UNION COUNTY, NJ — Roselle Park High School produced its first winning season of girls basketball in at least 15 years.
Cranford High School came back from a 4-9 start to finish 15-12 and reach a sectional final.
Westfield High School captured North 2, Group 4 for the second time in four years.
To top the 2024-2025 Union County girls basketball season, once again, New Providence High School reigned supreme as the Group 1 state champion.
Of the 21 teams in the Union County Conference, 10 turned out winning seasons, two more finished an even .500 and 14 won at least 11 games.
Roselle Park went from 7-12 last year to 16-6 this year, with second-year head coach Staci Hartzler showing marked improvement, led by Roselle Catholic High School transfer Sidney Smith. The junior guard paced Union County with 729 points in 22 games for a 33-point average.
Smith will enter her senior season in December with 1,329 points in 67 games for a 20-point three-year average. Smith is 671 points away from 2,000.
The Panthers also finished first in UCC’s Valley Division, going a perfect 6-0 against the other teams in the division.
Jasmin McKay finished as Roselle Catholic’s all-time leading girls scorer, with 1,711 points in 97 games for an 18-point average. The previous record of 1,338 points was set in 2010 by present Cranford head coach Allison Skrec.
McKay was extremely consistent, scoring 419 points in her freshman year, 444 in her sophomore year, 402 in her junior year and 446 in her senior campaign.
Bella Curanovic also poured in more than 400 points for Cranford, doing so for the second straight season. The standout senior netted 459 points this year to finish with 1,275 for her stellar four-year career.
New Providence, which captured the Group 1 state championship for the first time since 2015 and for the fourth time overall with head coach Cap Pazdera, had two 1,000-point scorers. Annie Conover, a junior, scored 583 to reach 1,105 heading into her senior season.
Standout senior Brenna Slattery netted more than 400 points for the second year in a row, finishing with 464 and a final career total of 1,223.
Another player to score more than 400 points for a second straight year was Union Catholic senior Gabrielle Ziegenbalg. She poured in 470 to finish her career with 1,038.
Charlotte Yarnall, a sophomore, paced Summit High School with 372 points. She enters her junior year with 552.
Sophie Lane, a junior, led Westfield with 437 points to give her 687 going into her senior season.
Four Union Farmers scored more than 100 points this year, with Keira Miller-People leading the way with 253. She finished with 654.
The other three were sophomore Kiziah Morgan with 179, junior Wisnalie Joseph with 176 and senior Brielle Hayford with 108.
Cranford reached the North 2, Group 3 final for the first time since last winning it in 2013, after going to 23-5 Somerville High School and beating the second-seeded Pioneers on the road by a score of 52-46. A 12-0 run to end the third quarter by the Cougars gave Cranford the lead for good, as it earned a trip to defending champion and top-seeded Chatham High School in the final.
Cranford led Chatham, 13-5, after the first quarter before ultimately falling to the host Cougars again ,41-33. Cranford showed great improvement against Chatham, after losing at Chatham in last year’s sectional semifinals and again in December of this season in the annual Cougar Classic at Chatham.
New Providence has now won five state championships, all with the guidance of Pazdera, who is a 1991 New Providence graduate. The Pioneers have won Group 1 in 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2025 and Group 2 in 2023.
Here’s a closer look, with the records of each team:
New Providence Pioneers
Group 1 State Champions
2010: 22-5 – lost only TOC game that followed
2011: 24-6 – lost only TOC game that followed
2015: 22-10 – lost only TOC game that followed
2025: 30-2, won last 24 games
Group 2 State Champions
2023: 28-3, won last 20 games
New Providence also captured another Union County Tournament championship this year, winning for the third time in four years and for the fourth time overall. For the longest time, New Providence had just one UCT crown in 1990, until the Pioneers won again in 2022. The team repeated in 2023 and won again this season, after getting upset in the semifinals a year ago.
Union County Conference girls basketball for 2024-2025
Final Watchung Division standings
1-New Providence (11-0). 2-Westfield (9-3). 3-Plainfield (7-5). 4-Roselle Catholic (6-6). 5-Cranford (4-7). 6-Scotch Plains–Fanwood (2-10). 7-Elizabeth (2-10).
Final Mountain Division standings
1-Union Catholic (9-2). 2-Oak Knoll (9-3). 3-Summit (8-4). 4-Arthur L. Johnson (7-5). 5-Governor Livingston (4-8). 6-Jonathan Dayton (3-8). 7-Abraham Clark (0-10).
Final Valley Division standings
1-Roselle Park (6-0). 2-Linden (9-2). 3-Rahway (7-4). 4-David Brearley (6-5). 5-Union (5-6). 6-Kent Place (3-8). Hillside (0-11).
Overall records
New Providence (30-2)
Westfield (24-7)
Union Catholic (17-9)
Plainfield (17-12)
Summit (16-9)
Roselle Park (16-6)
Arthur L. Johnson (15-11)
Cranford (15-12)
Roselle Catholic (14-9)
Oak Knoll (14-12)
Linden (13-13)
Rahway (12-12)
Jonathan Dayton (11-15)
Scotch Plains–Fanwood (11-17)
Elizabeth (9-15)
David Brearley (8-14)
Kent Place (8-14)
Union (8-16)
Governor Livingston (7-18)
Hillside (4-16)
Abraham Clark (1-11)
File Photo