Penns Grove’s Wilson passes 1,000-point plateau in loss, Woodstown girls get back on track; Pennsville boys snap 12-game losing streak, Penns Grove boys over .500 for first time since 2020-21; Woodstown’s String goes for 26 points, 25 rebounds to join 200-200 club for second year in a row
| GIRLS | BOYS |
| Wildwood 56, Penns Grove 42 | Penns Grove 60, Wildwood 47 |
| Overbrook 28, Salem Tech 24 | Pennsville 66, Salem Tech 49 |
| Woodstown 52, Clayton 34 | Woodstown 84, Clayton 62 |
| Camden Tech 46, Salem 40 |
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNS GROVE – RaNiyah Wilson knew it was going to be a monumental day when she woke up Thursday morning, but it wasn’t until she got to the gym and saw the presentation in front of her for the first time did she realize what a big deal it really was.
The Penns Grove senior was in line to score her 1,000th career point in the game with Wildwood – she only needed half her average to get it – but the celebration already started before she got into Rudy Baric Gym.
There was a set of gold balloons spelling out “1-0-0-0” behind the Penns Grove bench. There was a banner anticipating the feat behind the Red Devils’ basket. There were hand-held fans with her picture on it and baseball-like player cards.
There was even a cake. Now, all she had to do was complete the task.
Wilson hit the milestone on a layup with 4:01 left in the first half, touching off a celebration that included a short video on the scoreboard of her career. The only thing that dampened the day from a Penns Grove perspective was Wildwood won the game, 56-42.
“It means a lot,” Wilson said of the milestone. “Starting slow in my school seasons and then coming out, starting, getting hotter over time it’s … an unbelievable moment.”
She became the eighth girls player in recorded Penns Grove history to reach the milestone and 20th player in school history. With the 25 she scored against the Warriors she now has 1,013 points for her career.
Wilson started her career at Kingsway, but didn’t become a scorer until she transferred to Penns Grove last year. She scored 251 points at her former school – just 19 as a freshman – and may end up with well over 900 at Penns Grove by the end of this season.
Red Devils coach Jennifer Denby wouldn’t take credit for turning her into scorer. She just “gave her the floor … and she seized the opportunity.”
Wilson has scored in double figures in each of her last 20 games and has had 30 or more four times in her last seven. She’s averaging 24.2 ppg this season on a team that has only seven players.
“As a coach it’s good to see the girls reach a great milestone,” Denby said. “Coaches are just put in place to put the players in place. They’ve got to do the work, and that’s what NyNy is, she’s been putting in the work.
“She came here with a little bit of points and she said she wanted to get her thousand. Every day she’d come into the classroom, write down her plan and stuck to it every day. She wrote it down last year at the end of the season, we made out a plan and she went right through it.”
It hasn’t been lost on the college recruiters. At the moment, Wilson’s three top choices are Delaware State, Morgan State and N.C. Central.
WILDWOOD 56, PENNS GROVE 42
WILDWOOD (13-2): Macie McCracken 5 5-9 17, Angela Wilber 3 2-2 9, Rebecca Benichou 7 3-4 20, Cydnee Kilian 0 0-0 0, Kiana D’Antuono 0 1-2 1, Addison Troiano 1 2-6 4, Sarah Djellal 0 0-0 0, Laila Fathi 2 1-1 5. Totals 18 14-24 56.
PENNS GROVE (8-7): Mikayla Washington 1 0-0 2, JaNiyah Cummings 1 1-2 3, RaNiyah Wilson 11 2-2 25, Brianna Robbins 0 2-4 2, Keziah Patterson 4 1-2 10, NyAsia Numan 0 0-0 0, Syanna Robbins 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 6-10 42.
| Wildwood | 15 | 13 | 15 | 13- | 56 |
| Penns Grove | 10 | 15 | 7 | 10- | 42 |
WOODSTOWN 52, CLAYTON 34: Talia Battavio broke out of a mini scoring slump with 21 points, Megan Donelson had 15 and the Wolverines (12-5) played some tenacious defense to snap a three-game losing streak.
Battavio helped the Wolverines get off to fast start with 14 points in a 26-2 first quarter. The Wolverines led 38-8 at halftime, holding the Clippers to only three field goals.
The losing streak was the program’s longest since early in the 2022-23 season. Woodstown coach Matt Smart said it felt “very good” to get back on the winning side of things.
