Queen of Peace’s boys basketball showed that all the pre-season publicity was justified as they defeated Ridgefield Park, 57-32 on the road in the BCSL American. The girls team defeated the Ridgefield Park girls, 60-52, at home. Both teams have new head coaches this season.

Becton’s boys and girls basketball teams took care of Harrison in the season openers. The Lady Wildcats pulled away against the Blue Tide on the road, 46-34. In East Rutherford, the boys got a game they needed to as they defeated Harrison, 59-52, as they came from behind in the second half.

In a drive to return to the state tournament this season, North Arlington’s girls basketball team won a high-scoring game at home, 73-69, over Wallington. In a strange juxtaposition, the Vikings boys team won a low-scoring game at home against Wallington, 36-33.

Girls basketball

Rutherford (2-0) looking for the biggest season in school history started out with a pair of impressive victories. Four Lady Bulldogs scored in double figures and 11 different Rutherford players got on the scoring card as they defeated Englewood, 78-38. Junior Taylor Wootton and Jacki Mann had 20 and 17 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs.

And then the next day, Rutherford’s defense was stiff against St. Anthony’s 44-9. The Lady Bulldogs led 10-0 after the first quarter. Mann led Rutherford with 13 points Wootton finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds and three steals for Rutherford. Senior Brittany O'Keefe made seven steals and handed out four assists.

Becton (1-0) struggled in the first half, but the Lady Wildcats pulled away from Harrison in the second half. Senior Jessica Knapp started her last season with the Lady Wildcats on a big note with 35 points. Lauren Cosentino added six points for Becton.

With new head coach Michael Isabella in and graduated-senior Courtney Keegan now gone, Queen of Peace (1-0) did not miss a beat as the Lady Golden Griffins defeated Ridgefield Park, 60-52. Four different Queen of Peace players scored in double figures, led by Britney Turner with 22 points. Julie Candio-Sekel, Sam Murphy and Stephanie Wallace had 14, 13 and 11 points respectively. On Saturday Turner had 17 points while Candio-Sekel added nine points as the Lady Golden Griffins defeated Dickinson, 61-23.

St. Mary’s (1-0) started on a great note with a dominating performance at Secaucus, 88-47. Five Lady Gaels scored in double figures led by both, Martina Ellerby and Afreyea Tolbert, with 18 points each.

North Arlington (1-0) got off to a nice start with the 73-69 win at Wallington. The Lady Vikings pulled away with a 19-8 stretch in the second quarter. Tara Fisher came back this season and dropped 22 points against the Lady Panthers. Marrisa Brown chipped in 14 points while Sinead Gallagher and Reema Sethi added nine points each.

Lyndhurst (0-1) fell in its opener to Weehawken, 42-34, at home.

Boys basketball

Lyndhurst (1-0) started out in reverting its 2006-07 season with a win 65-31 over Weehawken on the road. The Golden Bears started out hot and led 42-13 by halftime. Ten different Lyndhurst players scored in the BCSL National game as three Golden Bears scored in double figures led by Louis Baroody with 16 points while both Anthony Dorio and Jesse Estevez had a dozen points each in the contest.

North Arlington (1-0) had a better fourth quarter and squeaked out a 36-33 victory at home against Wallington. In the low-scoring game Peter Santos led the Vikings with six points while Ryan Kenny, Krystian Morawski, Michael Gross and Shawn Coppola had five points each in the National win.

In their first game in defending the BCSL National title, St. Mary’s was playing from behind for most of the night at home against Secaucus. The Gaels could not catch up in the 68-51 loss to the Patriots. Andrew Tedesco and Doug Ford had a dozen points each in the St. Mary’s loss. Tedesco had four, three points for all his points. Damar Clarke added nine points for the Gaels.

Rutherford just could not just keep up with the high-flying Englewood team in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs were leading 54-53 going into the fourth quarter, but the Maroon Raiders would pull away at home. Senior Greffen George led Rutherford with 18 points.

Queen of Peace (2-0) has started off as expected. Golden Griffins Dwayne Moffatt drained five, three pointers for a game-high 26 points as Queen of Peace ran away from Ridgefield Park, 57-32 on the road on Friday night. Javae Gilchrist added a dozen points for the Golden Griffins.