Woodstown passes its first major test of the season, Pennsville overwhelms Schalick in a battle of teams fighting the injury bug, Salem gets second straight win
THURSDAY GIRLS SCORES Woodstown 61, Penns Grove 53 Pennsville 52, Schalick 14 Salem 45, Salem Tech 19
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE – As almost everybody’s favorite to win the Tri-County Diamond Division and then some in South Jersey, the Woodstown girls basketball team knows it’s going to get everybody’s best shot every night.
The Wolverines faced their biggest test of the young season Thursday night and answered the bell like the favorites they are.
In a battle between the two best teams in the division, Woodstown grabbed the lead late in the first quarter, endured some anxious moments near the end of the first half and then finally pulled away in the second half for a 61-53 victory over Penns Grove.
“This is probably the biggest challenge we’ll have in all of our division games,” Wolverines coach Kara Straughn said. “They’re athletic, they’re quick, they’re the second-best team in our division, but I’ve got 10 girls who play together. There’s nobody in my opinion in our division who has as much of a team as I do.”
While Megan Donelson (25 points) and Talia Battavio (20) did most of their scoring as usual, the Wolverines (5-1) got contributions from throughout the lineup. Shannon Pieman grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked three shots. Alyssa Baber had 10 boards.
And they needed every bit of it. They took the lead midway through the first quarter, but Penns Grove never let them get comfortable.
The Red Devils were out of sorts during their two games in Wildwood after Christmas, but they were determined to play their game and not get caught up in the early-season enormity of the game. They pressed from the jump and made the Wolverines work for everything they got.
Donelson and Battavio combined for all of Woodstown’s points in the first quarter and 28 of their 30 in the first half.
Penns Grove is a team that likes to drive and attack the basket. But as the first half worn on, the Wolverines’ defense kept forcing the Red Devils farther out for shots and it produced the predictable results.
Woodstown led by 12 with less than two minutes left in the first half, but Penns Grove rallied and things got real intense in the final minute of the half. With 25.8 seconds to go in an eight-point game, Penns Grove’s RiNiyah Wilson was fouled by Battavio driving to the basket and the reaction led to a technical foul on the Wolverines guard.
Wilson hit three of the four free throws to make it a five-point game and the Red Devils had the ball with a chance to cut it to two or three. But Gianna Maiorini thwarted those plans when she stole the possession and fed Donelson who banked in a short jumper in the lane with six seconds to go. Donelson then stole the next inbounds pass and the Wolverines ran out the clock to take a seven-point halftime lead.
“If they would’ve gotten the lead I think it would’ve been a different game,” Straughn said.
The Red Devils got to within four several times early in the second half, but the Wolverines pushed it back out to 10 . They kept the Red Devils at arm’s length the rest of the game to win their fifth in a row while sending their hosts to their third straight loss.
“I think we could’ve done a little bit better than what we actually did, but we ended up pulling out the win and that’s just all that matters,” Donelson said.
While Donelson and Battavio were the big producers for Woodstown, Wilson did all she could to keep Penns Grove in it. The transfer from Kingsway led all scorers with a career-high 33 points and she grabbed nine rebounds.
“My coach talks about mental toughness, fight through the game, if we’re down pick my teammates up, keep going, keep fighting,” Wilson said. “I like playing in big games. I like competition.”
3-point goals: Woodstown 3 (Battavio 2, Donelson); Penns Grove 3 (Wilson 2, Dowe). Technical fouls: Battavio. Fouled out: Taylor. Total fouls: Woodstown 16, Penns Grove 19.
Pennsville 52, Schalick 14
PENNSVILLE – The Eagles had the best of it in this battle of teams fighting through injuries. They opened a 24-7 halftime lead, then erupted for 21 points in the third quarter and shut out the Cougars in the fourth quarter.
The Eagles were down to four core players because of the injuries and brought up several players from the junior varsity to replenish the ranks. Veterans and newcomers alike got together for a film session before the start of the night’s JV game to hammer out a game plan for the main event.
They got the bulk of their scoring from Marley Wood (20 points) and Nora Ausland (18) while the others help keep it in the road. Wood and Ausland combined for all of Pennsville’s points in the first half.
