Woodstown girls come up with late steal and layup, last-second free throws to complete comeback against Pennsville; Schalick, Salem both fall in the South Jersey Group I opening round
SJ GROUP I GIRLS TOURNAMENT
Friday’s games
Woodbury 48, Burlington City 10
Palmyra 40, New Egypt 23
Glassboro 60, Cape May Tech 15
Audubon 54, Salem 35
Woodstown 51, Pennsville 47
Gateway 43, Schalick 21
Monday’s games
Woodbury at Haddon Twp.
Palmyra at Glassboro
Woodstown at Audubon
Gateway at Wildwood
By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News
PENNSVILLE — There’s a power in sports even stronger than the will to keep a rival from beating you three times in the same season. It’s the will to keep a legacy alive.
That’s the power that drove the Woodstown girls team Friday night.
The Wolverines have made deep playoffs runs so regularly in recent years it’s almost an expectation. They haven’t lost a first-round playoff game since 2019, and if they had any say in it weren’t about to start in what many would consider a rebuilding year. They did face their biggest challenge to that legacy Friday and found a way to keep it alive.
Emma Perry’s dramatic steal and layup with 13 seconds left snapped a 47-all tie and Lauren Hengel hit two free throws in the final second to send the Wolverines past sixth-seeded Pennsville 51-47 in the opening round of the South Jersey Group I playoffs.
“It was big for us because our team the past four years we’ve had a very good program,” senior forward Lauren Hengel said. “It’s not even about losing about them the past two games but keeping the tradition alive of a good, solid Woodstown girls basketball team. For the players who went before us and the older girls that we played with the past four years and the younger girls who are coming up, showing them what it means to play for Woodstown.
“No one’s really brought it up with us because they didn’t want to stress us out, but we knew. We knew this is Woodstown basketball. Show up for your school, for the tradition, for the girls before you and keep it going.”
The 11th-seeded Wolverines (12-15) lost to the Eagles (16-8) twice during the regular season and were in danger of being the first Woodstown team in a long time to lose to the same team three times in one season trailing by seven with 3:39 to play.
It was at that point Pennsville star Marley Wood picked up her fifth foul and her departure changed so much of what the Eagles could do on both ends of the floor.
The Wolverines chipped away and finally got it tied at 45 on Hengel’s 3-pointer from the right corner right after Kyia Leyman kept the possession alive by banging a loose ball off a Pennsville defender out of bounds.
“I didn’t have time to think, “ Hengel said. “That that was just me doing what I love and playing basketball, not even thinking and just taking the shot. I was practicing in our gym before we left trying to fix my shot and get it just right before the game. It was a big deal to me.”
The game was tied again at 47 and stayed that way until 13 seconds remained when Pennsville set up for a routine inbounds play at midcourt opposite of the benches.
The Eagles wanted to get the ball into Taylor Bass and give her a chance to push to the basket and either get a shot or, depending on how the Wolverines played it, kick out for a 3-pointer, but Perry threw a wrench into all that. She ran up on Bass to knock the inbounds pass away (and Bass along with it) and after a frozen few seconds to realize there was no foul, Perry scooped up the loose ball and drove in alone for the go-ahead layup.
“I knew she was coming right to the ball so I kind of cheated out a little bit and was able to get there and took it out of her hands,” Perry said, admitting there was contact on the turnover. “The play was supposed to be for me to stay back but I just remember cheating out a little bit. I knew there wasn’t that much time left and anything I could do to get my hand on the ball I was trying to do it. I try to pop out and get steals as much as I can, but that was definitely a highlight.”
“She’s insane,” Hengel said of Perry. “She has some crazy footwork and she’s a pest on defense. I just think that was just huge and nobody deserved that play more than her.”
“It was a big play by her, but there were big plays made by everybody all game and that’s what I’m so proud of,” coach Matt Smart said. “For the most part the girls played extremely hard. That’s kind of what we preach in practice all week and that’s what they preach to each. They knew what they had to do win this game and then we went out and accomplished it.”
There was still time on the clock to get an equalizer or maybe a game-winner, but the Eagles lost the ball out of bounds attacking the basket with 2.8 seconds left. When the Wolverines put the ball back in play Hengel was fouled immediately and went to the line for her game-sealing free throws.
Hengel got Woodstown going early while the Eagles were still settling into the game and led the Wolverines with 15 points. Kendall Young had 14, Leyman 12 and Perry 10.
