Donelson mccracks down on McCracken, Leyman big in the post and Woodstown beats Wildwood in OT; includes all of Thursday’s Salem County basketball action
| GIRLS GAMES | BOYS GAMES |
| Woodstown 49, Wildwood 46 (OT) | Woodstown 66, Wildwood 47 |
| Glassboro 64, Salem 20 | Glassboro 76, Salem 62 |
| Penns Grove 47, Pitman 26 | Pitman at Penns Grove, ppd. |
| Schalick 36, Salem Tech 26 | Schalick 79, Salem Tech 22 |
| Pennsville 58, Triton 49 | Gloucester Catholic 61, Pennsville 40 |
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN — How many times does it happen? You have a game with some of the most dynamic scorers in South Jersey and of course it’s defense that determines the outcome.
Woodstown’s Megan Donelson cracked down on Macie McCracken and the Wolverines gained a bit of satisfaction for last year’s last-second loss in the sectional final, beating Wildwood in overtime 49-46 Thursday night to give first-year coach Matt Smart an early signature win.
“It always comes down to defense,” Smart said. “It’s about boxing out, rebounding, defense. McCracken’s an incredible player. She’s going to get her points no matter what defense you throw on her. It’s about limiting her opportunities, playing nice good hard defense and then boxing her out and making her only get one shot instead of two or three and Megan was phenomenal. She was up to the challenge.
“That’s kind of what we always preach, play unselfish basketball. And defense, you have to be unselfish. She did a great job. Other girls did a great job switching, hedging, all the little things to try to limit her. She still played amazing. She’s an incredible basketball player and our girls just kind of took it as a personal challenge.”
Donelson was on McCracken from the time the Warriors got off the bus. She held the senior on the verge of 2,000 career points to one field goal and four points in the first half, no points in overtime and 14 points total. Meanwhile, she scored 13 points to go over the 1,300-point career mark.
“My goal was just to shut her down because I know she’s a good shooter; yeah, lock down,” Donelson said. “When coach gives me a player to man up on I just follow what he says and give it my all on that one player.”
But she wasn’t the only one who came up big in a big game. Kyia Leyman, who had been limited the last two seasons because of knee injuries, gave the Wolverines a huge game in the post, scoring 11 points and grabbing 19 rebounds — both career highs — and blocking two shots.
She had four points and eight rebounds in the first half and back-to-back three-point play opportunities in the third quarter to help the Wolverines open a nine-point lead.
“I think my mindset was just to do it for the team,” Leyman said. “It was definitely a team effort and I wanted to be there for them. I didn’t want to let them down, so I think I just tried my best — and I wanted to come back and beat a really good team. I think this was the best I’ve played, the most calm, collected I’ve played (since coming back).”
Donelson’s layup with 42 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 41. Both teams had shots in the closing seconds to win it. Donelson stole an entry pass but lost her footing driving to the basket. Gianna Maiorini collected the loose ball on the baseline but her shot was blocked by Sara Djellal. The Warriors raced back up the floor for the final shot, but McCracken’s 3 from the left side hit off the far iron and Leyman grabbed the rebound as the horn sounded.
Woodstown (6-2) jumped out front in overtime and never lost the lead. Donelson drove around the lane for the first basket and Talia Battavio, who struggled with her shot most of the game, squared up on the left elbow and buried at 3 to give the Wolverines a five-point lead. Battavio had 12 points in the game.
“That was pretty big,” Battavio said of her 3. “I feel like it got us motivated, fired up a little bit, got me fired up.”
Wildwood (6-1) had the ball for a last shot in overtime. The Warriors had it on the sideline near the scorer’s table with 1.1 seconds left and needed what seemed like a miracle 3 to tie. They had trouble pulling the trigger on the inbounds and when they did get it in the pass landed in the hands of Woodstown’s Lauren Hengel as the clock expired.
The Warriors beat Woodstown in last year’s South Jersey Group I final in a controversial finish after the home crowd rushed the floor in reaction to Wildwood’s go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds. While the game was on everyone’s mind, Smart said revenge wasn’t the motivating factor in this regular-season game.
“We’re a different team than the team last year, they’re a different team than they were last year,” Smart said. “Our message to the girls this week was this isn’t professional wrestling. We don’t beat them today and get the belt back. There’s still a lot of work to do. This is just a first step.”
But it was satisfying nonetheless.
“Leading up to this game we talked about three things in the team — being confident, being relaxed and having fun — and I think we did those three things as a program today,” Smart said. “It was a fun game.”