“The girls who got pulled up stepped up and played the role we needed them to play,” Pennsville coach Sam Trapp said. “Izzie Saulin really stepped up on the defensive end. She had some great blocks and solid rebounding.”
3-point goals: Schalick 1 (Fisler); Pennsville 5 (N. Ausland 2, McGee 2, Wood). Total fouls: Schalick 8, Pennsville 12.
Salem 45, Salem Tech 19
SALEM – The Rams put together another strong defensive effort to grab their second straight win. They collected 30 steals and blocked 20 shots against the Chargers.
Ava Rogers had 10 points, nine rebounds and blocked seven shots. QwenNazha Johnson-Logan had nine points, 12 rebounds, eight blocks and had five steals. Ryann Foote had seven steals.
The Rams have recorded 59 steals and 40 blocked shots in their two-game winning streak. Johnson-Logan has had 23 blocks in the two games and is averaging 7.6 per game this season.
Penns Grove uses 20 seconds of chaos from Giomar Conrad at the end of the first half to take the momentum from Woodstown, Salem uses a big second half to beat Salem Tech, Pennsville’s balanced attack takes down Schalick
THURSDAY BOYS SCORES Penns Grove 64, Woodstown 54 Pennsville 57, Schalick 37 Salem 84, Salem Tech 52
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Think of all the things you can do in 20 seconds. Maybe sprint from the easy chair to the mailbox and back on a cold winter’s day. How about a quick run to the fridge during a TV timeout of the big game.
Some teams take longer than that to attack the basket, a situation that could be remedied with the introduction of a shot clock, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Penns Grove boys basketball coach Damian Ware isn’t sure he can do anything in 20 seconds, but he’s glad his team can.
That’s all the time Giomar Conrad and the Red Devils needed to flip the script on Woodstown Thursday night and turn a double-digit deficit into a halftime lead and an eventual 64-54 win to spoil the previously unbeaten Wolverines’ long awaited home opener.
Woodstown (4-1) led by double digits most of the first half, but Conrad scored eight straight points over the final 20 seconds to give his team a 32-30 halftime lead they never lost.
“That was crazy,” Conrad said, “but at the same time it felt good. I’d never done anything like that before.”
It started with a 3-pointer from the right side to cut the deficit to 30-27. Then in rapid-fire succession, Mekhi Ballard got a steal and fed him for a layup to make it 30-29, he put back a missed shot after another steal to put the Red Devils ahead, and then Willie Slocum picked off another rushed pass in the backcourt and fed Conrad for one final strike.
With time running out, Conrad drove wildly and appeared to lose his footing. His throw at the basket didn’t go in, but he was fouled right before the horn sounded. With no one else on the floor, he made the first of his two free throws and Penns Grove led by two at the break. If you want to extend the run even farther back, he hit two free throws inside 40 seconds that made it 30-24.
“I’m thinking, ‘finally,’” Ware said. “That’s what we did, honestly, in our heyday. Back when we won the South Jersey championship in 2020, that’s what we did all game long. We were known for that type of play, just tempo, tempo, turning teams up. And we didn’t have to come back, we just blew teams out.
“We’re trying to get this team to that same level to where they understand how they have to play, how hard we have to play and the energy we have to play with. We’re starting to get there. I’ve seen it in spurts for the last three games. Today I think was the culmination of everything and we kind of made a great run.”
The Red Devils (3-5) carried the momentum of those 20 seconds of chaos into the second half. Slocum scored the first three buckets of the third quarter to fuel a 14-3 run that gave them a 13-point lead with just over three minutes to go in the quarter.
The Wolverines tried to come back, but never got closer than six the rest of the game. They were 8-of-27 from the field with nine turnovers in the second half.
Understandably, Woodstown coach Phil Campbell was in no mood to talk about it and declined a post-game interview request.
Conrad finished as the game’s leading scorer with 21 points. Slocum had 11 and Ballard added 10. Rocco String led Woodstown with 17 points.
3-point goals: Penns Grove 6 (Conrad 4, Ceaser, Ballard); Woodstown 6 (Ortega 2, Bialecki, Hall, Bokolas, Webb). Total fouls: Penns Grove 13, Woodstown 14. Officials: Lawler, Montacalva.
