Schalick girls earn a spot in the TCC Postseason Bracket title game, host Deptford Saturday morning; includes TCC Tournament scores and Salem County consolation games
TCC GIRLS TOURNAMENT
Postseason Bracket
Schalick 47, Salem 33
Deptford 54, Clayton 39
Championship Bracket
Gloucester Catholic 60, Clearview 29
Wukdwiid 69, Glassboro 64 (3 OT)
Consolation games
Washington Twp. 44, Woodstown 20
Pennsville 57, Cumberland 35
TCC BOYS TOURNAMENT
Championship Bracket
Kingsway 52, Overbrook 41
Cumberland 57, Williamstown 54
Postseason Bracket
Triton 53, GCIT 51
Washington Twp. 55, Pitman 40
Consolation games
Woodstown 77, Clearview 50
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PITTSGROVE — John Whelan held his breath a little bit when the Tri-County Conference officials were seeding their annual tournament and he let out a small sigh of relief when they finished their business.
Whelan’s Schalick girls basketball team was having one of their best seasons in a while, but its power points on Super Bowl Sunday left it on the bubble of making the TCC Championship Bracket reserved for the the league’s 12 heaviest hitters or the Postseason Bracket with what was left.
A power point here or there or a team jump-seeding its neighbor in the standings and a lot of things could change. When it all shook out, the Cougars fell on the Postseason Bracket side of the line — the No. 1 seed, if fact — and now, instead of facing an upper seed in the first round of the upper bracket with the expected consequences, they have a chance to win a championship.
The Cougars earned a spot in the Postseason Bracket championship game Thursday night when they dumped Salem 47-33. They now host Deptford (12-14) for the title Saturday at 10 a.m.
“It’s exciting,” Whelan said. “The girls deserve it. They’ve earned it. They put the work in all season, in the offseason in here, every practice, in the weight room, so it’s kind of come full circle for us. It’s exciting times to have this opportunity.”
In the past, the TCC split its tournament into three divisions – the top 8 (A), the eight in the middle of pack (B) and the also-rans (C),. This year they decided to expand the upper bracket to reward the league’s four division winners that sometimes didn’t make the A Bracket with first-round byes
They seeded it straight on the power points among the conference’s 23 teams – with the exception of the division winners who earned the top four seeds – and went to a 12-team upper and 11-team lower bracket.
The Cougars came in at No. 13, despite having as many or more wins than seven teams in the Championship Bracket at the time of the seeding, meaning they were the first team out and the whole Postseason Bracket went through them. They were the winningest team in the bracket by five wins.
“You always want to strive to play for that higher competition, but we fell where we fell,” Whelan said. “The 1 seed, that would be extra home games for us. We approach it the same way we would any other bracket or championship or any other game. This is just as important to us as it would be if we were in the other bracket.
“It definitely gave us an opportunity to be where we are, for sure. Some of the upper-tier teams is something we’re striving to work towards and we’re making good strides. This is definitely a bracket with good competition, as seen in the past two games, and we’ll see again Saturday. This is the start of our post-season.”
Nevaeh Robinson led Schalick with 14 points and nine rebounds. Cali Fisler had a career-high 13 points, including 7-of-8 from the free throw line. She was 5-for-6 in the fourth quarter, undermining the Rams’ strategy for getting back in the game.
The Cougars were 18-of-27 from the line for the game, while the Rams were 13-of-29.
“We talked about the importance of free throws, especially in a playoff game,” Whelan said. “We knew it was going to be physical and we prepared for that mentally and physically. We spent a lot of time with free throws (in practice) and to their credit they knocked them down.”
“I just was really confident this game,” Fisler said. “I knew what I could do at line. I knew my percentages overall have not been very good this season, but I knew what I could do, so I stayed calm despite the noise they were trying to make and I just did what I do.”
Point guard Liv VanAcker got the Cougars through some of the more chaotic moments of the fast-paced game and dished seven assists to move within four of Abby Chomo’s single-season school record (89). Ava Scurry blocked four more shots, leaving her four shy of her single-season record (85).
“It was chaotic, yes, but our team is very good with chaos,” VanAcker said. “At first we start off a little shaky, but we get our groove after a while.”
DyAira Anderson led Salem with 14 points and 20 rebounds. Carlysia Pierce had 11 points and 12 rebounds. The Rams forced Schalick into numerous turnovers early and led 5-4 after a turnover-filled first quarter, but they were negatively impacted throughout by missing too many shots in close and struggling at the free throw line.
“You’ve gotta have the ball go through the circle.,” Salem coach Kemp Carr said. “You can’t get four and five shots at the basket, two feet, and you don’t make it. It’s not so much what they did more than what we didn’t do. We just didn’t execute what we needed to execute. You’ve gotta make shots.”
