Welcome to the club

Penns Grove’s Horace becomes fifth player in Salem County to reach 1,000-point milestone this season, roundup includes all Salem County girls games

TUESDAY’S GIRLS GAMES
Penns Grove 51, Schalick 30
Pennsville 40, Glassboro 38
Gloucester Catholic 61, Salem 12
Wildwood 62, Salem Tech 27
Woodstown 76, Overbrook 42

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PITTSGROVE – Every day since the start of her senior season Meely Horace has walked into the Penns Grove gym and looked at the big red banner on the wall of 1,000-point scorers in the girls program.

And every time there has been this big strip of tape underneath the last name on the list, presumably covering the line that carried her name in anticipation of her joining the club just daring her to pull it down. She couldn’t wait to pull that piece of tape down.

Well, she doesn’t have to look at it or wait any more.

Horace became the latest member of the Penns Grove 1,000-Point Club Tuesday when she hit a short jumper from the right side with 6:18 left in the second quarter of the Red Devils’ 51-30 win over Schalick.

“It meant a lot,” she said of the milestone. “It’s been a minute since somebody hit 1K, so I feel like I achieved a goal. My cousin, Tamara Walker, is on that banner, too. I wanted to be up there with her.

“Every day at school when I was in PE and all that I would go in there and look at it and be like, ‘I can’t wait to pull this down.’”

The moment of truth came at halftime of the boys game once her team returned to campus from its road win. She stood on the baseline with the congratulatory banner they presented at her game, then turned and looked upwards as the tape was removed to reveal her name. The space for points remains blank as she still has games to play.

Horace is the 19th player in Penns Grove history to score 1,000 points and the seventh girl. She’s the fifth player in Salem County to reach the milestone this season, joining Woodstown’s Talia Battavio and Megan Donelson, Salem’s Anthony Farmer and Pennsville’s Luke Wood. Both Farmer and Wood hit their marks in games against Penns Grove. Farmer is the only one to have done it at home.

The last Penns Grove player to clear the hurdle was Jamar Johnson in 2020. The last girl was Natrice Reed in 2018.

Horace has been sitting on 998 since Thursday night when she put 38 on Overbrook and she admitted the suspense was killing her.

It was expected she would reach the milestone early in Tuesday’s game, maybe even on the first play of the game, but it took a while. She was turned away the first three times the Red Devils came down the floor – traveling in the right corner, getting double teamed at the top of the key without getting a shot and missing a fast break layup.

She hit 999 with the first of two free throws with 5:38 left in the first quarter. She missed the second shot, but got the rebound and had the ball stripped as she drove to the basket.

Acting coach Taylor Smith took her out with 4:57 left in the quarter. It wasn’t because anyone thought she was pressing to score the milestone points, but rather to give more family members a chance to get to the gym to witness the historic occasion when it came.

“I was frustrated at first, but then I was like it’s going to come to me,” she said. “I feel like (she rushed things) a little bit, then I realized I’ve got to slow it down; there are four quarters. After I missed a couple I didn’t force anything, I let it come to me. I knew I was going to get it regardless. My teammates and my coaches were going to make sure.”

She reentered the game with 12 seconds left in the quarter and missed a layup at the buzzer. She missed two more free throws and then lost a ball in the lane.

The milestone finally came on a short jumper from the right side. They stopped the game, family poured onto the floor from the stands and she was presented with a game ball, a congratulatory 1,000-point banner and balloons that spelled out ‘1K.’

“Congrats to Meely because that’s a great accomplishment,” Smith said. “That’s not an easy thing to do in your high school career. We would like to salute her and congratulate her a million times for it because it is a great accomplishment.

“I was excited for her. Everybody was excited for her. We were all waiting on the moment for her.”

When the milestone finally arrived it was like a weight was lifted off everyone on the Penns Grove side. Her basket gave the Red Devils a 12-7 lead and touched off a run that stretched the lead to 28-7 before the Cougars scored again.

Horace finished with 12 points and now has 1,010 for her career.

