Penns Grove, Pennsville play to an empty house in second half as gym cleared in third quarter; includes all of Thursday’s Salem County girls games
THURSDAY’S GIRLS GAMES
Penns Grove 39, Pennsville 32
Clayton 58, Salem 30
Pitman 43, Salem Tech 28
Overbrook 41, Schalick 27
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – Games between Pennsville and Penns Grove in every sport are always a spirited affair, but Thursday night added a new layer of intensity to the rivalry, at least on the girls basketball side of things.
Tensions spilled over from the visitors’ bleachers in Salberg Gym midway through the third quarter, precipitating a 30-minute delay and forcing site managers to clear the gym before allowing play to continue. When it did resume, Penns Grove closed out a 39-32 victory that helped it solidify a spot in the South Jersey Group I playoffs and win for only the second time in its last 10 games against the Eagles.
The drama developed after a hard collision between the Red Devils’ recently installed 1,000-point scorer Meely Horace and Pennsville’s Taylor Bass on a 50-50 ball in the frontcourt with 3:32 left in the third quarter and Penns Grove leading 34-26.
Fans in the Penns Grove stands took exception to the contact and let the officials know about it. It was so concerning to Pennsville athletics director Jamy Thomas that he approached the group, directed authorities to remove the most vocal individuals and announced over the public address system the game “will not continue until the bleachers are cleared.”
Both teams left the floor and waited in the bench area before finally retiring to their respective dressing rooms. Three Pennsville police officers appeared on the scene to help restore order while Thomas watched from the center circle. Three more officers arrived later. At one point Penns Grove coach Jennifer Denby crossed the floor to engage the crowd.
After about 15 minutes game managers began to clear the stands on both sides of the gym with the Penns Grove group the last to leave. After about a 30-minute delay, which included a brief warmup for the teams, play resumed with no spectators in the gym.
Horace and Bass collided again diving for a loose ball in the fourth quarter without incident between the players.
“I was trying to remove the folks who were instigating the whole thing and getting a little bit too aggressive,” Thomas said. “They asked where’s my warning; your warning’s at the beginning of the game. There’s a sportsmanship message in there and it clearly says this is your first and last warning, we’re not issuing warnings.
“When you’re standing up and approaching the court and screaming at the top of your lungs, that’s over the top, because what’s the next step. It’s trying to almost cut the head off the snake right away and be done with the problem. I think we let some go that got to a point we had to shut it down. It’s unfortunate you’ve got to get rid of everybody.”
There were no arrests and a game management report was being prepared after the game to send to the respective district superintendents, principals, officials assignor, Penns Grove athletics director Anwar Golden and the Tri-County Conference. Details of the report will not be made public.
It wasn’t the first time tensions in the series red-lined. There was a dust up in this game at Pennsville last year that resulted in fan ejections on both sides.
“Our fans have got our back and we’ve got their back,” Denby said. “They support us, we support them, so that’s what we’ve got to do because we’re tired on 7-on-5.”
Pennsville coach Sam Trapp declined to comment on any aspect of the game.
Right before the incident, the Red Devils (10-8) had rebuilt a 10-point lead after Pennsville (10-12) closed the second quarter with a 7-0 run to get back within three at halftime. Marley Wood had five of her team-high 12 points in the rally.
But Penns Grove opened the third quarter with runs of 6-2 and 7-2 to gain some breathing room. Brianna Robbins had a spinning layup to start the first run and a three-point play to cap the second. She had 13 points in the game. RaNiyah Wilson led the Red Devils with 16.
“What we try to teach the girls is we’re always like 7-to-5, so you’ve got to continue to play,” Denby said. “I’m happy they came out and continued to play regardless of the calls that were made and things like that. I think the girls played through the situation and that speaks volumes about them.”
The win moved Penns Grove to 12th in the South Jersey Group I power points standings with a game against Schalick left before Saturday’s state cutoff. Pennsville remained tied for ninth with Burlington City, 18 points behind the final spot for a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
“Every game is important at this point,” Denby said.
PENNS GROVE 39, PENNSVILLE 32
PENNS GROVE (10-8) – RaNiyah Wilson 6 2-2 16, Meely Horace 2 2-2 6, Brianna Robbins 5 3-8 13, Zoey Caesar 1 0-0 2, Amani Taylor 0 0-0 0, JaNiyah Cummings 0 0-0 0, Syanna Robbins 0 0-0 0, Arianna Down 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 7-12 39.
PENNSVILLE (10-12) – Celli Ausland 0 0-0 0, Nora Ausland 2 1-2 5, Taylor Bass 2 4-6 9, Sofia Belitas 0 0-0 0, Bella Farina 1 0-2 2, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0, Malani McGee 0 0-0 0, Izzy Saulin 2 0-0 4, Marley Wood 4 4-8 12. Totals 11 9-18 32.
| Penns Grove | 17 | 4 | 13 | 5 – | 39 |
| Pennsville | 8 | 10 | 10 | 4 – | 32 |
CLAYTON 58, SALEM 30: NaeNae Logan led Salem with eight points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots. She now has 83 blocks for the season and 100 for her career. Carlysia Pierce had seven points, five rebounds and four steals. Ava Rodgers grabbed nine rebounds and Marjziah Bundy had eight.
SALEM (7-14) – Carlysia Pierce 3 1-3 7, Lyric Hayes 0 0-0 0, Marjziah Bundy 1 0-0 2, Ava Rodgers 2 0-0 4, Nevaeh Hickman 2 0-0 5, Ameriyona Hunter 1 0-0 2, Dakirah Gray 1 0-0 2, NaeNae Logan 4 0-0 8, Zaniyah Freison 0 0-0 0, Marissa Bower 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 1-3 30.
CLAYTON (11-9) – Jordyn Jones 3 3-8 9, Rainelle Blocker 6 1-2 13, Rosalina Pereira 1 0-0 2, Deondria Simon 6 0-0 14, Ava Delaney 6 0-0 12, India Williams 2 0-0 4, Janice Blair 1 0-0 2, Kaya Gunther 1 0-0 2. Totals 26 4-10 58.
| Salem | 2 | 3 | 15 | 10 – | 30 |
| Clayton | 22 | 19 | 11 | 6 – | 58 |
PITMAN 43, SALEM TECH 28
SALEM TECH (1-17) – Hanna DeWitt 0 1-2 1, Demajae White 1 0-0 2, TiRonna McGaha 1 0-0 2, Kaylin Beardsley 4 0-0 9, Morgan VanDover 3 0-0 6, Lavae Scott 1 0-0 2, Rylee Doerr 2 1-2 5, Drummond 0 1-2 1. Totals 12 3-6 28.
PITMAN (10-10) – Anna Fisicaro 7 0-0 15, Miya Villari 4 4-6 14, Jessica Bretz 1 0-0 2, Evelyn Wisely 3 0-0 7, Audrey Duffield 2 0-0 5. Totals 17 4-6 43.
| Salem Tech | 4 | 11 | 5 | 8 – | 28 |
| Pitman | 14 | 11 | 9 | 9 – | 43 |
OVERBROOK 41, SCHALICK 27: Zahaisha Nevius and Gianna Simon led Overbrook with 19 and 11 points, respectively.
| Schalick (5-14) | 8 | 4 | 10 | 5 – | 27 |
| Overbrook (5-14) | 8 | 13 | 9 | 11 – | 41 |
Cover photo: Penns Grove’s RaNiyah Wilson tosses a pass to Meely Horace in an empty gym during the second half of their game with Pennsville Thursday night.
Riverview Sports News 