Salem, Schalick girls battle in preview of county’s rising stars, Lecator shows out in Metro Classic, Salem Tech bowlers win school’s first-ever girls division title, and more
GIRLS BASKETBALL
Pennsville 64, Salem Tech 20
Schalick 37, Salem 33
Woodstown 65, Clayton 52
BOYS BASKETBALL
Rutgers Prep 67, Salem 55
Woodstown 86, Clayton 63
Pennsville 43, Salem Tech 40
Penns Grove 57, Wildwood 47
BOWLING
Boys: Lindenwold 4, Salem Tech 0
Girls: Salem Tech 4, Lindenwold 0
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
SALEM – In a battle of the two up-and-coming girls basketball teams in Salem County, the one with the most experience prevailed.
With the number of quality young players in prominent roles for both teams, Salem and Schalick appear to be the next big thing on the county girls basketball scene.
Schalick has more veterans sharing the floor with its rising stars and the Cougars used that mix to their advantage Thursday in turning back the Rams for their fifth straight win, 37-33.
“In tight games like this it comes down to experience,” Schalick coach John Whelan said. “Experience and confidence. That’s the two main thing we relied on tonight.
“We have our five starters who were all here last year. Our bench consists of very young players new to the program so they’re getting their experience at both the JV and varsity level. (Against) Paulsboro, we were forced to call on some them and they came up big. In this moment today, we just relied on our starters, so it kind of flip flops back and forth based on the game and how the game’s going.”
Usually, the Cougars (10-3) are driven by the play of sophomores Nevaeh Robinson and Willow Davis, but Salem did a good job of bottling them up, so they turned to senior starters Ava Scurry and Cali Fisler to see them through.
The Rams (6-7) held Robinson and Davis to a combined 15 points. Scurry scored only six points, but she was a force inside, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking six shots. Fisler scored 10 points, her season high.
“Ava all season has been our anchor defensively, for sure,” Whelan said. “Offensively, she helped us out today early. We kind of spread the love around with the points today, as good basketball teams can.”
The Rams’ fortunes, meanwhile, run through Dyaira Anderson and juniors Maddie Dixon and Carlysia Pierce. Dixon scored only three points, but she does so much more. Anderson had 10 points, eight in the fourth quarter. Pierce was their leading scorer with 11 points.
While some on their roster have varsity experience, they’re all learning to play a different way under coach Kemp Carr.
“We played so hard, I’m proud to be these girls’ coach,” Carr said. “I’m just super proud of the identity (they’re forming) and how we are getting better. You can see it in spurts, we just need to put a 32-minute game together that we haven’t done yet.“But where they are from the beginning of the year to now … those things are happening, so eventually your experience will start catching up with those things . I think the future’s very bright for this program.”
“The future for both these programs is bright,” Whelan concurred.
Salem broke out a new defense for the first time – a 1-3-1 zone – in hope of handling Robinson and Davis and Carr thought it was “pretty efficient.”
They first rolled it out right after scoring their first points of the game midway through the first quarter. Scurry got behind it to score right away, but after that the Rams held to Cougars to one point and forced seven turnovers the rest of the quarter to grab a 9-7 lead.
Robinson finally got loose in the second half. She scored eight of her 10 points after halftime, with six of those coming on two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that kept giving the Cougars separation.
“You have to hand it to Salem,” Whelan said. “They fought to the very end. They never gave in. They gave us a really good basketball game. Our girls, they withstood all the pressure. Salem was relentless. We handled that pretty well.”
SCHALICK 37, SALEM 33
SCHALICK (10-3): Nevaeh Robinson 4 0-4 10, Willow Davis 1 2-2 5, Jaelynn Jarmon 0 0-0 0, Ava Scurry 3 0-0 6, Cali Fisler 4 2-3 10, Emmalyn Weir 0 0-0 0, Olivia Vanacker 1 4-8 6. Totals 13 8-17 37.
