Pennsville girls turn up defense in fourth quarter to keep their season going and their coach around a while longer
SOUTH JERSEY GROUP I TOURNAMENT
THURSDAY’S GAMES
No. 1 Woodbury 81, No. 16 Salem 26
No. 8 Pennsville 59, No. 9 Gateway 55
No. 12 Penns Grove 48, No. 5 Palmyra 37
No. 4 Woodstown 67, No. 13 Cape May Tech 28
No. 3 Maple Shade 32, No. 14 Pitman 18
No. 6 Audubon 44, No. 11 Clayton 30
No. 7 Glassboro 74, No. 10 Burlington City 28
No. 2 Wildwood 77, No. 15 Paulsboro 27
TUESDAY’S GAMES
No. 8 Pennsville at No. 1 Woodbury
No. 12 Penns Grove at No. 4 Woodstown
No. 6 Audubon at No. 3 Maple Shade
No. 7 Glassboro at No. 2 Wildwood
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE – Sam Trapp was waiting at the end of the line to give each one of her starters their special handshake like she always does during the pregame introductions. When she got to Bella Farina’s turn to come through, the Pennsville girls basketball coach raised her arms as if to place a crown on her senior center’s head.
Before Farina could get away, she whispered to her coach a comment that brought a tear to Trapp’s eye.
“This isn’t going to be the last time.”
When the game ended, the coach raced out to midcourt to embrace her senior and delivered a message of her own.
“We’re not done yet.”
The Trapp farewell tour extended for at least one more game Thursday night after the eighth-seeded Eagles rallied to beat Gateway 59-55 in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I tournament.
The win sends the Eagles (14-13) to top-seeded Woodbury for a quarterfinals matchup Tuesday. It also guarantees Trapp a .500 record in her final season with the Eagles. Late last month she announced she was stepping down at the end of the season to become to new athletics director at Triton Regional.
“I’m ecstatic,” Trapp said. “(Pennsville athletics director) Jamy (Thomas) and I have a little inside joke that he calls me ‘Doc Rivers’ because I didn’t make it out of the first round last year. I had to prove a point.
“But moreso I wanted to prove to these girls just how good they are. I think sometimes they can doubt themselves, get down on themselves, but they’re so much better than they even know they really truly are.
“They showed it. They played so well together tonight and they worked so hard together at the end and they found a way to win it. That’s what we continue to do. We found a way to win it and we continue to work together. I love it.”
The Eagles are 8-4 since Trapp revealed her plans to the players after their Jan. 26 game with Haddon Heights. The remaining time they have with their coach was very much on the players’ minds during the game. And for a while in the second half it looked as if their run together would end in Trapp’s final game on her home floor.
The Eagles trailed the Gators by nine late in the third quarter, but about that time Trapp implored her players to “pick it up on defense” and that suggestion was all it took to flip the switch.
They went to the half-court press at the start of the fourth quarter and it produced a 14-0 run that was part of a larger 18-3 spree that put them up six with 2:40 to play. The 14-0 run started with three straight steals – one by Taylor Bass and two by Farina – that were quickly converted into points.
There were five takeaway altogether in the spree, three missed shots and a held ball that went in Pennsville’s favor. Nora Ausland provided 10 of the points when they converted.
“I know she’s sad about it being her last home game and I just didn’t want it to add the pressure of being her last game ever here,” Ausland said. “That was definitely a factor in trying to win this game.“
“It’s always a good feeling knowing you go from kind of dead to so much energy and you get that comeback and that win,” Bass said. “I definitely think we deserved it.”
“I think we all played really hard today for her and our seniors,” Marley Wood said. “Bella’s a big part of our team and we didn’t want it to be her last game, either.”
The flurry might have gotten them the lead, but the Eagles still had work to do. The Gators got within two on Angie Zagone’s 3-pointer with 25 seconds left and then one on two Zagone free throws with 12.6 seconds left.
Wood hit the first of two free throws with 11.7 left. She missed the second and Pennsville lost the rebound out of bounds at 9.8. Gateway’s Bella Fini drove into traffic trying to get the tying basket and maybe a foul, but Bass knocked the ball away and was fouled when she collected it.
She hit two free throws with 2.5 seconds left to seal it.
“There was definitely a lot of feelings involved (going to the line),” Bass said. “We definitely wanted this win to carry on. We went out first round last year. We wanted to come back, prove that we’re better. We haven’t had the best season statistically because we lost all of our players, but tonight proved we’re better.”
Ausland (21) and Wood combined for 41 points to lead Pennsville’s offense. Bass had 11. Zagone led all scorers with 27 points to finish her career as the Gators’ second all-time leading scorer.
NO. 8 PENNSVILLE 59, NO. 9 GATEWAY 55
GATEWAY (16-10) – Tabby Bay 0 0-0 0, Gabby Gasis 2 0-0 6, Sydney Hughes 0 0-2 0, Angelina Zagone 8 8-12 27, Molly Sholders 8 0-0 16, Bella Fini 2 2-3 6. Totals 20 10-17 55.
