For months, Harrison girls basketball coach Jennifer Caliendo has seen the hard work and improvements her players have made.
Unfortunately for Caliendo and the Blue Tide, after starting the season with wins over Paterson Charter and North Arlington, a host of injuries and illness has largely left Harrison at less than 100-percent in recent weeks.
But with Harrison returning back to full strength for the first time in nearly a month, Caliendo remains confident that better days are ahead for this group.
Another glimpse of that potential came with Wednesday’s 47-12 victory over Ridgefield.
“Yes, absolutely, we can now show what we’re fully capable of,” said Caliendo, who along with assistant coach Michelle Vasquez were the senior leaders for legendary coach Jack Rodgers’ last team . “And even when we were short-handed, the players who were still here, held it down for the team. They showed up and they were able to execute things for us in big ways over those two weeks that we didn’t have a full team.
“They played a lot together in the offseason and they play a bunch of other sports together as well, so it’s not just their skills and basketball IQ that have gotten better, their chemistry has also improved a lot as well.”
Leading the way for the Blue Tide has been senior forward Rebecca Sardinha, who is leading the team in scoring at nine points per game. A multi-year starter, the 5-foot-6 Sardinha has gone from not even playing basketball before high school to becoming Harrison’s best all-around player.
“I remember the summer coming into her freshman year. She had come from Brazil and she only played soccer up until that point. She didn’t know a thing about basketball, but she was committed and she thought it was fun,” said Caliendo. “She went from not knowing anything about basketball, not even knowing how to make a layup, to being one of our strongest players defensively and offensively.”
Junior Mya DeJesus is another three-year starter for Harrison. The point guard averages eight points per game and a true team leader on and off the court.
“She’s always very in tune with herself and the people around her, her teammates and her coaches. She has a high basketball IQ and she worked tremendously in the offseason,” Caliendo said. “Everyday, you see her with a basketball and even in season, she ‘ll take time before school working in the gym and putting up shots.”
Sophomore Thalia Sosa is another starting guard, who can also fill in at the point if needed.
The third starting guard is senior Serenity Maldonado, a multi-year starter and the team’s top outside shooter.
“We’ve always known that she was a shooter and we knew that she was our shooting guard,” said Caliendo. “Serenity’s the type of player that can score 10, 12 plus points a game with the way she’s a consistent shooter.”
Junior Alisson Torres is the team’s starting center and despite standing just 5-foot-7, has been a big rebounder for the Blue Tide.
Sophomore forward Kassandra Rodriguez is the first forward off the bench and is an explosive athlete with a high potential, as is Romina Sosa – Thalia’s twin sister – at guard.
Senior Camila Garcia and juniors Danna Gomez and Hanna Medina have also seen significant minutes off the bench throughout the season.
At 3-8, Harrison currently sits 17th in the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 2 power point standings, just one spot away for a spot in the state tournament. For Caliendo and her coaching staff composed entirely of Blue Tide basketball alums, qualifying for the state tournament for the first time since 2020, would be a meaningful step in the rebuild of a program that was once was a gold standard for small school basketball in North Jersey.
“I think making the playoffs would mean a lot for everyone, including the coaching staff,” said Caliendo. “It is a goal that we talked about early on in the season and the goal is still there. It’s not something that we have turned away from just because we’ve been in a slump. We still have our heads high and we’re still pushing forward every day.”
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Jason Bernstein | Observer Sports Writer
Jason Bernstein joined The Observer as its sports writer in March 2022, following the retirement of Jim Hague. He has a wealth of sports-writing experience, including for NJ Advance Media (nj.com, The Jersey Journal, The Star-Ledger.)