Finding their way

Rebuilding Pennsville takes a step forward near end of third quarter, pulls away from Salem Tech in Monday matinee; Battavio now third on Woodstown girls’ all-time scoring list as Wolverines rally to beat Holy Spirit

MONDAY BASKETBALL
BOYS GAME
Pennsville 54, Salem Tech 35
GIRLS GAMES
Washington Twp. 41, Pennsville 30
Boardwalk Classic, Wildwood
Woodstown 46, Holy Spirit 37

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE – Having a team that suddenly finds itself trying to find its way instead of having the road mapped out for it, Pennsville basketball coach Joe Mecholsky takes small pockets of growth where he can find them.

The Eagles aren’t quite the team Mecholsky expected to have when school started, so they’re going to be a work in progress for a while. That means there are some ups and there are going to be some downs. 

They played arguably their best three minutes of the young season late in the third quarter Monday and the stretch helped them put away Salem Tech 54-35 for their first win of the season.

“Apple trees don’t give you oranges,” Mecholsky said. “We are who we are. Success isn’t on the scoreboard. Success is how we approach each game, how we rebound, how we pass, how we pick each other when we’re down, how we communicate, how we handle adversity.

“We’ve got to build something now again. We’re back to rebuilding, so that’s fine, but it’s important that we learn the lessons this year and carry them back to next year. Rebuilding means to keep building up to something. As a coach I’ve left the gym the last three nights feeling that we got the most we could out of them. Couldn’t get any more juice out of the orange. We squeezed it every night.”

The Eagles were expected to have a veteran team coming back to challenge for a winning record and an elusive playoff win. But when the senior baseball players who made up a prime part of the lineup decided not to play to focus on their spring sport, it left the cagers with a roster of sophomores and juniors that’s learning as it goes.

They opened the season with a home loss to Wildwood and did some things better in a loss to Glassboro. They go on the road for the first time Dec. 27 at Buena.

“We’re really young,” said sophomore guard Mason O’Brien, their most experienced player with 29 varsity games under his belt. “It’s not about winning right now. It’s a lot about  building up and if we win games, we win games. No one expects us to win games right now, but hopefully in the next two years they do expect us to win.”

The light bulb moment Monday came when they were already winning by 14. From there they slid into a 1-3-1, three-quarters court trap and put the game away. It created a number of steals, which they turned into transition layups and by the end of the quarter the lead had grown to 47-24.

The trap created six turnovers in seven possessions, off which the Eagles scored 11 points. The emotional spark may have been the charge Cole Johnston drew, but the run started with Logan Hitt’s steal and three-point play. O’Brien scored three buckets, two off steals, and Shiloh Jefferson finished it off with a steal and scooping layup right before the buzzer.

The Eagles scored 20 points off the Chargers’ turnovers.

“We just wanted to put pressure on them,” Mecholsky said. “On tape it didn’t look like they could handle the ball under pressure. We were trying to find the right mix. We went man first and we dropped back, then we found the three-quarter court gave them some confusion and it let me use the one thing we do have and that’s athleticism in bunches.

“We’re the same team players 1 to 8. You can interchange anybody out, it’s just the name on the back of jersey (that’s different). We’re all 6-foot guards. When our big guy, Perry Meranti, goes 6-1 ¾, it’s about getting to the spot. We’ve got to hit on all cylinders to win. If we don’t hit on a cylinder one night then we don’t give ourselves the best chance to win.”

O’Brien led all scorers with 20 points, 10 in the third quarter and 12 in the second half. Jovanni Rios helped get them off to a good start with eight of his nine points in the first quarter.

“We’re not a finished product on Dec. 23,” Mecholsky said. “We going to look to be peaking end of January, beginning of February, hope to stay in the playoff mix. Every game is going to be competitive where we’ve got to find ourselves. We’ve got to show up and play. We’re a bunch of sophomores and juniors finding our way.”

Salem Tech is a team finding its way, too. The Chargers (0-4) lost two of their top returning players to the transfer portal and Penns Grove. Daviontae Russell and J.R. Reed had eight points apiece Monday.

PENNSVILLE 54, SALEM TECH 35
SALEM TECH (0-4) – Daviontae Russell 4 0-0 8, Alex Thomas 2 0-0 4, Joseph Hayes 2 0-0 5, Connor Dougan 0 0-0 0, Keidyn Robinson 0 0-0 0, Larry Pompper 2 0-0 4, Aiden Bobo 0 1-2 1, Raphael Busch 2 1-2 5, Charlie Brown 0 0-0 0, J.R. Reed 3 2-3 8. Totals 15 4-4-7 35.
PENNSVILLE (1-2) – C.J. McDevitt 2-4 2-3 6, Jovanni Rios 4-11 1-2 9, Cole Johnston 1-5 0-2 2, Mason O’Brien 9-16 2-2 20, Shiloh Jefferson 4-12 1-2 9, Danny Knight 0-4 0-0 0, Perry Meranti 1-1 0-0 2, Logan Hitt 1-4 1-1 3, Noah Owen 1-2 1-1 3, Jacob Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Griffin Hern 0-0 0-2 0, Gavin Spears 0-1 0-0 0, Jacob Farina 0-1 0-0 0, Brett Regner 0 0-0 0. Totals 23-62 8-15 54.

