It’s playoff season already for basketball, but only one Verona team will be in the action this year: girls basketball.
The Verona High School girls basketball team will kick things off on Wednesday, February 21, with the first round of the North 2 Group 2 tournament. Verona, the No. 7 seed, will take on No. 10 Bernards at 4:30 p.m. at VHS.
The  Verona girls have compiled an 18-7 season under new Head Coach Pat Coyle, including wins against Cedar Grove and Mount St. Dominic in their most recent outings. There have been many strong games, with blowouts against Newark Tech and Newark Lab, but the girls’ run in the Essex County Tournament was stopped by a 43-20 first round loss to Newark Academy.
The girls team includes several young powerhouse players. Sophomore Jada Bednar leads the squad with 196 points and 203 rebounds this season, while freshmen Leah Haggerty and Eliana Marateo have 136 and 125 points apiece. But it can also draw on the shooting skills of its more experienced players, with Julia Loudon, a senior, and Cali Giacomazza, a junior, leading the team in three-pointers.
The VHS boys basketball team did not make the playoffs this year, for the first time in many years. The boys have an 8-17 record overall, and they were 0-14 in the Super Essex Conference’s Colonial division.