WOODSTOWN 49, WILDWOOD 46 (OT)
WILDWOOD (6-1) — Macie McCracken 4 4-4 14, Angela Wilber 3 3-4 10, Rebecca Benichou 3 0-0 9, Cydnee Kilian 0 0-0 0, Sarah Djellal 4 1-2 9, Addison Troiano 2 0-0 4, Lily Atkinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 8-10 46.
WOODSTOWN (6-2) — Talia Battavio 5-27 0-2 12, Megan Donelson 5-14 2-3 13, Gianna Maiorini 2-3 2-4 6, Lauren Hengel 2-12 2-4 7, Kyia Leyman 5-14 1-2 11, Kendall Young 0-0 0-0 0, Emma Perry 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-70 7-15 49.
| Wildwood | 11 | 6 | 13 | 11 | 5- | 46 |
| Woodstown | 12 | 6 | 11 | 12 | 8- | 49 |
PENNSVILLE 58, TRITON 49: The Eagles fought through illness and the absence of leading scorer Nora Ausland to rally for their fourth in a row. They were down 10 at one point in the second quarter, but rallied to get the deficit to one at halftime. Pennsville’s Taylor Bass led all scorers with a season-high 21 points. Addison Johnston had a career-high 19 points and Marley Wood had 12.
TRITON (4-3) — Melannie Noel 7 2-6 17, Kaidan Henry 5 0-0 15, Gianna Loftis 4 1-2 10, Riley Mikiewicz 2 0-0 5, Gianna Endt 1 0-0 2, Kimora Dobson 0 0-0 0, Akeera Reid-Streater 0 0-0 0. 19 3-8 49.
PENNSVILLE (5-2) — Taylor Bass 9 2-4 21, Marley Wood 4 2-4 12, Addison Johnston 6 4-7 19, Jaida Burns 1 0-0 2, Izzy Saulin 2 0-0 4, Ashlyn Fredo 0 0-0 0, Sofia Belitsas 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 8-15 58.
| Triton | 11 | 16 | 15 | 7- | 49 |
| Pennsville | 14 | 12 | 17 | 17- | 58 |
SCHALICK 36, SALEM TECH 26
SCHALICK (2-4) — Carly Vicente 2 0-0 4, Olivia Lunemann 0 0-0 0, Emily Miller 0 0-0 0, Willow Davis 1 1-2 3, Olivia Vanacker 2 0-0 4, Ava Scurry 2 1-2 5, Naveah Robinson 2 2-3 6, Cali Fisler 1 1-2 3, Abby Willoughby 4 1-2 11. Totals 14 6-11 36.
SALEM TECH (2-5) — Hannah Dewitt 0 1-2 1, Shelby Drummond 3 0-2 7, Kaylin Beardsley 1 0-0 2, Demajae White 4 2-2 10, Shelby Liber 2 0-0 6, Rylee Doerr 0 0-0 0, Evening Amedee 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 3-6 26.
| Schalick | 11 | 6 | 8 | 11- | 36 |
| Salem Tech | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6- | 26 |
GLASSBORO 64, SALEM 20
GLASSBORO (4-4) — Sanaa Thomas 1 0-0 2, Tamia Smith 5 4-8 14, Grace Moore 4 1-1 9, NiJha Norzon Clark 1 0-0 3, Brackett 7 1-4 19, Kimora Miles 1 3-6 5, Sianna Wedderburn 3 2-2 8, Lily Czubas 2 0-0 4. Totals 24 11-21 64.
SALEM (0-7) — Carlysia Pierce 1 2-3 4, Nevaeh Hickman 4 2-3 12, Dakirah Gray 1 0-0 2, Amariah Frye 1 0-0 2. Totals 7 4-6 20.
| Glassboro | 14 | 18 | 17 | 15- | 64 |
| Salem | 3 | 2 | 9 | 6- | 20 |
Boys Games
WOODSTOWN 66, WILDWOOD 47: Rocco String came within two blocked shots of his elusive triple-double and led the Wolverines to their fourth straight victory. String had 18 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocked shots in his fourth straight double-double and fifth of the season. The Wolverines had three other scorers in double figures — M.J. Hall (season-high 16), Alejandro Vazquez (10) and Blake Bialecki (12) — and Garrett Leyman grabbed 11 rebounds.
WOODSTOWN (4-2) — Elijah Caesar 4 1-2 9, John Hood-McGinley 1 0-0 3, Blake Bialecki 6 0-0 12, Alejandro Vazquez 4 0-0 10, M.J. Hall 6 0-0 16, Garrett Leyman 0 0-0 0, Anthony Bokolas 0 0-0 0, Andrew White 0 0-0 0, Rocco String 9 0-0 18. Totals 30 1-2 66.
