Opportunities for local girls basketball players aren’t as plentiful as they are for their male counterparts. So when current Lyndhurst boys basketball coach Perrin Mosca was asked to continue running the Lyndhurst Girls Basketball Summer League even though he is no longer the Golden Bears girls coach, Mosca was more than willing to do it.
“Current girls coach Christian (Boyce) asked me to run it again,” Mosca said. “I’ve been doing it for quite a few years now so I reached out to everybody and they’re willing to do it again, so we did.”
With everyone still on board, the Lyndhurst Girls Basketball Summer League is now midway through its third consecutive season. The league features 10 teams, including host Lyndhurst, North Arlington, Nutley and Bloomfield from The Observer coverage area.
Hackensack, Montclair, Rutherford, Becton, Cliffside Park and Ridgefield Park round out the field for the league, which plays every Tuesday and Thursday through July 20.
“It’s good for these teams in Lyndhurst and throughout since it helps,” said Mosca. “Some teams don’t have a chance to play in the summer and this gives them an opportunity.”
The league initially started more than a decade ago during Mosca’s first stint as Lyndhurst’s head girls coach. The summer league moved over to Hackensack when Mosca left Lyndhurst to become the coach at Hackensack. It returned to Lyndhurst in 2021 after Mosca returned to begin his second stint as Golden Bears head coach.
Mosca tried to add a boys summer league in Lyndhurst, but didn’t find enough interest for it. Instead, his team, as well as North Arlington, are set to compete in the Paterson Charter Summer League beginning on July 5.
“I think it’s a great tool for these teams, especially if you have some younger players and you’re looking to see how they’re going to react to varsity play,” said Mosca. “It’s a great chance for them to get together and get some games in for new players as well as working together with your returning players.”
This summer marks the first time he is running the league in Lyndhurst while not coaching the girls during the high school season and while he admits the feeling is a little different, it does create a more stress free environment to watch a Lyndhurst team that includes many of his former players, including Asya Akar and Sam Mayer.
“It is a little different, but I’m still rooting for these girls. A lot of them I had when they were freshmen,” said Mosca, also noting how much he has seen North Arlington improve over the three years he’s had the league. “I love that group of girls so it’s fun to watch them without having to worry about anything other than cheering them on.”
The Lyndhurst Girls Basketball Summer League, which started on June 13, is taking this week off due to the Fourth of July holiday before resuming play on Tuesday, July 11. Unlike some other leagues, Lyndhurst’s does not include a playoff at the end.
Each team is guaranteed 10 games.
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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.)