Pennsville’s Wood led all scorers with 20 points and finished her high school career as the Eagles’ second all-time leading girls scorer with 1352 points and 12th all-time in Salem County. Bass had 11 points and finished with 1237, tied for 19th on the all-time county girls list.
The Wolverines now play at third-seeded Audubon in the quarterfinals Monday.
“It just feels nice to not be done playing basketball,” Smart said.
Top photo: Woodstown’s Emma Perry (13) knocks away an inbounds pass intended for Pennsville’s Taylor Bass leading to her tie-breaking layup late in the fourth quarter that sent the Wolverines to playoff victory.
WOODSTOWN 51, PENNSVILLE 47
WOODSTOWN (12-15): Lauren Hengel 6 2-4 15, Emma Perry 5 0-0 10, Kyia Leyman 5 2-5 12, Kendall Young 5 3-4 14, Talia Guardascione 0 0-4 0, Gina Murray 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 7-13 51.
PENNSVILLE (16-8): Taylor Bass 3 4-5 11, Marley Wood 5 9-12 20, Addie Johnston 1 1-2 4, Izzy Saulin 6 0-0 12, Jaiden Wilson 0 0-0 0, Jaida Burns 0 0-0 0, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 14-19 47.
| Woodstown | 15 | 8 | 11 | 17- | 51 |
| Pennsville | 8 | 13 | 10 | 16- | 47 |
GATEWAY 43, SCHALICK 21: Down 12 with 90 seconds left in the third quarter, Schalick coach John Whelan figured it was time to roll the dice. He rolled out something the Cougars hadn’t practiced – a full-court man defense – with the aim of getting his team back in the game.
It worked for a while. The Cougars cut the deficit in half with about six and a half minutes left, but the Gators regrouped and made the plays to open it back up.
The Cougars were without Ava Scurry, the county’s leading shot-blocker by a wide margin, and guard Emmalyn Weir was excused in the third quarter for a school event. The Gators also clamped down on leading scorer Neveah Robinson, holding her without a field goal and to only two points.
“But our girls battled to the end and I am extremely proud of all they accomplished this season,” Whelan said.
Indeed. The Cougars made an 11-win turnaround from the season before and enjoyed their winningest season since 209. They won their first three games of the season and were never below .500 at any point.
Sophomore guard Liv VanAcker had three assists in the game set the Cougars’ single-season record with 91.
GATEWAY 43, SCHALICK 21
SCHALICK (17-8): Cali Fisler 2 2-4 6, Emmalyn Weir 2 1-2 6, Willow Davis 1 2-2 5, Nevaeh Robinson 0 2-2 2, Liv VanAcker 0 0-2 0, Jaelynn Jarmon 1 0-0 2. Totals 6 7-12 21.
GATEWAY (17-10): Sydney Hughes 0 2-3 2, Jayda Catoe 5 0-2 10, Peyton Cutler 4 0-0 8, Layla DeMaise 3 2-2 8, Lucy Matthews 4 3-6 13, Koby Williams 0 0-0 0, Lexie Kirwin 1 0-0 2, Caitlin Gettings 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 7-14 43.
| Schalick | 5 | 3 | 9 | 4- | 21 |
| Gateway | 9 | 8 | 8 | 18- | 43 |
AUDUBON 54, SALEM 35: Emma Speyerer scored 22 points and two of her Green Wave teammates also scored in double figures. Dyaira Anderson had a double-double for the Rams (12 points and 12 rebounds).
The loss brought a close to Kemp Carr’s first season as the Rams’ coach. His team produced the program’s winningest season since 2022-23, made a six-win improvement over the year before and was .500 as late as Feb. 17.
AUDUBON 54, SALEM 35
SALEM (9-11): Carlysia Pierce 5 3-6 3, Dyaira Anderson 5 2-12 12, Saniyah Moore 1 0-0 2, Jaryn Weathers 0 2-2 2, Timmiyah Simmons 1 0-0 2, Kaliyah Taylor 2 0-2 4, Madison Dixon 0 0-2 0. Totals 14 7-24 35.
AUDUBON (19-8): Emma Speyerer 10 2-4 22, Kylie Canada 1 0-0 2, Giavanna Heller 8 0-1 16, Sophia Homa 3 4-6 10, Mylia Madden 1 0-0 3, Jules Heck 0 1-4 1, Acen Bangle 0 0-0 0, Clara Poponi 0 0-0 0. Totals 23 7-15 54.
| Salem | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10- | 35 |
| Audubon | 16 | 10 | 21 | 7- | 54 |
Riverview Sports News 