WILDWOOD (2-6) — Eric Jordan 1 0-0 2, Nolan Mawhinney 2 0-0 5, Trevor Troiano 3 0-0 9, R.J. Blanda 0 0-0 0, Vinny Sweeney 0 2-2 2, Jordan Dozier 0 0-0 0, Brian Cunniff 10 6-7 27, Sammy Santiago 1 0-0 2, Jack Fullertonn 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 8-9 47.
| Woodstown | 18 | 15 | 14 | 19- | 66 |
| Wildwood | 5 | 12 | 10 | 20- | 47 |
GLASSBORO 76, SALEM 62
SALEM (6-3) — Xavier McGriff 2 0-0 5, Tymear Lecator 7 4-5 15, Deshaan Williams 2 7-13 13, Darrelle Johnson 4 0-0 9, Joe Tunis 2 2-2 8, Ashore Burden 5 1-1 11, Donovan Weathers 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 14-21 62.
GLASSBORO (3-5) — Xavier Sabb 14, Kenny Smith 28, Davon Barr 6, Maurice Davis 10, Tashean Thomas 3, Alex Adeleye 2, Aiden Harris 11, Marley Crowl 2.
| Salem | 15 | 11 | 20 | 16- | 62 |
| Glassboro | 17 | 22 | 17 | 20- | 76 |
SCHALICK 79, SALEM TECH 22: Reggie Allen scored 18 points, Nylan Sutton added 14 and Sherrod Jones 10 as the Cougars snapped a seven-game losing streak and kept the Chargers winless. Eleven players scored for Schalick.
SALEM TECH (0-9) — Joseph Hayes 2 1-3 6, Larry Pompper 0 1-3 1, Keidyn Robinson 1 0-0 2, Logan Pace 0 2-2 2, Krolle 1 0-0 2, Ayars 2 1-6 5, Ayden Myers 1 1-2 4. Totals 7 6-16 22.
SCHALICK (2-7) — Reggie Allen Jr. 8 1-2 18, Nylan Sutton 7 0-2 14, Jase Volovar 3 1-2 9, Sherrod Jones 5 0-0 10, Justin Iacona 1 0-0 3, Zaeshawn Mills 3 0-0 8, Jamari Whitley 1 2-4 4, Sean Kelly 2 0-0 4, Jacob Schalick 1 4-5 7, Ryan Horner 1 0-0 3, Gauge Craner 0 1-2 1. Totals 32 9-17 79.
| Salem Tech | 5 | 7 | 4 | 6- | 22 |
| Schalick | 19 | 27 | 20 | 13- | 79 |
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 61, PENNSVILLE 40
PENNSVILLE (1-6) — Jovanni Rios 6 1-3 13, Mason O’Brien 2 0-0 5, Shiloh Jefferson 1 0-0 2, Logan Hitt 1 0-0 3, Perry Meranti 1 0-0 2, Daniel Knight 1 0-0 2, C.J. McDevitt 3 1-2 8, Jacob Miller 1 0-0 2, Jacob Farina 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 2-5 40.
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC (4-5) — Carlos Mendez 6 2-5 15, Jack Mustaro 8 2-3 20, Jack Pund 2 0-0 4, Danny Zellner 1 2-2 4, Ben Cook 2 0-0 4, Kybron Ricks 1 0-0 3, Zack Payne 3 0-0 7, Gary Connelly 0 0-0 0, Jordan Mendez 0 0-0 0, Kimani Pyram 1 0-0 2, C.J. Mitchell 1 0-0 2, Anthony Polidoro 0 0-0 0, Andrew Ginipro 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 6-10 61.
| Pennsville | 3 | 13 | 12 | 12- | 40 |
| Gloucester Catholic | 9 | 23 | 14 | 15- | 61 |
Active scorers watch
| SALEM COUNTY SCORING LIST | TODAY | POINTS |
| Talia Battavio, Woodstown | 12 | 1344 |
| Megan Donelson, Woodstown | 13 | 1308 |
| 1000-POINT WATCH | ||
| Nora Ausland, Pennsville (Salem 462/Pennsville 427) | DNP | 889 |
| Marley Wood, Pennsville | 12 | 811 |
| RaNiyah Wilson, Penns Grove (Kingsway 251/Penns Grove 552) | 16 | 803 |
Riverview Sports News 