PENNSVILLE (14-13) – Calli Ausland 0 0-0 0, Nora Ausland 7 5-7 21, Taylor Bass 4 3-3 11, Sofia Belitsas 0 0-0 0, Karsen Cooksey 0 0-0 0, Bella Farina 2 3-4 7, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0 Izzy Saulin 0 0-0 0, Marley Wood 7 4-10 20. Totals 20 15-24 59.
| Gateway | 8 | 19 | 16 | 12 – | 55 |
| Pennsville | 11 | 13 | 14 | 21 – | 59 |
WOODSTOWN 67, CAPE MAY TECH 28: It took the Wolverines a quarter to shake off the rust of not playing for eight days, but once they settled in, they got back to playing in a manner to which they are accustomed. It was a four-point game after one quarter, then the home team steadily pulled away.
Cape May Tech came out in a triangle-and-two against Woodstown’s Talia Battavio and Megan Donelson, but as other teams have discovered throughout the season, the Wolverines have a lot of weapons at their disposal.
Battavio and Donelson once again were their leading scorers with 18 and 16, respectively, but the Wolverines got 13 from post Shannon Pierman and sophomore Lauren Hengel gave them a career-high 10 off the bench.
“We have solid players who step up when our leading scorers get taken out in the offense,” Woodstown coach Kara Straughn said.
Hengel has scored 16 points in her last two games after scoring 37 in her previous 21 games this season.
“She’s just put in a lot of work; she wants so badly to elevate her game,” Straughn said. “She’s going to be a good player and I think games like the last two are starting to give her a little more confidence. She plays well on both ends of the floor and she wants to be good, which helps a lot.”
The Wolverines (18-6) now host Penns Grove in a second-round game Tuesday, but first they’ll try to complete a third-straight undefeated TCC Diamond Division slate Friday against Overbrook.
NO. 4 WOODSTOWN 67, NO. 13 CAPE MAY TECH 28
CAPE MAY TECH (10-17) – Amanda Daino 3 1-6 7, Emma Drumm 5 2-7 14, Anna Delaney 3 0-0 7, Marley Wetzel 0 0-0 0, Emma Oravits 0 0-0 0, Marisa Daniels 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 3-13 28.
WOODSTOWN (18-6) – Talia Battavio 7 1-2 18, Megan Donelson 5 5-5 16, Gianna Maiorini 0 1-2 1, Alyssa Baber 2 0-0 5, Shannon Pierman 5 3-3 13, Lauren Hengel 4 2-2 10, Emma Perry 2 0-0 4, Brae DiGregirio 0 0-0 0, Lizzy Daly 0 0-0 0, Jala Thomas 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 12-14 67.
| Cape May Tech | 14 | 4 | 4 | 6 – | 28 |
| Woodstown | 18 | 16 | 21 | 12 – | 67 |
PENNS GROVE 48, PALMYRA 37: The 5-12 games in the NCAA Tournament tend to produce the most upsets and it did in the South Jersey Group I girls tournament Thursday.
RaNiyah Wilson scored 30 points for the third time this season and led the 12th-seeded Lady Devils (14-9) to their seventh win in the last eight games and the only opening-round win among the bracket’s road teams.
Earlier this season, her first with the Lady Devils since transferring from Kingsway, Wilson went for 33 against Woodstown and 30 against Salem. She is averaging nearly 17 points a game.
Penns Grove now travels to Woodstown for its third meeting of the season with the Wolverines in Tuesday’s second round.
NO. 12 PENNS GROVE 48, NO. 5 PALMYRA 37
PENNS GROVE (14-9) – Meely Horace 1 0-0 2, RaNiyah Wilson 12 5-10 30, Brianna Robbins 2 1-4 5, JaNiyah Cummings 3 1-2 7, Zoey Caesar 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 7-16 48.
PALMYRA (16-9) – Kiley Hines 1 0-0 2, Cadence Anderson 8 7-8 24, Anna Paszkiewicz 1 0-0 2, Amanda Gilmore 1 0-0 2, Angelina Sauls 1 1-2 4, Ava Sims 1 0-0 3. Totals 13 8-10 37.
| Penns Grove | 7 | 11 | 12 | 18 – | 48 |
| Palmyra | 12 | 7 | 10 | 8 – | 37 |
WOODBURY 81, SALEM 26: The Thundering Herd (17-10) flexed their muscle as the top seed and held Salem scoreless in the first quarter. Maya Braxton-Young led four Herd scorers in double figures with 23 points.
Ava Rodgers led Salem (8-16) with eight points and nine rebounds. Ryann Foote had six points, seven rebounds and six steals. Marjziah Bundy didn’t score, but had six rebounds and four blocked shots.
The Herd, which was 2-7 at one point this season, now hosts eighth-seeded Pennsville in Tuesday’s second round.
NO. 1 WOODBURY 81, NO. 16 SALEM 26
SALEM (8-16) – Ryann Foote 3-1-6, Ava Rodgers 4-0-8, Nevaeh Hickman 2-0-5, Zaniyah Freison 1-0-2, Ameriyona Hunter 2-0-5, Marjziah Bundy 0-0-0, Lyric Hayes 0-0-0. Totals 11-1-26.
WOODBURY (17-10) – Nyla Ivey 2-2-10, Janessa Robinson 2-0-4, Abby Bash 3-1-8, Dasani Talley-Dorman 4-4-12, Melannie Noel 6 0-0 14, Zoe Bell 1-0-2, Maya Braxton-Young 8-7-23, Emerald Sills 3-2-8. Totals 29-16-81.
| Salem | 0 | 11 | 9 | 6 – | 26 |
| Woodbury | 31 | 25 | 17 | 8 – | 81 |
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