Breaking the ‘curse’

Pennsville girls basketball has had a lot of bad luck on recent trips to Buena, but everything was rosy Friday

FRIDAY’S GIRLS GAMES
Regular season
Pennsville 69, Buena 20

Audubon Tournament
Penns Grove 41, Deptford 24
Audubon 59, Cedar Creek 21

ACIT Holiday Tournament
Camden Tech 40, Salem Tech 16
GCIT 49, Atlantic Tech 38

Haddon Twp. Tournament
Cherry Hill East 57, Woodstown 45
Haddon Twp. 46, Pennsauken 39

Boardwalk Classic
Wildwood Convention Center
Bridgeton 54, Salem 24

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

BUENA – The Pennsville girls basketball team didn’t want to go to Buena Friday morning any more than the man in the moon. Bad things happen when the Eagles go there. Last year, they got three players hurt in the game.

Their angst was almost to the point where they wanted to play the game in their own gym if they could. But when this one was over they were glad they made the trip and made it out alive. 

It was all good. The Eagles ran out to a 23-0 lead in the first quarter and hit a season-high 11 3-pointers in the game to bury the curse and the Chiefs, 69-20.

“I was a little nervous because every time we come to Buena something bad happens,” junior guard Marley Wood said. “We’ve had a lot of injuries here, but I think we broke our curse today.”

In the team’s trip to the Battle at Buena last year, Wood broke her foot, Annika Macalino tore her knee and Taylor Bass broke her finger and the Eagles spent the next couple weeks bringing up JV players to have enough players to remain competitive. 

But their misfortunes extended beyond the basketball court. Bass broke her collarbone in a soccer game here. And Wood has a vague recollection of something else happening to her as a freshman.

The Eagles didn’t get out of this one completely unscathed. Tatianna DePina banged her hand in the game, but at least everyone walked out under their own power this time.

“They warned me about that,” Eagles coach Steve Merritt said. “They didn’t want to come here. They were trying to talk me out of coming here. They were telling me to reschedule the game, make it a home game. Now, they’re saying we broke the curse.”
If the y play like they did Friday, they may think about scheduling games here every week.

It was 23-0 before Buena got to the board with a 3-pointer by Athena Bradley with 21 seconds left in the quarter. The Eagles hit 8 of 15 shots in the run while denying the Chiefs on 16 straight possessions with seven steals among their 12 turnovers.

“We were looking the way I want them to look all the time,” Merritt said. “I asked them what’s the definition of a perfect quarter defensively and they said zero. I said, well, you’ve got two quarters, see if you can’t do that. When they scored I saw a couple of them slump down like we didn’t get it. But they stepped up.”

After the Chiefs scored their first points, Wood answered with 3 right before the buzzer. Wood hit six 3s in the game – two in each of the first three quarters when the regulars played – and finished with 22 points. Nora Ausland hit four 3s, scored 12 points in the Eagles’ opening salvo, and led all scorers with 24 points. 

The six were the most she had hit in a game since nailing seven against Woodstown in January. She had only two this season before Friday. 

“This was the first game my shot has actually been good, so hopefully it carries on into the rest of the season,” she said. “I was a little bit worried, but I think I’m going to keep shooting more and working and getting better.”

The Eagles hit only one 3 in their last game against Washington Twp. The 11 they hit Friday were the most in a game since hitting 11 against Overbrook in the second game of the year last season. They hit 10 in their season opener against Wildwood this year.

Three of their first five buckets Friday were from behind the arc. In addition to the 11, they had at least seven other baskets that from far away looked like a 3 but were either on or just inside the line.

“We shot the ball pretty well at Glassboro (eight 3s),” Merritt said. “You go out and shoot well, look what happens, you win. And we’ve been working on it. Yesterday we worked on it extensively, not necessarily the 3s, but just shooting the ball under pressure of a clock.

“That was really nice to see. So much better than Washington Twp. where they were hitting the rim and going God knows where. Today they were falling in.”

PENNSVILLE 69, BUENA 20
PENNSVILLE (2-2) – Taylor Bass 0 2-2 2, Tatianna DePina 0 0-0 0, Marley Wood 7 2-3 22, Izzy Saulin 3 0-0 6, Nora Ausland 9 2-3 24, Ashlyn Fredo 1 0-0 2, Jaida Burns 1 0-2 2, Calli Ausland 1 0-2 2, Kylie Weist 0 0-0 0, Addison Johnston 4 0-0 9, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0. Totals 26 6-12 69.
BUENA (0-3) – Kayla Lafferty 0 0-0 0, Athena Bradley 1 0-0 3, Mya Nicole 6 0-0 13, Jiavonni Jones 2 0-2 4, Leylani Muniz 0 0-0 0, Ava Cornew 0 0-0 0, Ariana Salazar 0 0-0 0, Isabella Atkins 0 0-0 0, Jayleen Benjamin 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 0-2 20.