Pennsville 57, Schalick 37
PITTSGROVE – Luke Wood led three Pennsville scorers in double figures with 16 points as the Eagles started the new year with a win for the second year in a row. Cohen Petrutz and Jayden Thomas both hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points apiece.
The Eagles trailed after the first quarter, then took the lead for good in the second quarter and steadily pulled away.
Wood is now 66 points away from 1,000 for his career. He has scored in double figures in his last 14 straight games.
3-point goals: Pennsville 6 (Petrutz 3, Thomas 3); Schalick 6 (Allen, Johnson 2, Lis 2, Volovar). Total fouls: Pennsville 6, Schalick 14.
Salem 84, Salem Tech 52
WOODSTOWN – The homestanding Chargers gave the Rams all they could handle for a half, but they changed defenses at halftime and Salem erupted for 58 points in the second half to win going away.
“Momentum killed us,” Tech coach Bryan Riley said. “(Antoine) Robinson got his third foul as soon as the third quarter started and we switched from man to zone (defense) at half.”
Jabez DeJesus and Anthony Farmer took advantage of the switch. DeJesus scored 18 of his game-high 26 points in the second half while Farmer had 10 of his 12.
Salem, meanwhile, held Tech’s two main scorers, Robinson and Haneef Frisby, to eight points apiece, but the Chargers got 13 from Tyler Zampino and 12 from Chase Wills.
Zampino had eight in the first quarter. Robinson scored six of his points in the second quarter as the Chargers took a 31-26 halftime lead, but he picking up his third foul early in the second half limited his effectiveness the rest of the game.
Pennsville girls trying to make their way after a spate of injuries, Trapp contemplating options for lineup
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOOLWICH TWP. – When it rains, it pours.
The Pennsville girls basketball lineup already was being impacted by injuries, but the bug dug in even deeper during Wednesday night’s 43-35 loss at Kingsway, leaving coach Sam Trapp to search for answers as the Eagles head into the most demanding part of their schedule.
“It’s been extremely challenging; we’re struggling,” Trapp said. “We’ve got a lot of thinking to do in a short amount of time.”
The Eagles are down to four of the players Trapp dedicated to her varsity lineup – Marley Wood, Nora Ausland, Izzy Saulin and Kylie Harris – and not all of them are 100 percent.
Point guard Wood is playing on a sore ankle she hurt in the Buena tournament last week. Ausland, the team’s leading scorer, jammed her finger Wednesday. Additionally, Taylor Bass is out another two weeks with a broken finger, Anikka Macalino has a knee injury and Bella Farina has a head injury.
It’s not the sort of news a coach wants with the Eagles heading into a stretch of four Tri-County Diamond Division games within its next seven or before Bass is expected to return.
The immediate answer is to call up some JV players to replenish the lineup, but many of them aren’t really ready yet for the varsity grind. Freshman Karson Cooksey is now serving as their sixth man.
All the available varsity players are expected to engage in some film study before Thursday night’s JV game against Schalick to develop some sort of gameplan.
“The way things are going I’m basically putting almost everybody on my roster and act like each kid has an extra fifth quarter to play,” Trapp said. “There are 10 kids down on the JV level who are splitting time, so I have six who are dressing for me right now.
“I’m hoping moving forward we can finish at least the rest of this season healthy with what we have and hopefully we get these kids back on the court sooner rather than later.”
Despite the injuries, the Eagles were tied 21-21 at halftime Wednesday before “the cookie crumbled the wrong way.” They were outscored 22-14 in the second half, 18-7 in the third quarter. Pennsville’s Ausland led all scorers with 24 points.
Woodstown wrestlers start the new year with a win over Pitman that wasn’t as taxing as their post-Christmas gauntlet
WEDNESDAY WRESTLING Woodstown 46, Pitman 26 Schalick/Cumberland 58, Sterling 18
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – The Woodstown wrestling team needed a breather.
After putting themselves through a gauntlet of nail biters in their three matches after Christmas, the Wolverines clinched their first match of the new year in the middle part of the proceedings Wednesday night and went on to put away Pitman 46-26.