“The team played together,” he said. “Our defense led to offensive output. We had lot of girls get into the game at critical times and perform well. They played with confidence and had a lot of fun today.”
WOODSTOWN (12-5): Talia Battavio 8 4-4 21, Megan Donelson 6 2-2 15, Gianna Maiorini 2 0-0 4, Lauren Hengel 1 0-0 2, Kyia Leyman 2 0-0 4, Emma Perry 0 0-0 0, Ryann Foote 1 0-0 2, Kendall Young 0 0-0 0, Jala Thomas 2 0-0 4, Lizzy Daly 0 0-0 0, Ava White 0 0-0 0, Kailyn Kennedy 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 6-6 52.
CLAYTON (9-5): Rainelle Blocker 7 3-4 17, Janice Blair 0 1-4 1, India Byant 0 0-0 0, Ava Delaney 3 0-0 8, Bella Wiseburn 1 0-0 2, Deondria Simon 2 2-2 4. Totals 13 6-10 34.
| Woodstown | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8- | 52 |
| Clayton | 2 | 6 | 13 | 13- | 34 |
OVERBROOK 28, SALEM TECH 24
OVERBROOK (5-12): Gianna Simon 3 2-3 8, Jael Pressley 4 2-8 10, Lelani Knight 3 4-8 10. Only three players reported. Totals 10 8-19 28.
SALEM TECH (2-13): Hannah Dewitt 0 1-8 1, Shelby Liber 2 1-4 6, Shelby Drummond 1 1-2 3, Lavae Scott 1 0-0 3, Demajae White 3 0-0 6, Rylee Doerr 2 1-4 5. Totals 9 4-18 24.
| Overbrook | 6 | 10 | 6 | 6- | 28 |
| Salem Tech | 5 | 4 | 5 | 10- | 24 |
Boys games
PENNSVILLE 66, SALEM TECH 49: Wins have been hard to come by for the Eagles this season this season, so when one does come around it’s worth celebrating.
The Eagles snapped a 12-game losing streak when they beat the Chargers for the second time this season.
“We came through a very tough part of our schedule where we faced tough opposition every night and tonight it was our chance to execute the way we want to,” Pennsville coach Joe Mecholsky said. “We’ve been priding ourselves on defense and tonight we let our defense do the talking. The ball went in the basket and it felt good to get back on the winning side of the ledger.”
Jovanni Rios got the Eagles (2-15) off to a quick start scoring nine in the first quarter and 21 of his career-high 28 points in the first half. The junior was 11-of-15 from the floor. He also grabbed five rebounds and had seven steals. He has scored 49 points over the last three games.
“He was the whole reason we got out early,” Mecholsky said. “He was just everywhere. He really played hard tonight.
“He’s been the biggest positive surprise in this season. He wouldn’t have been given the chance to develop under different circumstances, but he’s taken advantage of the opportunity he was given and really ran with it.”
PENNSVILLE (2-15): Danny Knight 1-4 1-3 4, Jovanni Rios 11-15 6-11 28, Mason O’Brien 2-10 0-5 4, Logan Hitt 2-2 0-0 4, Cole Johnston 3-10 0-0 8, C.J. McDevitt 3-6 4-4 10, Perry Meranti 1-6 2-2 4, Arturus Franzy 0-0 0-0 0, Jacob Miller 1-4 0-0 2, Gavin Spears 0-0 0-0 0, Noah Owen 0-0 0-0 0, J.P. Laughty 0-1 2-6 2, Adrian Alleye 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-55 15-31 66.
SALEM TECH (0-16): Sam Battiato 3 0-0 6, Larry Pompper 3 2-4 8, Aiden Bobo 3 0-2 6, Keidyn Robinson 4 2-3 10, Jayden Reed 1 2-2 4, Ayden Myers 2 2-4 6, Chase Pompper 2 0-4 5, Joseph Hayes 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 8-19 49.
| Pennsville | 21 | 24 | 7 | 14- | 66 |
| Salem Tech | 14 | 6 | 19 | 10- | 49 |
PENNS GROVE 60, WILDWOOD 47: The Red Devils put together a big second half to pull away from a tied game that extended their winning streak to six in a row and got them over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2020-21 season. The win also snapped a three-game losing streak against the Warriors.