Salem Tech 87911-35
Pennsville1511217-54

3-point goals: Salem Tech 1 (Hayes). Rebounds: Salem Tech 31 (Russell 7); Pennsville 28 (Rios 7).
Total fouls: Salem Tech 20, Pennsville 17.

Woodstown girls overcome
adversity to remain unbeaten

WILDWOOD – Talia Battavio scored 19 points, including four 3-pointers, and helped Woodstown put together a strong second-half defensive effort that helped them turn back Holy Spirit 46-37 in a Boardwalk Classic showcase game in the Convention Center.

It’s the first time since 2021 the Wolverines (4-0) go into the Christmas break undefeated. They were 1-0 that season before the holiday. They were 2-0 before Christmas in 2015.

“It’s definitely a good feeling,” Wolverines coach Matt Smart said. “It was a tough Holy Spirit team today – they were physical, well coached, very skilled and talented – and it was nice to come out on top. It was nice to see the girls battle adversity for the first time all year really being down in the game.”

The Wolverines led by nine in the first quarter, but they didn’t value the ball in the second quarter and trailed by one at halftime. They were down by nine in the third quarter.

But they rallied to retake the lead by the end of the quarter and then outscored the Spartans 14-4 in the fourth to secure the victory. They held the Spartans to one field goal in the fourth.

“Our fourth quarter was very good defensively,” Smart said. “It starts with those two girls up top, Megan (Donelson) and Talia; they do a great job pressuring the ball, making the point guard make difficult passes. And then our wings tonight – Lauren Hengel, Emma Perry, Gianna Maiorini – they were awesome in communication. They knew where everybody was and closed out.

“And we had a force in the middle in that fourth quarter, Kyia Leyman. She stood tall. She stepped out of the paint to attack drivers, make them take difficult shots without fouling and then was a terrific rebounder. 

“They battled back and never got too down on themselves. It was great to see them battle through adversity. We knew it was a tough matchup, we knew things weren’t going to go like they had the last three games for us, but we stayed positive, stayed as a team.”

Donelson added 13 points for Woodstown, 11 in the second half. Sabrina Little led Holy Spirit (2-2) with 16 points. Lauren Cella had 11, including 7-of-10 from the free throw line.

Battavio is now seventh on the Salem County girls’ all-time scoring list (1285 points) and third in Woodstown girls’ history. Donelson is now fifth on Woodstown’s all-time list.

“That’s awesome,” Smart said. “My favorite part about those stats is those girls don’t care about those stats at all. I mentioned to them about the scoring record and they both said they don’t care about the scoring record, they’d rather win every game and not score a point. It’s very special to watch both of them play.”

WOODSTOWN 46, HOLY SPIRIT 37
HOLY SPIRIT (2-2) – Ava Catona 2 4-8 8, Lauren Cella 2 7-10 11, Sabrina Little 5 5-8 16, Kieran Brewster 0 0-0 0, Megan Kane 1 0-2 2, Taylor Murphy 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 16-28 37.
WOODSTOWN (4-0) – Talia Battavio 6 3-4 19, Kendall Young 1 0-0 2, Emma Perry 0 0-0 0, Lauren Hengel 2 0-0 4, Gianna Maiorini 2 0-0 4, Megan Donelson 6 0-0 13, Kyia Leyman 2 0-0 4. Totals 19 3-4 46.

Holy Spirit714124-37
Woodstown1641511-46

3-point goals: Holy Spirit 1 (Little); Woodstown 5 (Battavio 4, Donelson). Fouled out: Kane. Total fouls: Holy Spirit 9, Woodstown 19.

WASHINGTON TWP. 41, PENNSVILLE 30
PENNSVILLE (1-2) – Taylor Bass 3 0-0 6, Nora Ausland 4 1-3 10, Marley Wood 3 0-0 6, Jaida Burns 1 0-2 2, Ashlyn Fredo 1 0-0 2, Calli Ausland 1 0-0 2, Addison Johnston 0 0-0 0, Izzy Saulin 1 0-0 2, Sofia Belitsas 0 0-0 0, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 1-5 30.
WASHINGTON TWP. (3-0) – Brianna Rainey 2, Shyla McLean 9, Kate D’Ottaviano 16, Alaina LaMonica 12, Tessa Reilley 2.

Pennsville 104511-30
Washington Twp.991310-41

3-point goals: Pennsville 1 (N. Ausland)

Scoring watch

SALEM COUNTY ACTIVE LEADING SCORERSPTS
Talia Battavio, Woodstown1285
Megan Donelson, Woodstown1254
1000-POINT WATCH
Nora Ausland, Salem (462)/Pennsville (379)841
Marley Wood, Pennsville748
RaNiyah Wilson, Kingsway (251)/Penns Grove (447)698

Leave a comment