Salem County basketball teams go 3-for-3 in Monday holiday tournament matinees; Woodstown boys win their own tournament
BOYS BASKETBALL
Woodstown Holiday Tournament
Camden Tech 67, Camden Prep 53
Woodstown 52, Haddon Heights 38
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Haddons Invitational Round Robin
Woodstown 46, Moorestown Friends 31
New Egypt Holiday Tournament
Salem 36, New Egypt 24
Steinert 54, Clayton 42
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
WOODSTOWN – All the Woodstown basketball team needed was to see a couple shots go down to change its whole outlook on things. Or maybe it was the adjustments that led to making more shots.
The Wolverines weren’t really playing poorly early against Haddon Heights, but they trailed at halftime of their holiday tournament championship game Monday.
They made some adjustments and finally got some shots to fall sparking a second-half surge that carried them to their fourth straight win, 52-38.
“We played very good, we did a lot of great things throughout the game,” Wolverines coach Ramon Roots said. “The first half we were playing great defense, the shots just weren’t falling. I think they were doing a good job keeping us off the glass. We made some adjustments and we started making shots.”
Eli Caesar and Andrew White both missed the tournament opener Saturday, but were back in action Monday and played key roles in the turnaround. White scored 11 of his 12 points in the second half and Caesar scored six of his 11 in the fourth quarter.
Alejandro Vazquez also came up big, scoring eight of his 11 points in the fourth quarter. Tournament MVP Blake Bialecki scored only six points, but made “a lot” of what Roots called “winning plays” to build momentum. Josh King joined Bialecki on the all-tournament team.
“People are taking advantage of their opportunity,” Roots said. “I feel we have a good group; it can be anybody’s night. I have confidence in all of them.”
Camden Tech handled winless Camden Prep in the consolation game, 67-53. Amari Richardson led Tech (2-2) with 15 points and nine rebounds. Keysean Spencer scored a team-high 16 points.
Woodstown Holiday Tournament
Championship Game
WOODSTOWN 52, HADDON HEIGHTS 38
HADDON HEIGHTS (4-2): Max Silvestri 4 2-3 12, TJ Murphy 1 2-2 5, John Bordi 6 1-2 14, Charlie Merz 0 0-0 0, James Gray 1 0-0 2, Kieran Knecht 0 0-0 0, Nysir Morris 0 0-0 0, Troy Eiter 2 1-3 5. Totals 14 6-10 38.
WOODSTOWN (4-2): Blake Bialecki 2 1-1 6, Alejandro Vazquez 4 1-1 11, Josh King 2 5-6 9, Lucas Fulmer 1 0-0 2, Trey Markward 0 0-0 0, Elijah Caesar 4 2-3 11, Frank Hoerst 0 0-0 0, White 4 3-6 12. Totals 17 12-17 52.
| Haddon Heights | 9 | 12 | 5 | 12- | 38 |
| Woodstown | 11 | 8 | 13 | 20- | 52 |
Girls games
Big second quarter lifts Woodstown
HADDONFIELD – Maybe it took a little while to shake off the early start, but the Woodstown girls came to life in the second quarter and carried it to a 48-31 victory over Moorestown Friends in the Haddons Invitational Round-Robin.
Getting to school at 8 a.m. for the 10 a.m. game at coach Matt Smart’s old stomping grounds, the Wolverines fell behind 8-4 in the opening eight minutes before stifling the Foxes 17-2 in the second quarter to take control of the game.
“Our defensive intensity definitely changed in the second quarter,” Wolverines coach Matt Smart said. “We played better on-the-ball defense as well as help defense, then we were more patient with the basketball. We let the game come to us and would run our sets and play. We wouldn’t settle for a good shot, but a great shot.”
Mia Waterman hit two of her three 3-pointers and Kendall Young scored five of her team-high 15 points in the second quarter. Waterman finished with nine points in the game. Kyia Leyman had 12 and five other Wolverines hit the scoring column.
“You can see in the second quarter we didn’t rely on one girl to score all of the points,” Smart said. “The points were spread out that quarter, which is what we want. When we’re sharing the load offensively we become a much tougher team to guard.”
Haddons Invitational
Second round
WOODSTOWN 48, MOORESTOWN FRIENDS 31
WOODSTOWN (4-2): Lauren Hengel 2 0-4 5, Kyia Leyman 5 2-3 12, Emma Perry 1 0-0 2, Kendall Young 6 2-3 15, Mia Waterman 3 0-0 9, Kailyn Kennedy 0 1-2 1, Talia Guardascione 0 2-2 2, Maddie Roback 0 0-0 0, Ava White 0 0-0 0, Jaelyn McDonald 0 0-0 0, Gina Murray 1 0-0 2, Gabriella Maldonado 0 0-0 0, Kamiya Brunson 0 0-0 0, Cecelia Nachbar 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-14 48.
MOORESTOWN FRIENDS (4-3): Khadijah Banks 0 0-0 0, Ida Ramos 3 0-0 6, Mariana Wilson 3 4-9 10, Jenaya Santiago 0 0-0 0, Wynne Ay 1 0-3 2, Maymouma Banks 3 0-3 6, Payton Zauber 1 0-0 2, Resse Glickson 2 0-0 5. Totals 13 4-15 31.
| Woodstown (4-2) | 4 | 17 | 11 | 16- | 48 |
| Moorestown Friends (4-3) | 8 | 2 | 9 | 12- | 31 |
Things changing at Salem
NEW EGYPT – After seemingly taking control of the game with a big first quarter, the Salem girls fell back to earth and found themselves in a real dogfight by the time the fourth quarter came around.
Unfazed, they collected themselves and outscored their hosts 12-4 in the final eight minutes to beat New Egypt 36-24 in the opening round of the New Egypt Holiday Tournament.
Freshman Jaryn Weathers scored five of her nine points in the fourth quarter. Nevaeh Hickman had four of her five in the quarter and Maddie Dixon had three of her team-high 12 there. Dixon also had six rebounds and four assists in the game, while Weathers also had eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and a pair of blocked shots.
“I don’t think we ever cracked when they got it to two,” Rams coach Kemp Carr said. “I think we actually turned up. We didn’t play a few of our starters today, so to see us do this without our guns being completely loaded was admiration for the younger players.”
The win keeps the Rams’ early-season turnaround going. They have won won two in a row for the first time since last February, it’s the earliest they’ve won two games in a season since 2021-22 when they started 3-0, and it’s the first time they’ve been above .500 since being 4-3 in January 2023.
They won three games all of last season.
“Absolutely it’s mentality,” Carr said. “They know they have to work hard. I think in the past they’ve been able to get away with certain things. We want everybody when they come out of their house in the morning to be confident. That means when you go on the floor you have to be confident.
“I ask them you put clothes on every day? Yes. You eat every day? Yes. I said I need something to go with that every day and that’s confidence. I don’t care what it is, if it’s today’s task, if you’re going to take a test, if you’re going to play a basketball game, you have to bring a level of confidence.”
The Rams now play Steinert in Tuesday’s championship game. The Spartans (2-3) beat Clayton 54-42 behind Katie Corby’s 21 points, six rebounds and six assists. Bella Rosa had 18 points (four 3-pointers), 11 rebounds, three assists and four steals.
New Egypt Holiday Tournament
First round
SALEM 36, NEW EGYPT 24
| Salem | 16 | 1 | 6 | 12- | 36 |
| New Egypt | 4 | 10 | 7 | 3- | 24 |
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