Friday’s girls roundup: Woodstown junior comes to game in good mood, has career night as Wolverines get back on track
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Pennsville 57, Overbrook 20
Penns Grove 50, Schalick 14
Salem Tech 36, Camden Academy Charter 32
Wildwood 77, Salem 27
Woodstown 62, Glassboro 39
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – Lauren Hengel came to the gym Friday in a good mood. That was a good sign for the Woodstown girls basketball team looking to get back on the winning track.
Hengel came into the game with confidence and it translated to a big game as she helped the Wolverines beat Glassboro 62-39 to snap a two-game losing streak.
The 5-8 junior scored a career-high 14 points on the strength of 5-for-7 shooting from the floor and a pair of 3-pointers. She also had two rebounds and two steals. She scored 10 points in the third quarter.
Hengel gave the Wolverines a trio of double-figure scorers for the first time this season, joining Talia Battavio (19) and Megan Donelson (15). Battavio and Donelson combined for seven of Woodstown’s 11 3-pointers in the game. Hengel had two. Donelson scored all of her points in the first half.
“Lauren was amazing today,” Woodstown coach Matt Smart said. “She came in today with a big smile on her face. She’s a big Notre Dame fan, so I think she just had a positive mindset (after watching the Irish beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl to reach the CFP semifinals).
“We’ve always known that Lauren is a phenomenal basketball player. This whole season our big thing (with everyone except Battavio and Donelson) is confidence. They are phenomenal basketball players and a lot of times they’re open for great shots and they’re not confident to take it. Lauren today was confident with every single shot she took. She stepped into it. She made some big plays for us. She was fearless and smart at the same time, which really helped us.”
The Wolverines (5-2) came into the game having been swept in their appearance in the Haddon Twp. Holiday Tournament. They started out on a road towards three in a row Friday, falling behind the Bulldogs 9-2 in the first two minutes, but then Smart called the time out that turned their game around.
“We challenged the girls at practice this week to box out,” Smart said. “We were going for rebounds, but we weren’t finding a girl, being physical and boxing out. Glassboro at the beginning of the game kind of punched us in the mouth a little bit, we called time out and responded very well.
“Instead of just turning around looking for the ball off the back end of a shot, we were finding a girl, we were physical, we were letting the ball hit the ground one or two times and then attacking it. Basketball is a contact sport, a physical sport, so let’s find a girl, let’s box her out and then go attack that rebound. I think that set the tone for the whole game for us.”
With that mindset they climbed back in the game and eventually led 17-14 at quarter’s end. They stretched the lead to 14 at halftime and 23 after three quarters.
During the run, Battavio and Donelson hit a couple 3s, Kyia Leyman had a strong putback and Hengel had a bucket.
Somewhere in there was Smart’s favorite play of the game that summed up the approach to the day. Gianna Maiorini was battling under the boards and although she didn’t get this particular rebound she boxed out her man for a good five or six seconds which allowed a teammates to swoop in and secure the rebound.
The Wolverines grabbed 32 rebounds as a team. Eleven players had at least one, which was more than the number of players who scored points for them. Leyman and Donelson each had six boards. Maiorini had five.
The win extended Woodstown’s winning streak over TCC Diamond Division rivals to 34 in a row.
WOODSTOWN 62, GLASSBORO 39
GLASSBORO (2-4) – Sanaa Thomas 2 0-0 5, Tamia Smith 4 3-11 11, Kezia Brackett 5 4-10 15, Kimora Miles 0 1-2 1, Sianna Wedderburn 2 1-2 5, Grace Moore 1 0-0 2, NiJha Norzon Clark 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 9-25 39.
WOODSTOWN (5-2) – Talia Battavio 5-18 6-7 19, Megan Donelson 4-11 3-4 15, Gianna Maiorini 1-4 0-0 2, Kyia Leyman 1-1 0-0 2, Lauren Hengel 5-7 2-3 14, Emma Perry 1-3 0-0 2, Kendall Young 1-1 0-0 3, Jaia Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Mia Waterman 0-2 0-0 0, Brynley Ecret 2-2 0-0 5, Kailyn Kennedy 0-0 0-0 0, Lizzy Daly 0-0 0-0 0, Talia Guardascione 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-50 11-14 62.
| Glassboro | 14 | 7 | 6 | 12- | 39 |
| Woodstown | 17 | 18 | 15 | 11- | 62 |
SALEM TECH 36, CAMDEN ACADEMY CHARTER 32: Shelby Drummond and Demajae White scored 11 points apiece and the Chargers (2-3) dominated the backboards to snap a three-game losing streak and double their win total of a year ago.
According to the game’s statistical report, the Chargers cleared 76 rebounds. White had 24, Kaylin Beardsley 14 and Rylee Doerr had 12. Drummond had nine. The Chargers are now 2-3 for the season. They won once all last season.