SCHALICK 47, SALEM 33
SALEM (9-10): Madison Dixon 3 0-2 6, DyAira Anderson 3 8-13 14, Carlysia Pierce 3 5-14 11, Jaryn Weathers 0 0-0 0, Tricia Wilson 1 0-0 2, Kaliyah Taylor 0 0-0 0, Samiyah Moore 0 0-0 0, Zanyah Frieson 0 0-0 0, Timmiyah Simmons 0 0-0 0. Totals 10 13-29 33
SCHALICK (17-6): Cali Fisler 3 7-8 13, Ava Scurry 4 0-0 8, Willow Davis 1 2-2 5, Nevaeh Robinson 5 2-5 14, Liv VanAcker 0 5-8 5, Vicky Basich 0 0-0 0, Emmalyn Weir 0 2-2 2, Jaelynn Jarmon 0 0-0 0, Emma O’Neil 0 0-2 0. Totals 13 18-27 47.
| Salem | 5 | 7 | 10 | 11- | 33 |
| Schalick | 4 | 16 | 12 | 15- | 47 |
PENNSVILLE 57, CUMBERLAND 36: Marley Wood scored 10 of her game-high 24 points in the second quarter as the Eagles pulled away from this TCC Championship Bracket consolation game. Jaiden Wilson added a career-high 12 points Next up for the Eagles is a Wednesday date with Woodstown in the South Jersey Group I tournament.
CUMBERLAND (10-14): Ellie Bodine 4 3-4 11, Lizzy Pfliegar 5 0-0 13, Addie Weist 1 0-0 3, Ny Gay 0 0-0 0, Kamila Ramos 0 0-0 0, JaLynn Brown 0 0-0 0, Julianna Rivera 0 0-0 0, Aleevia Fennal 2 0-0 4, Hydra Loatman 0 0-0 0, Peyton Johnson 0 0-0 0, Amely Pina 1 0-0 2, Mikaylah Picconi 1 0-0 2. Totals 14 3-4 35.
PENNSVILLE (16-7): Taylor Bass 2 1-4 6, Marley Wood 9 4-5 24, Addie Johnston 4 0-0 9, Izzy Saulin 3 0-0 6, Jaiden Wilson 5 0-0 12, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0, Kylie Weist 0 0-0 0, Reagan Sipps 0 0-0 0, Angelina Wagner 0 0-0 0, Addison Hitt 0 0-0 0, Makayla Griffith 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 5-9 57.
| Cumberland | 6 | 9 | 10 | 10- | 35 |
| Pennsville | 14 | 15 | 12 | 16- | 57 |
WASHINGTON TWP. 44, WOODSTOWN 20
WOODSTOWN (11-15): Kendall Young 2, Emma Perry 10, Lauren Hengel 4, Kyia Leyman 2, Talia Guardascione 2.
WASHINGTON TWP. (16-9): Frankie Begley 1 2-2 4, Shyla McLean 3 0-0 9, Julianna Cassidy 1 0-0 2, Elena Dabrowski 2 0-0 6, Aubrey Mack 6 1-2 13, Jade Mazzuca 1 0-0 2, Tessa Reilley 2 0-0 4, Lena Giannini 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 3-4 44.
| Woodstown | 2 | 4 | 10 | 4- | 20 |
| Washington Twp. | 7 | 17 | 8 | 12- | 44 |
Boys game
WOODSTOWN 77, CLEARVIEW 50: Blake Bialecki led a balanced scoring attack with 18 points that featured five 3-pointers, as the Wolverines snapped a three-game losing streak that tied the longest in coach Ramon Roots’ two-year tenure. Bialecki had 11 points in the first quarter fueled by three 3s. Andrew White had 15 points, 13 in the third quarter, and Alejandro Vazquez had 10.
CLEAVIEW (10-17): Jonah Turner 3 1-2 7, Georgia Kritikson 3 1-1 8, Mike Pellecchia 3 1-2 8, Darren Riddick 4 0-0 9, Alex Whitwork 2 0-0 6, TJ McGovern 1 0-0 3, Logan Poletti 1 0-0 3, David Carter 2 0-0 6, Ethan Munch 0 0-0 0, Patrick Furfari 0 0-0 0, Jake Bernstein 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 3-5 50.
WOODSTOWN (16-11): Elijah Caesar 4 0-2 8, Jalen Markward 0 0-0 0, Andrew White 7 1-2 15, Trey Markward 1 0-0 2, Lucas Fulmer 1 0-0 2, Blake Bialecki 6 1-2 18, Bryce Ayars 0 0-0 0, Frank Hoerst 4 0-2 8, Connor Miller 2 2-2 6, Alejandro Vazquez 3 3-3 10, Brian Booker 1 0-0 2, John Hood-McGinley 0 0-0 0, Josh King 3 0-0 6. Totals 32 7-13 77.
| Clearview | 13 | 14 | 11 | 12- | 50 |
| Woodstown | 22 | 13 | 21 | 21- | 77 |
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