Salem CC women fall in final bid to make region playoffs, take No. 14 Montgomery County deep into the fourth quarter but run out of gas
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
CARNEYS POINT — Brian Marsh had never seen his Salem CC women’s basketball team in a do-or-die situation before and frankly he was a little nervous about how it would handle it.
The Mighty Oaks had to beat nationally ranked Montgomery County in Tuesday’s Sophomore Night season finale to qualify for the Region XIX Division II playoffs. There was no two ways around it: Win and you’re in with a .500 record, lose and the season’s over. There was no tomorrow.
Would the moment be too big for a program in only its second year back on the floor or would the team that already exceeded last year’s production cast the pressure aside and deliver in a big moment.
It didn’t start off so well, but the moment wasn’t too big for the Mighty Oaks. They gave themselves a chance in the second half — some might even say had the Mustangs on the run – but they just didn’t have enough at the end and suffered a 55-43 defeat that brought their season to a close.
“We had a lot of things work against us, but I thought we played really well in the second half energy wise, we just didn’t make shots,” Marsh said. “I was worried it was going to be too big a moment, but I don’t really think that happened. I just thought we didn’t make shots, and that happens.”
Actually, the Mighty Oaks came within three minutes and eight seconds of making the region playoffs for the first time in 20 years. They trailed by only four with 3:08 to play and five with 2:36 left, but didn’t score the rest of the game.
They were hurt on the boards in the first half and didn’t shoot well the whole game. They were outrebounded badly by the 14th-ranked Mustangs (22-2) in the first half, but thanks to a halftime adjustment held their own on the boards in the second half.
What really hurt them was going 2-for-22 from 3-point range, 0-for-14 in the second half.
It was their worst night from behind the arc at home since bringing the program back last year and third overall, behind only a 2-for-23 in a mid-January win at Anne Arundel this year and a 2-for-26 last Feb. in a dreadful loss at RCSJ-Gloucester.
“I’ve got to give them credit,” Marsh said. “They did some things, they did just enough to win or found the right people and were making free throws at the end. I thought we played our hearts out. At some point you’ve gotta make shots and we didn’t.”
The Mighty Oaks wanted to jump out quickly to control the pace but fell behind by 11 in the first quarter. They kept the deficit from getting any larger in the half by holding the Mustangs to just nine points in the second quarter.
It was a five-point game with 3:42 left in the third quarter, but five straight empty possessions led to seven Montco points and the deficit was back up to 12. The Mighty Oaks cut it to four for the first time with 7:08 to go on a pair of Alexa Hopkins free throws and twice more later after layups by Nyaijah Jackson and Maggie St. Clair, but they never could get closer.
In addition to the better rebounding, the Mighty Oaks had 12 steals in the second half and forced the Mustangs into 19 turnovers.
“I realized after the first half we needed to step it up,” sophomore Caroline Zullo said. “In the second half I think we all kind of realized, especially the sophomores, that this might be our last game so we had to step it up. We tried our best, we just came up short.”
Zullo hit a free throw with 2:36 to play to make it 48-43, but that would be the Mighty Oaks’ final point of the season as they didn’t score again and the Mustangs pulled away with seven free throws over the final two minutes.
Jackson led the Mighty Oaks with 16 points and was their only scorer in double figures. St. Clair had nine points, six rebounds and five steals in her final JUCO game. The Mustangs had two scorers in double figures and three players with 10 or more rebounds.
GATHERING ACORNS: The Mighty Oaks started their five sophomores on Sophomore Night. For Hopkins, it was her first start since Jan. 7 against Camden … With Salem failing to qualify, the Region XIX Division II women’s playoffs are expected to be a six-team affair … The win was Monaco’s 18th in a row … Salem guard Kathryn Laurence scored her 500th career point in the first half. St. Clair scored her 500th point in the Lackawanna game.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY CC 55, SALEM CC 43
MONTCO (22-2) — Azjiona Golston 7-15 3-6 19, Tieisha Walker 2-10 3-6 7, Rachel Dunn 4-14 0-1 8, Alana Decker 1-3 0-0 2, Molly Butler 5-7 2-2 12, Kyla Taylor 0-2 0-2 0, Koumba Samassa 3-9 0-0 6, Sanaa Gulled 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 22-61 9-19 55.
SALEM CC (11-13) — Caroline Zullo 1-6 1-4 3, Maggie St. Clair 4-19 0-2 9, Kathryn Laurence 2-13 1-2 5, Jakayla Jenkins 0-5 0-0 0, Alexa Hopkins 2-4 2-2 7, RayNescia King 0-2 0-0 0, Nyaijah Jackson 8-16 0-2 16, Dani Gustin 1-1 0-1 2, Akira Chambers 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 18-67 5-15 43.
| Montgomery | 22 | 9 | 11 | 13- | 55 |
| Salem CC | 11 | 9 | 12 | 11- | 43 |
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