PENNS GROVE 51, SCHALICK 30
PENNS GROVE (9-8) – RaNiyah Wilson 4 4-4 13, Meely Horace 5 2-7 12, Brianna Robbins 5 1-3 12, Amani Taylor 1 2-4 4, Zoey Caesar 2 2-6 6, Semijah Hines 0 0-0 0, Syanna Robbins 1 0-0 2, Arianna Down 1 0-0 2. Totals 19 11-24 51.
SCHALICK (5-13) – Cianna Gaines 1 3-4 5, Taylor Sparks 1 1-2 4, Ava Scurry 4 2-2 10, Abby Willoughby 0 0-0 0, Cali Fisler 0 2-4 2, Carly Vicente 3 0-0 8, Emma O’Neill 0 0-0 0, Kyleigh Cutler 0 0-0 0, Olivia Lunemann 0 1-4 1. Totals 9 9-16 30.

Penns Grove	8	24	12	7 –	51
Schalick	7	7	6	10 –	30

PENNSVILLE 40, GLASSBORO 38: Taylor Bass’ only basket of the game, a put back with a minute left, broke a 38-38 tie and the Eagles made it stand for their third straight win. Marley Wood led three Pennsville scorers in double figures with 16 points, 10 in the second half. Nora Ausland had 12 points, 10 in the first quarter, and Bella Farina had 10.

PENNSVILLE 40, GLASSBORO 38
PENNSVILLE (10-11) – Nora Ausland 5 0-0 12, Taylor Bass 1 0-1 2, Bella Farina 5 0-0 10, Marley Wood 7 1-2 16, Celli Ausland 0 0-0 0, Izzy Saulin 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 1-3 40.
GLASSBORO (12-6) – Sanaa Thomas 3 2-2 8, Tamia Smith 5 3-4 13, Kezia Brackett 7 0-2 17, Ante Davis 0 0-0 0, Sianna Wedderburn 0 0-0 0, Kimora Miles 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 5-8 38.

Pennsville	19	7	4	10 –	40
Glassboro	8	6	18	6 –	38

Salem Tech	4	0	11	12 –	27
Wildwood	19	16	23	5 –	62

WOODSTOWN 76, OVERBROOK 42: The Wolverines opened a comfortable 10-point lead, then pulled away with a 33-3 second quarter.

Talia Battavio had eight points in the quarter, while Megan Donelson and Shannon Pierman had six apiece. The only basket they allowed in the quarter was a 3-pointer by Zahaisha Nevius.

“We hammered it inside to Shannon in their zone defense and moved the ball really well,” Wolverines coach Kara Straughn said. “We have also been focusing a lot on our drives and kicks and the girls did a much better job executing that tonight.”

Battavio led the Wolverines with 19 points. Donelson and Pierman had 14 each. Ten players scored.

Donelson now had 1,029 career points and Battavio 1,028.

WOODSTOWN 76, OVERBROOK 42
WOODSTOWN (15-4) – Talia Battavio 7 2-2 19, Megan Donelson 5 2-2 14, Alyssa Baber 3 0-0 7, Gianna Maiorini 2 0-0 4, Shannon Pierman 7 0-0 14, Emma Perry 2 0-0 4, Brae DiGregorio 1 0-0 2, Jala Thomas 2 0-0 4, Lizzy Daly 0 0-0 0, Kailyn Kennedy 2 0-0 4, Kendall Young 2 0-0 4, Talia Guardascione 0 0-0 0. Totals 33 4-4 76.
OVERBROOK (4-14) – Gianna Simon 1 0-0 2, Joel Presley 4 2-6 11, Kaylee Burckhardt 2 0-0 4, Zahaisha Nevius 6 4-7 19, Sarah Evans 1 0-0 3, Leiani Knight 0 0-0 0, Alahni White 0 0-0 0, Kayla Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Nahia Smith 0 0-0 0, Talia Wiggins 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 6-13 42.

Woodstown	20	33	9	14 –	76
Overbrook	10	3	15	14 –	42