Pennsville	26	12	19	12–	69
Buena	3	9	4	4–	20

CHERRY HILL EAST 57, WOODSTOWN 45: Some days you play good and other days you learn good. The Wolverines are hoping to learn a lot from their first loss of the season.

After playing Cherry Hill East tough in the first quarter and grabbing the lead, they ran into a buzzsaw in the second quarter that changed the game. The Cougars nearly posted a shutout in the quarter, outscoring Woodstown 21-2 to open a 17-point halftime lead.

The Wolverines (4-1) made what coach Matt Smart called some “great” defensive adjustments at halftime and outscored the Cougars 28-23 in the second half, 22-14 in the third quarter.

“I was very proud of the way we battled until the very end,” Smart said. “Cherry Hill East was very well coached and very tough. They have a very talented group who can knock down shots. Unfortunately, they got the best of us today.

“It was a great test for us. Basketball is a long season and the girls are excited to work tomorrow to try and get better. After every game this year the girls haven’t been satisfied with our performance. We aren’t going to let this game define our season, but we are going to look at some things and figure out way we can improve.”

The Cougars held Woodstown’s two 1,200-point scorers, Megan Donelson and Talia Battavio, to 20 points combined. They held Donelson to nine, her first game in single digits since Jan. 24, 2023 (46 games).

Lauren Hengel was Woodstown’s leading scorer with a career-high 12 points. Kyia Leyman had eight points and eight rebounds.

CHERRY HILL EAST (3-1) – Jessie Atlas 2 0-0 5, Michelle Le 3 0-0 7, Erin Winslow 2 0-0 4, Dylan Kratchman 5 6-6 17, Darby Chhabria 6 10-12 24, Maya. Morgan 0 0-0 0, Maddie Leshinsky 0 0-0 0, Aliza Adler 0 0-0 0, Anabelle Sala 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 16-18 57.
WOODSTOWN (4-1) – Megan Donelson 3 2-2 9, Talia Battavio 4 1-4 11, Gianna Maiorini 2 1-2 5, Lauren Hengel 5 1-3 12, Kyia Leyman 4 0-3 8, Emma Perry 0 0-0 0, Kendall Young 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 5-14 45.

Cherry Hill East	13	21	9	14-	57
Woodstown	15	2	6	22-	45

BRIDGETON 54, SALEM 24: The Rams played Bridgeton tough for a quarter in the Wildwood Convention Center and actually held the lead, but the Bulldogs came to life in the second quarter and pulled away. Carlysia Pierce led Salem with 12 points. Bridgeton’s Sharena Parker led all scorers with 14.

BRIDGETON (4-1) – Amani Santiago 3 1-2 8, Ciani Money 1 2-6 4, Tyjhore Jamison 1 1-2 3, DeNia Dairsow 2 3-4 7, Ayianna Ridgeway 0 0-2 2, Anyse Maddrey 1 0-0 2Adelina Wilks 3 2-2 9, Sharena Parker 6 2-2 14, Kahmya Johnson 2 1-3 5, Alannie Ramos 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 12-23 54.
SALEM (0-4) – Shyla Parsons 0 0-2 0, Zaniyah Frieson 1 0-0 2, Nevaeh Hickman 2 0-0 5, Carlysia Pierce 4 4-8 12, Dakirah Gray 1 0-0 2, Raniyah Parsons-Smith 0 0-2 0, Madison Dixon 0 0-0 0, Amariah Frye 1 0-0 3, Jania Adams 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 4-12 24.

Bridgeton	11	14	20	9–	54
Salem	12	3	6	3–	24

CAMDEN TECH 40, SALEM TECH 16: Camden Tech couldn’t have gotten off to a better start in the ACIT Holiday Tournament. The Warriors held Salem Tech scoreless in the first quarter and rolled into the championship game. Camden’s Ryan Jones scored 19 points. All four Salem Tech scorers had four points apiece.

CAMDEN TECH (1-4) – Kiara Miller 4 0-0 9, Ryan Jones 8 2-4 19, Jaelyn White 2 0-2 4, Brenna Stiles 2 1-2 5, Ericka Bennett 1 1-2 3. Totals 17 4-10 40.
SALEM TECH (1-2) – Hannah Dewitt 2 0-0 4, Shelby Drummond 2 0-0 4, Shelby Liber 1 2-6 4, Rylee Doerr 2 0-0 4. Totals 7 2-6 16.

Camden Tech	14	12	8	6–	40
Salem Tech	0	6	6	4–	16

Active scorers watch

SALEM COUNTY SCORING LIST	PTS
Talia Battavio, Woodstown	1296
Megan Donelson, Woodstown	1263
1000-POINT WATCH
Nora Ausland, Pennsville (Salem 462/Pennsville 403)	865
Marley Wood, Pennsville	770
x-RaNiyah Wilson, Penns Grove (Kingsway 251/Penns Grove 447)	698