Devilish defense

Monday girls roundup: Penns Grove uses strong defense to dump Salem, Woodstown dominates Delran, Pennsville falls to Glassboro

MONDAY GIRLS SCORES
Glassboro 47, Pennsville 41
Penns Grove 66, Salem 31
Woodstown 65, Delran 31

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNS GROVE – The Penns Grove girls are at their best when their defense is running hot and Monday it was as good as it has been all year – especially in the first half.

The Red Devils forced a ton of turnovers and cleared most of the boards on both ends of the floor while dominating Salem 66-31 to snap a three-game losing streak in which they didn’t really have their best defensive player.

“They did pretty good with the defense,” Penns Grove coach Jennifer Denby said. “They did OK.”

The Red Devils were particularly sharp in the first half. They had 12 steals in the first 12 minutes to fuel a 25-5 lead that became 29-5 at the half. The only two baskets they allowed in the half were a bucket down low by Ava Rodgers in the first quarter and a 3-ball from Carlysia Pierce in the second.

“I feel like we could do better, but it was pretty good at the start,” guard Amani Taylor said.

Taylor was the catalyst. She missed significant minutes or altogether games during the losing streak after taking a shot in the nose during the Pennsville game, but she was back Monday wearing a plastic faceguard and was eager to make up for lost time.

“She was our missing (piece to the) puzzle,” Denby said. “We need her on the floor. She’s our general on the floor.”

Taylor had four steals in the first quarter and seven in the first half, whether it was with quick hands at the front of the press, sealing off the back door in the trap or just being disruptive in the middle of the floor. She finished with eight steals in the game.

“I really missed playing defense knowing my team was struggling a little bit,” she said. “I just like being aggressive.”

All coaches hope their defense leads to offense and it did for the Red Devils. RaNiyah Wilson led them in scoring with 28 points; she had 10 in the first quarter and 14 in the fourth.

Meely Horace put a dent in her bid to reach the 1,000-point plateau with 17; she needs 56. She also had 16 rebounds.

PENNS GROVE 66, SALEM 31
SALEM (6-9) – Ameriyona Hunter 2 0-2 4, Carlysia Pierce 1 0-0 3, Marjziah Bundy 1 0-0 2, Ryann Foote 4 2-4 10, Lyric Hayes 0 0-0 0, NaeNae Logan 1 0-0 2, Madison Dixon 0 0-0 0, Neveah Hickman 0 0-0 0, Kaela Nichols 1 4-4 6, Ava Rodgers 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 6-8 31.
PENNS GROVE (7-7) – Brianna Robbins 4 1-2 9, RaNiyah Wilson 11 4-6 28, Amani Taylor 1 0-0 2, Semijah Hines 0 0-0 0, Meely Horace 7 3-6 17, Rolande Delva 0 0-0 0, Zoey Caesar 3 2-5 8, JaNiyah Cummings 1 0-4 2. Totals 27 10-23 66.

Salem	2	3	14	12 –	31
Penns Grove	14	15	9	28 –	66

WOODSTOWN 65, DELRAN 31: Megan Donelson and Talia Battavio moved closer to the 1,000-point plateau with 22 and 21 points, respectively and Shannon Pierman passed 500 career rebounds with 15 in the game.

Both Donelson and Pierman enjoyed double-doubles. Donelson had 10 steals to go with her points and Pierman had 12 points to go with her rebounds. Pieman now has 503 career boards.

Donelson is now 52 points shy of the milestone. Battavio needs 56.

WOODSTOWN 65, DELRAN 31
WOODSTOWN (12-3) – Talia Battavio 7 5-7 21, Megan Donelson 8 4-10 22, Gianna Mairoini 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Baber 2 0-0 4, Shannon Pierman 4 4-6 12, Lauren Hengel 1 0-0 2, Emma Perry 0 0-0 0, Brae DiGregorio 1 0-0 2, Jala Thomas 0 0-0 0, Lizzy Daly 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 13-23 65.
DELRAN (4-12) – Alexis Wachter 1 1-2 3, Ashley Doyle 3 3-8 9, Abby Shaeffer 4 0-0 9, Sienna Weaver 0 0-0 0, Madeline Speigel 1 1-2 3, Isabella Nunes 0 2-2 2, Lily Theis 1 0-1 2, Gianna Spinelli 0 0-0 0, Ellie Haskell 0 0-0 0, Chloe Canicci 0 0-0 0, Ava Kelly 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 7-15 31.

Woodstown	24	11	16	14  –	65
Delran	8	11	6	6 –	31

GLASSBORO 47, PENNSVILLE 41: Nora Ausland returned to the Pennsville lineup for the first time in 10 days and scored six points, but the Eagles didn’t quite have enough to offset a pair of 20-point Glassboro efforts in their first game since coach Sam Trapp announced her decision to step away from coaching at the end of the season.

Kezia Brackett and Tamia Smith had 22 and 20 points, respectively, to lead the Bulldogs. Bella Farina led Pennsville with 13 points.

GLASSBORO 47, PENNSVILLE 41
GLASSBORO (9-5) – Sanaa Thomas 0 3-4 3, Tamia Smith 6 5-8 20, Kezia Brackett 8 2-5 22, Sianna Wedderburn 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 10-17 47.
PENNSVILLE (6-10) – Nora Ausland 3 0-0 6, Calli Ausland 2 0-0 5, Taylor Bass 0 3-4 3, Bella Farina 5 3-5 13, Izzy Saulin 3 0-0 6, Marley Wood 3 2-2 8. Totals 16 8-11 41.

Glassboro	9	10	13	15 –	47
Pennsville	6	13	11	11 –	41