POLK
It was a lot less stressful than their last three matches. In those exercises, they lost to Northern Burlington and Cinnaminson and beat Audubon, and all three matches went down to the final bout.
“We want to win matches, but I thought we wrestled well tonight,” Woodstown coach Adam Hyland said. “I thought over the weekend we didn’t wrestle up to our capabilities. We just didn’t wrestle well.
“I thought tonight our performance was better. That’s what we really focus on – how well are we performing, not necessarily if we win or lose. I thought we performed a lot better.”
Speaking of performing, Ryan Polk turned in one of the Wolverines’ better individual ones. With forfeits locked up in the final two weights on the night, Polk’s first pin of the season, over Ayden Epley at 132, provided the points to clinch the match.
Polk is somewhat a man on a mission, trying to earn a spot back in the varsity lineup. The junior wrestled with the varsity at 126 as a freshman, but was relegated to the JVs last year with the emergence of Alex Torres. He was getting his shot at 132 this winter with Torres injured and made the most of it.
“We need to get Polky going,” Hyland said. “He’s had some tough losses recently for us. Tonight he hit the technique we work on in practice. He did his job. I’m really proud of him.”
It was a breakthrough night for Polk. He pulled off a cross-face cradle he’d been working to perfect all season to set up his pin and second win of the season.
“It meant a lot,” Polk said. “Last year I only had one win on the varsity (in three matches).”
Polk’s pin made it impossible for Woodstown to lose, then Brett Rowand pinned Robert Graves in 1:14 at 150 to slam the door. The Wolverines also got a pin from Travis Balback (120) and a major decision from Paul Banff (190) to open the match.
“We’ve been working hard all season,” Hyland said. “I tell them we’re concerned with the end of the season, not the beginning of the season, so it’s a process and in terms of where we are in that process we’re about where we need to be. We’ve still got a ways to go, but we’re getting closer.
“We just need to get matches and get them in the groove. We just haven’t been competing very much, so I think as we progress through the season, get more matches under our belt, get more experience and get some guys back from being out, we’re going to get better as the year goes on.”
WOODSTOWN 46, PITMAN 26 190: Paul Banff maj. dec. over Dom Saffioti, 10-2 215: Aiden Milward (P) maj. dec. over Josiah Mejias, 9-1 285: Mateo Vinciguerro won by forfeit 106: Chase Blandino won by forfeit 113: Skylar Nicola (P) won by forfeit 120: Travis Balback pinned A.J. Starr, 0:12 126: Adriano Platt (P) maj. dec. over Carson Bradway, 10-0 132: Ryan Polk pinned Ayden Epley, 1:29 138: Jacob Lawrence (P) dec. Will Groom, 7-4 144: Jon Bruno (P) pinned Angel Hernandez, 3:01 150: Brett Rowand pinned Robert Graves, 1:14 157: Chase Rollins (P) dec. Zayden Donahue, 7-3 165: Zach Bevis won by forfeit 175: Greyson Highland won by forfeit
SCHALICK/CUMBERLAND 58, STERLING 18 120: Kamrin Johnson (S) pinned Gabriel McFeeley, 3:21 126: Luke Silva (SC) pinned Joseph Rogers, 0:37 132: Chase Williams (SC) pinned Alexander Mexica, 0:12 138: Daniel Lloyd (SC) pinned Jayden Williams 144: Declan Winters (S) dec. Riley Papiano, 6-3 150: Ayden Jenkins (SC) pinned Jermaine Stewart, 2:31 157: Ricky Watt (SC) maj. dec. over Brandon Rebecca, 17-7 165: Koen Martin (SC) pinned John Beasley, 3:23 175: Jake Magonagle (SC) pinned Rene Camacho, 2:43 190: Kenny McArdle (S) dec. Eric Sulick, SV-1 3-1 215: Ronald Piernikoski (SC) won by forfeit 285: Nick Gellien (S) pinned Logan Hancock, 1:33 106: Caleb Jenkins (SC) won by forfeit 113: DeAnthony Harden (SC) won by forfeit
Schalick girls draw some positives from their loss to Gloucester, boys get first road win since February 2021
TUESDAY BASKETBALL Girls Gloucester 33, Schalick 24 Boys Schalick 47, Cape May Tech 35
By Al Muskewitz Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE – The Schalick girls basketball team’s approach hasn’t changed even if the calendar has turned the page to a new year. Their goal remains to continue to improve every game.