SALEM (6-7): Carlysia Pierce 4 3-4 11, Timmiyah Simmons 0 0-0 0, Samiyah Moore 0 0-0 0, Kaliyah Taylor 2 0-0 4, Triscia Wilson 0 0-0 0, Jaryn Weathers 2 1-2 5, Dyaira Anderson 5 0-2 10, Maddie Dixon 1 0-2 3. Totals 14 4-10 33.
| Schalick | 7 | 8 | 6 | 16- | 37 |
| Salem | 9 | 2 | 9 | 13- | 33 |
PENNSVILLE 64, SALEM TECH 20: Sophomore Addie Johnston led all scorers with 16 points and Marley Wood filled the box score with six points, six rebounds and 10 assists as the Eagles completed a sweep of their first wave through the other five Salem County teams. Taylor Bass contributed 12 points and eight assists to the win. Izzy Saulin had 10 points and seven boards. Shelby Drummond led the Chargers with 13 points.
PENNSVILLE (9-6): Taylor Bass 5 1-1 12, Marley Wood 2 1-2 6, Jaiden Wilson 3 0-0 8, Addie Johnston 7 0-0 16, Izzy Saulin 4 2-4 10, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0, Jada Burns 4 0-0 8, Reagan Sipps 0 0-0 0, Makayla Griffith 0 0-0 0, Addison Hill 2 0-0 4, Polina Wright 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 4-7 64.
SALEM TECH (2-10): Shelby Liber 1 0-0 3, Amora Delaine 2 0-2 4, Shelby Drummond 5 0-0 13, Rachel Reed 0 0-0 0, Tiara Bazemore 0 0-0 0, Evening Amedee 0 0-0 0, Olivia Lydon 0 0-0 0, Carmen Mott 0 0-0 0. Totals 8 0-2 20.
| Pennsville | 24 | 13 | 19 | 8- | 64 |
| Salem Tech | 5 | 3 | 4 | 8- | 20 |
WOODSTOWN 65, CLAYTON 52: The Wolverines jumped out to a big lead, let the Clippers back into it at halftime, then steadily pulled away in the second half. Kendall Young and Emma Perry led four Woodstown scorers in double figures with career-highs 19 and 18, respectively. Lauren Hengel and Kyia Leyman added 12 points apiece.
Young also had six rebounds, four assists and six steals. Hengel had nine rebounds and three steals. Leyman blocked six shots. Talia Guardascione had six rebounds, five assists and five steals.
CLAYTON (5-9): Deondria Simon 4 3-4 11, Janice Blair 1 0-0 2, India Bryant 4 5-7 13, India Williams 2 0-0 5, Isabella Wiseburn 0 0-0 0, Alivia Howey 0 0-0 0, Gabrielle Searle 2 2-2 7, LaNaya Carr-Archie 3 2-2 10, Kennedy Eaddy 1 2-2 4. Totals 17 14-17 52.
WOODSTOWN (8-9): Lauren Hengel 5 2-4 12, Kyia Leyman 6 0-2 12, Emma Perry 7 4-6 18, Kendall Young 19, Talia Guardascione 0 2-4 2, Kailyn Kennedy 0 0-0 0, Gina Murray 0 0-0 0, Autumn Paleschic 1 0-0 2. Totals 28 8-18 65.
| Clayton | 9 | 19 | 13 | 11- | 52 |
| Woodstown | 23 | 5 | 17 | 20- | 65 |
Boys games
| 1000-POINT WATCH | TODAY | TOTAL |
| Blake Bialecki, Woodstown | 25 vs. Clayton | 964 |
| Tymear Lecator, Salem | 31 vs. Rutgers Prep | 863 |
PENNSVILLE 43, SALEM TECH 40: The Eagles have their first winning streak of the season as they won their second straight behind 16 points from Mason O’Brien and a team 14-of-16 from the free throw line. Danny Knight and Jake Layfield added 10 points apiece. It’s the first time Pennsville has won back to back games since Jan. 29-30, 2024.
Salem Tech’s Luke Kroll led all scorers with 18 points and Raphael Busch had a double-double (10 points, 12 rebounds). Aiden Bobo had eight points and eight boards.
