The 3-ball was flying as Battavio, Donelson lead Woodstown girls over Pennsville for sole possession of first place in TCC Diamond Division
GIRLS GAMES
Woodstown 65, Pennsville 56
Gloucester City 53, Salem 21
Camden Co. Tech at Salem Tech
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN — Talia Battavio was fighting through a shooting slump, but she didn’t let it get her down. If there’s one thing she’s learned in all her years playing basketball it’s shooters shoot. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t and when they don’t eventually they will.
They went in for her Friday night against Pennsville. She had made only one 3-pointer in her last three games — and that was a big one in the win over Wildwood. It was her longest drought since her freshman year, but it didn’t deter her in the least.
The first shot she took against the Eagles, she spotted up in the left corner and drained a 3-pointer. Then she hit another. And then another. Three in a row in the first four minutes. Suddenly there was a big exhale even though Pennsville still had the lead.
The sense always was whenever Battavio broke out of the slump it was going to be in a big way. She hit a season-high five 3s against the Eagles in the game, scored 24 points and the Wolverines went on to win 65-56 to gain solo possession of first place in the Tri-County Conference Diamond Division.
“It was a relief, but I know what I can do,” Battavio said. “I felt like I was thinking too much about it, so I kind of just let it fly today and I think it came out in my favor.
“I think it got us all fired up. I think it did set a tone. We came to play. We always do, but I think we were on fire, we were together. Everybody.”
Woodstown coach Matt Smart said seeing those early 3s go down wasn’t a relief to him because he knows what the Goldey-Beacom signee can do. It was seeing the smile return to her face when they did fall that sealed it for him. And hitting those shots opened up a lot of other things for the Wolverines.
And the 3s were flying everywhere. The Wolverines (10-2) made 10. Megan Donelson had three on the way to 28 points that moved her into third on Woodstown’s girls all-time scoring list (behind Tori Smick and Battavio). Lauren Hengel had the other two.
Pennsville (7-3) hit 12 with Nora Ausland making half of them in a 20-point game that moved her within 60 points of 1,000. Marley Wood (17 points) hit three, Addie Johnston two and Taylor Bass one. Each time Battavio hit one of her early 3s, the Eagles answered with one of their own.
“They’re a very talented team who we knew could shoot from all over the place,” Smart said. “Watching film we knew it was going to be tough battle. It’s our first kind of battle since Wildwood, but I think those are the games we play the best. We play unselfish, we’re attacking the basket, we took good shots, we rebound, box out. Our girls showed up.”
It was Woodstown’s 37th win in a row over Diamond Division opponents and 33rd straight against Salem County rivals.
The game was decided by two stretches. The game was tied at 23 with 4:30 left in the second quarter when, at the suggestion of assistant coach Frank Trautz, the Wolverines switched from defenses and pressed a little more to get Pennsville out of its sets and they held the Eagles scoreless the rest of the half while opening a 30-23 halftime lead.
“We haven’t seen that kind of pressure all season long,” Pennsville coach Steve Merritt said. “Kudos to them. That’s a talented group of people. They run up and down the floor, frenetically sometimes, and I tried to tell my kids to prepare for that but it’s difficult.”
It was a five-point game with 3:09 left in the third quarter when Donelson “got in my groove” and scored nine straight points to give the Wolverines some breathing room. It was part of a greater 21-9 run that carried into the fourth quarter and made it a 17-point game before Pennsville battled to bring it back.
“Megan came up to me and was like my shot’s not falling, so we made an adjustment that way,” Smart said. “She was very honest with me. She was like my shot’s not falling right now, Talia’s shot’s falling, let’s try to get her to run the baseline and she’ll be able to shoot 3s and maybe let me control the ball more so I can attack.
“She understands her game so well when her shot’s not falling she understands she can impact the game in other ways. That’s what’s very special about her. She understands her game so well that she’s able to make adjustments off it.”
Even though they were down 18 in the fourth quarter, the Eagles ran towards the fire and made it respectable. Ausland hit her last two 3s and Bass added three points to cut that deficit in half by the horn.
“I’ve been coaching for 21 seasons,” Merritt said. “I’ve had more talented teams, but I didn’t have a team with great heart. They didn’t back down at all. They worked hard to end. We worked our butts off.”
WOODSTOWN 65, PENNSVILLE 56
PENNSVILLE (7-3): Marley Wood 6 2-4 17, Taylor Bass 2 1-2 6, Nora Ausland 6 2-2 20, Addi Johnston 2 1-2 7, Jaida Burns 2 0-0 4, Ashlyn Fredo 1 0-0 2, Izzy Saulin 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 6-10 56.
WOODSTOWN (10-2): Talia Battavio 9 1-2 24, Megan Donelson 9 7-10 28, Gianna Maiorini 0 0-0 0, Lauren Hengel 3 0-0 8, Kyia Leyman 1 3-8 5, Ryann Foote 0 0-0 0, Emma Perry 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 11-20 65.
| Pennsville | 15 | 8 | 18 | 15- | 56 |
| Woodstown | 15 | 15 | 21 | 14- | 65 |
GLOUCESTER CITY 53, SALEM 21
SALEM (0-10): Carlysia Pierce 2 1-2 5, Nevaeh Hickman 2 0-0 4, Lyric Hayes 1 0-0 3, Madison Dixon 3 1-2 9. Totals 8 2-4 21.
GLOUCESTER CITY (9-4): Elizabeth Schultes 0 0-2 3, Logan Thomas 1 3-6 5, Kierstynn O’Donnell 1 2-4 4, Corinne Kelly 6 4-7 19, Ava Moore 5 0-2 10, Addison Chiodi 0 1-2 1, Jianna Torres 3 0-3 6, Haylee Zuccarelli 1 0-2 2, Sophia Dailey 1 0-0 2, Ella Kirschner 1 0-0 2, Emma Groatman 0 0-0 0, Keira Renshaw 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 12-29 53.
| Salem | 7 | 2 | 6 | 6- | 21 |
| Gloucester City | 11 | 14 | 19 | 9- | 53 |
| SALEM COUNTY SCORING LIST | TODAY | POINTS |
| Katie Kline, Pennsville (2004) | 2110 | |
| Amanda Young, St. James (1995) | 1762 | |
| Sharias Hill, Penns Grove (2009) | 1661 | |
| Tia Furbush, Schalick (2021) | 1574 | |
| Tori Smick, Woodstown (2013) | 1566 | |
| Talia Battavio, Woodstown | 24 | 1410 |
| Crystal Bailey, Schalick (1984) | 1406 | |
| Megan Donelson, Woodstown | 28 | 1387 |
| Stephanie Owen, Woodstown (1993) | 1381 | |
| 1000-POINT WATCH | ||
| Nora Ausland, Pennsville (Salem 462/Pennsville 480) |
20 | 942 |
| Marley Wood, Pennsville | 17 | 862 |
| RaNiyah Wilson, Penns Grove (Kingsway 251/PG 622) |
DNP | 873 |
Through games of Jan. 17
Riverview Sports News 