot,” Best said. “She could always dribble and shoot, but she’s improved her range. She is so dominant down low, but now, we’re seeing her step out a little more and taking shots out there. I expect her to improve on what she did last year. We have been stressing her to move her feet more.”
Johnson is getting some looks from the major colleges, but she’s going to need to improve her grades in order to secure a college scholarship. Talent is not the problem at all. If she could project as a student, she would already have a scholarship in hand.
But some school will take a chance on her, more than likely a junior college first.
Junior guard Zhan’e Williams, a Third Team All-Area selection last year, has also returned. The 5-foot-6 Williams was the Lions’ point guard last season, but her role may increase this season. Williams averaged nine points and six assists per game last season.
“I expect her to be even better this year,” Best said of Williams. “She’s a very good floor leader.”
Sophomore Destiny Shuler has also returned. The 5-foot-9 Shuler has the ability to play inside and run the floor.
“She’s one of the most improved players we have,” Best said. “She’s a slasher. She goes to the basket well.”
Junior Penelope Gonzalez is another talented guard. The 5-foot-9 Gonzalez is a standout on the defensive end.
“We use her on the ball a lot,” Best said. “She didn’t play a lot last year, but she will play this year.”
Senior Dazejaah Marsh is another guard who concentrates on the defensive side of the floor.
“She’s our defensive stopper,” Best said.
Junior Natalie Cortez, who missed all of last season after undergoing surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee, has returned to full strength.
“She’s recovered well,” Best said. “She’s a very good player.”
Senior Crystal Miller is the team’s captain. Miller is a 5-foot-9 forward who Best called “our best defensive forward.”
“She has improved a lot since last year,” Best said. “She’s stepped up a lot.”
Junior Mariel Gonzalez, the cousin of Penelope, is a 5-foot-7 guard with prowess from the perimeter.
“She’s a good 3-point shooter,” Best said.
Antoinette Shiloh is a 6-foot senior who backs up Johnson in the post, but at times can get on the floor with Johnson to give the Lions an imposing presence close to the basket.
“She does give us good presence and can rebound well,” Best said. “We can use both of them at the same time. Antoinette is a good passer from the post, so she can find the open guards on the outside.”
Needless to say, the Lions are poised for another go at a county title. A fourth straight would put the Lions in the same class as Bayonne in the early 1980s and Ferris a few years later _ namely a dynasty. It’s safe to say that Secaucus will be ready to give the Lions a go come tournament time. – Jim Hague
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.