SALEM TECH (2-11): Chase Pompper 1 1-2 3, Brody Kroll 0 0-0 0, Ayden Myers 0 0-0 0, Aiden Bobo 3 1-3 8, Luke Kroll 6 2-5 18, Raphael Busch 5 0-2 10, Sterling Lewis 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 5-14 40
PENNSVILLE (3-13): jake Layfield 2 5-5 10, Jacob Farina 1 2-2 4, Gavin Spears 0 0-0 0, Danny Knight 3 1-2 10, Aidan Clark 1 0-0 3, Mason O’Brien 4 6-7 16. Totals 11 14-16 43.
| Salem Tech | 16 | 6 | 11 | 7- | 40 |
| Pennsville | 9 | 11 | 10 | 13- | 43 |
PENNS GROVE 57, WILDWOOD 47: Penns Grove’s defense ruled the floor in the first half, then the offense took over in the second half.
The Red Devils held Wildwood to 10 points in a low-scoring first half, then their offense erupted for 22 points in each of the final two quarters to secure their fourth straight win.
Roman Gipson was the catalyst in the second half. In the third quarter, Geonni Conrad hit his two 3-pointers and Mishawn Brantley had two three-point plays.
Roman Gipson scored a team-high 12 points, Brantley had 11 and four other Red Devils scored at least seven points. Wildwood’s Nolan Mawhinney led all scorers with 24 points.
WILDWOOD (7-9): Owen Bannon 1-0-3, Gianni Troiano 1-1-3, Trevor Troiano 2-2-8, Nolan Mawhinney 10-4-24, Jeff Knight 2-2-6, Vinny Sweeney 0-3-3. Totals 16-12-47.
PENNS GROVE (11-6): Roman Gipson 4-3-12, Carson Pearsall 3-0-8, Haneef Frisby 2-3-7, Will Roy 4-1-9, Geonni Conrad 2-2-8, Luis Colon 0-0-0, Messiah Allah 0-0-0, Jameel Horace 1-0-2. Totals 20-12-57.
| Wildwood | 4 | 6 | 18 | 19- | 47 |
| Penns Grove | 5 | 8 | 22 | 22- | 57 |
RUTGERS PREP 67, SALEM 55: The Rams came out of the gate slow in the Metro Classic, but they came to life in the second half to make a game of it.
They got into the event at the last minute and trailed 36-14 at halftime. They made an impression in the second half, though, outscoring the Argonauts 41-33.
Tymear Lecator found the rims at Stockton University friendly. He hit six 3-pointers on the way to a career-high 31 points to lead all scorers. He also had five rebounds and five assists. Deshaan Williams had 11 points and five rebounds. Marshall Stephens grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked three shots.
SALEM (12-3): Deshaan Williams 11, Marshall Stephens 4, BJ Robbins 4, Neziah Spence 3, Tymear Lecator 31, Darelle Johnson 2. Totals 23-2-55.
RUTGERS PREP (13-6): Logan Franz 3 2-2 9, Nicolas Nsenkyire 3 0-0 6, Rocco Loomis 6 4-4 18, Bryce Williams 3 0-0 8, William Brunson 7 2-4 18, Julian Ceberio 1 0-0 3, Morgan Duncan 1 0-0 2, Oliver Cohen 1 0-0 3. Totals 25 8-10 67.
| Salem | 8 | 6 | 20 | 21- | 55 |
| Rutgers Prep | 16 | 20 | 16 | 17- | 67 |
WOODSTOWN 86, CLAYTON 63: Blake Bialecki has been on a tear. On this night the Wolverines senior tied his career-high with seven 3-pointers and scored 25 points. Over his last four games he has scored 85 points and hit 17 3-pointers. He is now 36 points away from 1,000 and 10 away from setting the Wolverines’ all-time records for 3s.
Andrew White had a career-high 19 points for the Wolverines. Twelve players scored for the Wolverines in all.
Bowling: First-time champs
SALEM TECH GIRLS 4, LINDENWOLD 0: Naomi Hess rolled the Chargers’ high game (146) and high series (446) as the Chargers clinched the TCC Classic Division title, the first girls team in Salem Tech history to win a division crown. Casey Zaluske rolled a 146 in Game 2 and Candyce Cooper rolled three consecutive 143s. The boys lost 4-0. Rosario Torres rolled their high game (190) and series (521).
Riverview Sports News 