Lady Devils fall to Glassboro in Tri-County Conference girls B Flight title game; Gloucester Catholic, Overbrook win other girls titles Friday, Timber Creek takes last boys crown
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
FRIDAY CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES
GIRLS
A Flight
Gloucester Catholic 53, Clearview 46
B Flight
Glassboro 32, Penns Grove 26
C Flight
Overbrook 46, Cumberland 37
BOYS
A Flight
Timber Creek 62, Delsea 59
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
GLASSBORO – Kezia Brackett had confidence in her shot from the minute she stepped on the floor Friday.
The Glassboro freshman guard hit shot after shot in pre-game warmups, then carried it over to the game with three 3-pointers in the first half when they were the only shots her team was getting against Penns Grove.
Brackett hit four 3-pointers in the game and finished with 24 points as the Bulldogs took down the Lady Devils 32-26 for the girls B Flight title in the Tri-County Conference Tournament.
“I thought it was very important for me to make my shots,” Brackett said. “During warmups I was kind of hot, so once my coach realized I was hot during warmups, they were feeding me the ball instantly.
“They were playing really good defense, but once I came off that screen set by SiSi (Sianna Wedderburn), it was there.”
The second-seeded Bulldogs (16-7) were playing without injured 1,000-point scorer Tamia Smith, so they needed everyone else to pick up the slack. Brackett just took it all on. She hit two 3s in the first quarter, including one at the buzzer, to give her team a lead it never lost. She hit another in the second quarter and then opened the second half with a 3 to give her team its biggest lead of the game.
“We had a very big effort from Kezia today,” Glassboro coach Monte Willis said. “I said prior to the game one of the keys to the game was we had to be efficient. When we had an opportunity to knock down an open shot or hit an open layup, we had to make it count.”
The way both teams played defense made it difficult for either to get a lot of shots. They spent much of their time moving the ball around the arc looking for something to break.
Where the Lady Devils, seeded eighth in the flight, had the best of it in the closing minutes of their semifinal win over Pennsville, they didn’t have such luck Friday.
After RaNiyah Wilson’s layup drew them even at 22 with 7:47 left, the Lady Devils (13-9) only scored four more points in 19 possessions the rest of the game – a 3-pointer by Wilson and a free throw by Brianna Roberts. They hit only one of their last 15 shots and when they missed they rarely got a second chance.
“I just think we got beat on the boards; they beat us on the boards,” Penns Grove coach Jennifer Denby said. “Give credit to them. They were the better team.”
“We believe we’re a very good defensive team, too,” Willis said. “We believe we have the athletes on the outside to be able to man up on anybody. We just came out there and we just wanted it.”
TRI-COUNTY CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
GIRLS B FLIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP GAME
GLASSBORO 32, PENNS GROVE 26
PENNS GROVE (13-9) — RaNiyah Wilson 4 1-2 11, Meely Horace 1 0-0 3, Brianna Robbins 1 4-10 6, Zoey Caesar 3 0-2 6, Amani Taylor 0 0-0 0, Semijah Hines 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 5-14 26.
GLASSBORO (16-7) — Sanaa Thomas 0 5-10 5, Kezia Brackett 8 4-4 24, Kimora Miles 0 0-0 0, Anye Davis 0 0-0 0, Sianna Wedderburn 1 1-4 3, Scarlett Saicic 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 10-23 32.
| Penns Grove | 5 | 6 | 9 | 6 — | 26 |
| Glassboro | 10 | 5 | 7 | 10 — | 32 |
Cover photo: Glassboro’s Kezia Brackett (5) launches one of her 3-pointers against the defense of Penns Grove’s RaNiyah Wilson.
Riverview Sports News 