“Well, in ’20 we won the South Jersey Group I sectional so we graduated that class and the last four years we have been growing the program back after COVID,” Red Devils coach Damian Ware said. “This was the next group of kids that have the basketball skills to be successful.
“But being so young and playing the tough schedule early in the year has allowed us to see great competition and now we are reaping the benefits of it.”
The teams battled to a 29-29 tie in the first half, then the Red Devils outscored their hosts 31-18 in the second. Karon Ceaser and Roman Gipson combined for 21 points in the second half. Ceaser hit three of his four 3s in the third quarter to give the Red Devils some separation.
Ceaser finished with 19 points. Gipson had 15 and Will Roy 11.
PENNS GROVE (8-7): KaRon Ceaser 6 3-5 19, B.J. Robbins 2 2-2 7, Will Roy 4 1-2 11, Jameel Horace 2 0-0 4, Luis Colon 2 0-0 4, Roman Gipson 5 3-5 15, Antoine Robinson 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 9-14 60.
WILDWOOD (5-11): Eric Jordan 2 0-0 4, Nolan Mawhinney 3 0-0 6, Trevor Troiano 2 0-0 6, R.J. Blanda 1 0-0 2, Jordan Dozier 1 0-0 2, Gianni Troiano 1 1-2 3, Brian Cunniff 10 2-2 24. Totals 20 3-4 47.
| Penns Grove | 16 | 13 | 18 | 13- | 60 |
| Wildwood | 14 | 15 | 11 | 7- | 47 |
WOODSTOWN 84, CLAYTON 62: Blake Bialecki hit six 3-pointers for the second time this season and scored 22 points and Rocco String scored a season-high 26 points as the Wolverines won their fourth straight.
String scored 11 points in the first quarter and combined with M.J. Hall for 18 as the Wolverines (11-4) opened a 25-8 lead. Hall finished with 15 points.
String also grabbed 25 rebounds to surpass 200 points and 200 rebounds for the second year in a row. He’s averaging 14.5 rebounds a game and has snared 65 in his last four games. He also had four blocked shots in the game, leaving him 22 shy of 100 for the season and 26 short of 200 for his career. He has had at least four blocks in each of his last 14 games.
CLAYTON (7-10): Princeton Sackor 4 4-5 13, Nazir Davis 5 1-1 13, Demetris Williams 3 1-2 7, Josiel Figueroa-Marrero 1 2-2 4, James Fritz 5 0-0 14, Jackson Venuto 2 0-0 5, Hasir Carter 1 0-0 2, Isaiah Aviles 2 0-0 4. Totals 23 8-10 62.
WOODSTOWN (11-4): Eli Caesar 2 0-0 4, John Hood-McGindley 0 0-0 0, Blake Bialecki 7 2-2 22, Alejandro Vazquez 3 0-0 6, M.J. Hall 7 1-3 15, Garrett Leyman 1 0-0 2, Anthony Bokolas 0 0-0 0, Andrew White 1 0-0 3, Sid Leevy 0 0-0 0, Rocco String 12 2-3 26, Brayden Hall 2 2-2 6, Connor Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals 35 7-10 84.
| Clayton | 8 | 15 | 19 | 20- | 62 |
| Woodstown | 25 | 20 | 19 | 20- | 84 |
| SALEM COUNTY ALL-TIME SCORING LIST (GIRLS) | TODAY | POINTS |
| Katie Kline, Pennsville (2004) | 2110 | |
| Amanda Young, St. James (1995) | 1762 | |
| Sharias Hill, Penns Grove (2009) | 1661 | |
| Brittany Smith, Salem (2007) | 1623 | |
| Tia Furbush, Schalick (2021) | 1574 | |
| Tori Smick, Woodstown (2013) | 1566 | |
| Talia Battavio, Woodstown | 21 vs. Clayton | 1479 |
| Megan Donelson, Woodstown | 15 vs. Clayton | 1473 |
| 1000-POINT WATCH | ||
| Nora Ausland, Pennsville (Salem 462/Pennsville 560) | 7 vs. Haddon Twp. | 1022 |
| RaNiyah Wilson, Penns Grove (Kingsway 251/PG 762) | 25 vs. Wildwood | 1013 |
| Marley Wood, Pennsville | 7 vs. Haddon Twp. | 938 |
Riverview Sports News 