CRANFORD — There was a night in late February of 2009 when Allison Skrec, as a standout player her junior season at Roselle Catholic High School, willed her team to victory.
Skrec had to take on the role of point guard when her teammate, Jenny Malone, went down late in the fourth quarter with a game-ending knee injury.
Not used to bringing the ball up, especially against a formidable Group 4 defense, which was Plainfield High School that night, Skrec went on to pour in a career-high 30 points and help lead the lower-seeded Lions to an epic 55-50 double overtime victory in that season’s Union County Tournament championship game played at Roselle Catholic.
It was a performance for the ages as Skrec, not by herself by any means but as the lead, lifted Roselle Catholic to its second Union County Tournament crown and first in six years.
Fans of Chatham High School girls basketball will soon see how Skrec, nearly two decades later, will make a decision that will lift the Chatham Cougars to another championship.
Skrec goes from being the head girls basketball coach of the Cranford High School Cougars to the head mentor of the Chatham Cougars, which is now her second stint as a head coach.
“I’m really excited for this new chapter at Chatham,” Skrec said. “It is an honor to be stepping into the role of head coach at such a prestigious public school program in New Jersey.”
A native of Roselle, Skrec, who turned 34 on Sunday, July 19, will remain working at Roselle Catholic in her administrative assistant role.
Skrec guided Cranford to the state playoffs in North 2, Group 3 her last five seasons there, falling to Chatham the past three years. Skrec’s Cranford squad also faced Chatham four years in a row in late December.
Skrec played for and was an assistant coach for her father, Joe Skrec, at Roselle Catholic. After graduating from Roselle Catholic in 2010 and then starring collegiately at Manhattan University, Allison Skrec served as an assistant at Seton Hall University. Skrec went from being an assistant coach at Roselle Catholic to landing the Cranford job in 2020, where she succeeded Jacqueline Dyer. In 2022, Dyer succeeded Kathy Matthews at Union Catholic High School. Dyer played her high school ball at Union Catholic and was coached by Matthews.
When mentioning the best coaches to ever teach girls basketball in Union County, Matthews, Joe Skrec and Dyer are right at the top. Allison Skrec is also off to a good start and will now take her Xs and Os to Morris County.
Skrec will succeed Joe Gaba at Chatham. Gaba is one of the greatest girls basketball coaches in Morris County history the past three decades.
“I have so much respect for coach Gaba and the alumni who have built this into the program that it is,” Skrec said. “Coach Gaba has already reached out to me and offered to help me in any way that he can during this transition and that means a lot to me.”
Gaba has moved on to Lafayette College, where he will be an assistant coach for the women’s basketball team there in Easton, Pa.
“I’m very grateful for Darren D’Alconzo and Dr. Walker for trusting me in leading their girls basketball program,” Skrec said.
Skrec had Cranford competitive among the giants in Union County, including New Providence, Westfield, Elizabeth and Plainfield high schools.
“I also have to express how thankful I am for my time at Cranford,” Skrec said. “There is no place I would have rather been the past six years.
“The players that I coached, the coaches on my staff, the administration and the Cranford community made me feel so supported from the very beginning.”
Allison Skrec’s record at Cranford
2025-2026: (13-15)
2024-2025: (15-12) – reached North 2, Group 3 final
2023-2024: (19-8) – reached Union County Tournament final
2022-2023: (12-13)
2021-2022: (10-12)
2020-2021: (3-9)
Photo by JR Parachini