SALEM TECH (2-3) – Shelby Liber 1 0-0 2, Hannah Dewitt 1 0-2 2, Lavae Scott 0 0-0 0, Demajae White 4 3-3 11, Shelby Drummond 4 0-0 11, Rylee Doerr 1 0-2 2, Kaylin Beardsley 2 2-2 8. Totals 13 5-9 36.
CAMDEN ACAD. (3-2) – Yomeidy DeLaRosa 3 2-8 8, Leslie Ramirez 1 0-0 2, Aishaara Davis Bonilla 2 0-3 4, Skylar Goods 1 0-0 2, Nyeema Torres 5 2-5 16. Totals 12 4-12 32.
| Salem Tech | 10 | 7 | 8 | 11- | 36 |
| Camden Academy | 7 | 12 | 9 | 4- | 32 |
PENNSVILLE 57, OVERBROOK 20: Taylor Bass led three double-figure scorers with 19 points and Marley Wood had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists as the Eagles (3-2) went over .500 for the first time in coach Steve Merritt’s tenure. Nora Ausland had 10 points, eight rebounds and four steals for the Eagles.
PENNSVILLE (3-2) – Taylor Bass 8 0-0 19, Marley Wood 5 0-0 12, Nora Ausland 5 0-0 10, Jaida Burns 3 1-2 7, Addison Johnston 0 1-1 1, Izzy Saulin 1 0-0 2, Sofia Belitas 0 0-0 0, Ashlyn Fredo 0 0-0 0, Calli Ausland 0 0-0 0, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 2-3 57.
OVERBROOK (1-6) – Gianna Simon 6 2-2 16, Rosetta Loebman 0 0-0 0, Lelani Knight 0 0-0 0, Ahlani Knight 0 0-0 0, Kayla Reynolds 0 0-0 0, Lily LaFountain 0 0-0 0, Talia Wiggins 1 1-2 4, Kiya Townsend 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 3-4 20.
| Pennsville | 19 | 24 | 8 | 6- | 57 |
| Overbrook | 3 | 2 | 4 | 11- | 20 |
WILDWOOD 77, SALEM 27
WILDWOOD (6-0) – Macie McCracken 12 4-4 33, Angela Wilber 2 2-2 6, Rebecca Benichou 6 4-8 18, Cydnee Killian 1 0-0 2, Kiana D’Antuono 0 0-0 0, Addison Troiano 2 3-6 7, Sarah Djellal 0 1-2 1, Laila Fathi 1 2-2 5, Julia Ennis 1 0-0 2, Emma Contreras 0 0-0 0, Ellasyn Morey 0 0-0 0, Antoinette Cooper 1 0-0 2, Lily Atkinson 0 0-0 0, Mollie Farrell 0 1-2 1. Totals 26 17-26 77.
SALEM (0-5) – Carlysia Pierce 3 1-1 8, Nevaeh Hickman 2 0-0 4, Lyric Hayes 0 1-3 1, Zaniyah Frieson 2 0-0 4, Shyla Parsons 1 0-2 2, Timmiyah Simmons 2 0-0 6, Triscia Wilson 1 0-0 2. Totals 11 2-4 27.
| Wildwood | 26 | 16 | 16 | 19- | 77 |
| Salem | 7 | 9 | 2 | 9- | 27 |
PENNS GROVE 50, SCHALICK 14
PENNS GROVE – RaNiyah Wilson 9 6-7 28, Brianna Robbins 2 2-4 6, Ialliyah Cummings 3 3-7 9, Keziah Patterson 3 0-0 6, Sianna Robbins 0 0-0 0, Mikayla Washington 0 1-2 1. Totals 17 12-20 50.
SCHALICK (1-3) – Abby Willoughby 0 0-0 0, Cali Fisler 0 0-0 0, Nevaeh Robinson 2 0-2 5, Ava Scurry 2 0-0 4, Willow Davis 0 0-0 0, Emily Miller 0 0-0 0, Olivia Lunemann 1 0-0 2, Carl Vicente 0 0-0 0, Olivia VanAcker 0 0-2 0, Vic Basich 0 1-2 1, Kyleigh Cutler 0 0-0 0, Emma O’Neill 1 0-0 2. Totals 6 1-6 14.
| Penns Grove | 10 | 12 | 10 | 18- | 50 |
| Schalick | 3 | 7 | 0 | 4- | 14 |
Active scorers watch
| SALEM COUNTY SCORING LIST | POINTS |
| Talia Battavio, Woodstown | 1332 |
| Megan Donelson, Woodstown | 1295 |
| 1000-POINT WATCH | |
| Nora Ausland, Pennsville (Salem 462/Pennsville 413) | 875 |
| Marley Wood, Pennsville | 782 |
| x-RaNiyah Wilson, Penns Grove (Kingsway 251/Penns Grove 492) | 743 |
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