A nine-point loss in their first game of the new year – 33-24 to Gloucester Tuesday – may not appear to have done anything to further that agenda, but there were several positive takeaways hidden within the setback.
“I told them this isn’t a game to hang your head,” Cougars coach John Whelan said. “It’s a tough loss, but we played astronomically better on defense today. We played with energy.
“Even before I said anything Cianna (Gaines), one of our team captains, stepped in and said even though it’s a loss it’s a confidence booster because we showed flashes of the way we played. It definitely feels good as a coach to have players step up and speak, especially in that regard. I think they’re coming to the realization of what they’re capable of doing if we can put together four full quarters of basketball.”
Among the positives, the Cougars (1-3) scored 20 points in the second half and were outscored by only two. They cut a nine-point halftime deficit to four with 1:25 left in the third quarter and had a chance to make it a one-point game going into the fourth when Cali Fisler was fouled on a 3-point shot right before the horn, but she made only one of the three free throws.
The Lady Lions (4-3) opened the fourth quarter with a 7-2 run to retake the momentum.
“The second half, you can’t complain about putting 20 points on the board in a half,” Whelan said. “There are a lot of good things to come out of this loss and that’s with missing two key pieces to our team. We just want to continue to grow.”
Of course, they still have things to clean up. The Cougars lost under the weight of 52 turnovers, off which Gloucester scored 29 of its points. They scored only four points in the first half.
Part of their troubles can be attributed to their inexperience. It didn’t help they were missing two key players. Taylor Sparks has been out all season after hurting her knee in the final scrimmage; the Cougars are hopeful she’ll return Friday. Point guard Abby Willoughby also missed the game, having sprained an ankle in a basketball-related activity over the holidays.
With Willoughby on the mend, it felt to Fisler to handle the point and Whelan said the sophomore did a “fantastic” job. Fisler led the Cougars with 11 points, all of them coming in the second half. Ava Scurry had six points and nine rebounds.
SCHALICK 47, CAPE MAY TECH 35: Daniel Lis scored 14 points and Nylan Sutton had 11 as the Cougars evened their record to 2-2 with their first road win since Feb. 5, 2021 (Woodstown).
It’s the last time they had two wins after four games and marks the earliest they’ve gotten their second win since 2018-19 (Dec. 20). They didn’t get their second win last year until their 14th game, Jan. 24 (Woodstown).
“It’s always nice getting a win in front of your home crowd, but good teams need to find a way to win on the road,” Cougars coach James Turner said.
Lis and Sutton combined for 11 points in the first quarter as the Cougars opened a 13-8 lead. The Cougars were 8-for-14 from the free throw in the fourth quarter to close it out.
SCHALICK 47, CAPE MAY TECH 35 SCHALICK (2-2) – Reggie Allen 3 0-2 7, Nylan Sutton 3 5-8 11, Nasir Sutton 3 2-5 9, Jordan Johnson 1 1-4 3, Dan Lis 4 4-4 14, Jase Volovar 0 0-0 0, Jake Siedlecki 1 1-1 3. Totals 15 13-24 47 CAPE MAY TECH (0-7) – Paul Simmerman 0 0-0 0, Ronnie Neenhola 4 0-0 8, Colin Gery 1 4-6 6, Chance Ginyard 1 0-0 2, Ben Lynch 5 2-3 14, Alec Dooley 0 1-2 1, Tyler Dille 0 2-3 2, Henry O’Brien 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 9-14 35.
Schalick
13
10
Cape May Tech
12 –
47
Cape May Tech
8
12
10
5 –
35
3-point goals: Schalick 4 (Allen, Na. Sutton, Lis 2); Cape May Tech 2 (Lynch 2). Fouled out: Johnson. Total fouls: Schalick 14, Cape May Tech 17.
maj. dec. over Dom Saffioti, 10-2
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