Couple of rough patches conspire to send Salem CC women to defeat in final home game of season
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT – Whether you’re a new team in the game or been playing since Naismith hung his first peach basket, three principles remain true about the game. If you don’t protect the ball, rebound and finish at the rim, you don’t win.
The revived Salem Community College women’s basketball team went through three such stretches Saturday and in a 71-41 loss to Raritan Valley CC in the Dupont Field House.
There was a 10-0 run over the final 4:30 of the first quarter that gave the Lions control of the game. Then there was a 15-4 spree over about the same stretch in the third quarter and finally a forgettable 12-2 fourth quarter in which it didn’t score a field goal.
Take away those stretches and the Mighty Oaks (8-11) hung with a sophomore-laden team of internationals that until recently had been ranked in the JUCO Division II Top 20.
“It’s one of the things we’ve been fighting through, honestly,” Oaks coach Brian Marsh said. “Our energy was there, but our execution wasn’t there.”
That kind of thing can happen when you bring in nine players from nine different schools who played the game nine different ways and try to blend them into one system that wasn’t necessarily the one they signed up for. With a year together under Marsh’s Way next season should go a lot smoother.
“I think if we work on those things for next year they will definitely be great next year,” added Carly Santimaw, a freshman with sophomore credits from Pennsville. “It’s just kind of a learning progress, we just learn as we go and it’s the first year, so …”
The loss was Salem’s fourth in a row and forces the Oaks to win their final three games on the road to make the playoffs.
The game was Salem’s final home game of its first season since bringing the program back after a 10-year break. The school shuttered the program after the 2013-14 season.
Since revitalizing the program Marsh has been trying to spread the word that there is a program here and beating the bushes to find players. He originally was hired as an assistant coach to find players for the upstart program, then was elevated to head coach when the former coach left abruptly for the Midwest.
Both of the players who played their final home games for the Oaks Saturday joined the program after originally coming to campus to do something else. Kyla Buerger came in from Houston to play softball, but she played basketball in high school and became intrigued about helping start a program from the ground floor. Santimaw was coming to Salem just to study, but also liked what she hearing when the Oaks coaches came to her Senior Night at Salem Tech.
“I was really excited,” Buerger said. “I love being a part of stuff like this. I’m not going to lie, it’s been a tough year. We’re not the tallest (team), but it’s mainly the heart that our team has (that helps it persevere).”
“It’s a cool thing to be a part of, because we’re making history,” Santimaw said. “It’s great to be a part of that.”
The Mighty Oaks recognized one of the stars of that last team. After an exhaustive search through the archives over the summer, the school discovered Shaqui Coppage was the all-time leading scorer in program history and recognized the accomplishment at halftime.
Coppage scored 1,236 points in her two seasons (2012-13 and 2013-14) with the Oaks and is second on the school’s all-time scoring list regardless of gender. She scored 1,262 points at Salem High School before that.
She honestly didn’t know where she stood on the all-time list. When the school shut down the program, all the banners and records went into storage – until a summer intern went through them to bring the records up to date.
“It was amazing because I didn’t know any of it until now,” Coppage said. “To know all this now, with the numbers and being the all-time leading scorer, it’s overwhelming. I’m overwhelmed with different emotions. Like I want to cry, but I’m smiling real hard.”
Coppage averaged 22.9 in her sophomore year, which turned out to the program’s final season for a long time. The players learned during the year the program would be discontinued at the end of the season, but they were determined to finish strong and got the team into the playoffs for the first time in 20 years.
She was disappointed they shut it down, but was over the moon when she learned they were bringing it back.
“I was very proud of the school to do so,” she said. “Basketball was the thing that kept me going. It pushed me and for another little girl it could be the same for them, too. It was good to know they brought it back. I have a daughter as well now, so that’s something she can look forward to.”
RARITAN VALLEY 71, SALEM CC 41
RARITAN VALLEY (19-5) – Kerine Thomas 3 0-0 7, Judith Vila 7 0-0 16, Freya Rauschenfels 1 1-2 3, Lucia Noin 11 2-2 24, Quanajah Felder 3 0-0 8, JaNya Mills 2 0-1 4, Vega Gil 2 1-2 5, Julia Fontanillo 2 0-0 4, Alexis Junker 0 0-0 0. Totals 31 4-7 71.
SALEM CC (8-11) – Caroline Zullo 0-6 1-4 1, Maggie St. Clair 2-8 0-0 5, Jakayla Jenkins 1-9 5-6 7, Kyla Buerger 0-0 0-0 0, Carly Santimaw 2-12 0-0 5, Alexa Hopkins 4-8 0-0 11, Callie Rozak 0-0 0-0 0, Kathryn Laurence 4-9 2-4 12. Totals 13-52 8-14 41.
| Raritan Valley | 21 | 15 | 23 | 12 – | 71 |
| Salem CC | 9 | 14 | 16 | 2 – | 41 |
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