Salem CC women: Freshman post settling into her position, life away from home, enjoys career day against Lehigh Carbon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Being so far from home and on her own for the first time in her life, Salem CC freshman Akira Chambers admitted her first couple months at school were “scary, shaky and nervous.”

But as she’s slowly settled into her new environment and gotten more comfortable on a higher level of basketball she put all that emotional excess behind her for the first time Saturday and came out of it closer to the player she and the Mighty Oaks want her to be.

The 5-foot-11 post from Cleburne, Texas — one of five Texans on the roster – scored a lifetime high 21 points and gave the Mighty Oaks the reliable post presence coach Brian Marsh has been looking for in an easy 85-36 win over Lehigh Carbon at DuPont Fieldhouse.

“Most people know that I’m from Texas,” Chambers said. “I think one of the biggest things today was knowing that I had my family at home watching and supporting me; they couldn’t be here today. I have a big support system already here with my coach, my team, my family.

“One of the things today was just to go out there and play hard, play like I know how to play basketball. I’m at a higher level, it’s time to go up and change and do what I’m supposed to do to help my team to help me out more. I think my biggest goal today was just get out and play and have fun.

“I can definitely say today I let loose way more than I have any other game. I finally came back out.”

Chambers was ready from the jump. She had scored only 15 points in the Mighty Oaks’ first two games, but had that many in the first half Saturday on 7-for-8 shooting. She had eight of the Oaks’ first 12 points.

She couldn’t remember having a 20-point game in high school. With the help of her big outing Saturday she is averaging 12 points and five rebounds through her first three college games, and gives the Mighty Oaks that aggressive, athletic post they were sorely missing last season.

“I’ve really been working with her,” Marsh said. “I’ve been in higher ed a long time so I try to tell people the first semester is always the hardest. You’re always from your home, away from your parents; that’s why we try to be family here, but it’s hard. I always tell them to get through that first semester.

“What we’ve been working on with Akira is I always used to use basketball as therapy. It’s two hours where you just forget everything. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell her. It’s two hours, don’t worry about it. Thanksgiving break’s coming up, I give them two weeks off for Christmas, so you’re getting to the end of it, getting closer to home.

“It’s been hard on her, I’ll be really honest, but she’s doing a really good job of dealing with it. Our team is really close-knit, so I think that’s helped and I think she’s just been really working on herself just to play basketball.”

The game was full of gaudy numbers. Their 49-point margin was their largest margin of victory since reviving the women’s program last year; they only beat the Cougars by three last season. Their 93 shots and 29 assists were the most since bringing back the program.

Ten of the 11 Mighty Oaks who played scored and the only who didn’t, Geo Tjaden, came within one assist of a backdoor double-double (10 rebounds, nine assists). Nyiajah Jackson was their second-leading scorer with 18 points.

It wasn’t just on the offensive end. The Oaks forced Lehigh Carbon into 34 turnovers and held it to six points in each the second and third quarters. Their 19 steals tied their post-revival high and their 48 rebounds were the second-most since bringing back the program. 

Marsh would place it “in the top three” defensive efforts in his two-year tenure with the program.

“We wanted to go out and play aggressive man defense and as I’ve been saying really utilize our length and our athleticism,” Marsh said.

SALEM CC 85, LEHIGH CARBON 36
LEHIGH CARBON (1-3) – Jacksymerth Martinez 1-15 0-2 3, Emily Sebastian 8-12 4-6 20, Sarah Hope 2-7 0-0 4, Julianna Bowen 2-3 0-0 4, Maddy Taylor 1-4 0-2 2, Morgan Ritchie 1-5 0-0 3, Bronwyn McKee 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-48 4-10 36.
SALEM CC (3-0) – Maggie St. Clair 4-9 0-0 8, Dani Gustin 2-5 1-2 5, Kathryn Laurence 3-5 0-0 7, Jakayla Jenkins 2-3 0-0 4, Akira Chambers 9-14 3-6 21, RayNescia King 2-11 1-2 5, Nyaijah Jackson 9-12 0-0 18, Geo Tjaden 0-9 0-0 0, Jolee Robinson 2-7 0-0 4, Imara James 4-7 0-0 8, Alexa Hopkins 2-11 0-0 5. Totals 39-93 5-10 85.

3-point goals: Lehigh Carbon 2-8 (Martinez 1-4, Sebastian 0-1, Hope 0-1, Ritchie 1-2); Salem CC 2-16 (St. Clair 0-1, Laurence 1-2, King 0-1, Jackson 0-1, Tjaden 0-4, James 0-1, Hopkins 1-6). Rebounds: Lehigh Carbon 35 (Taylor 14, Hope 6); Salem CC 48 (Tjaden 10, Robinson 8, Jenkins 6). Technical fouls: James. Total fouls: Lehigh Carbon 12, Salem CC 14.

Salem CC men: After 90-minute meeting to get some things straight, Mighty Oaks were engaged all game, rediscovered their outside shot and beat Lehigh Carbon

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – If Mike Green’s post-game comments two nights earlier about his team being “not good enough” in certain aspects of the game was a not-so-veiled message directed at his players through the media, they certainly seemed to hit the mark.

And if they didn’t, well, a 90-minute closed-door meeting in lieu of practice Friday morning with the coach doing most of the talking reinforced the idea.

The Mighty Oaks, who’ve been consistently slow out of the gate in their first three games, were engaged from the start Saturday and even got their long-range shooting touch back in beating Lehigh Carbon CC 90-76 at the DuPont Fieldhouse.

They did it with another big second half, but at least this time they didn’t have to dig themselves out of an early hole before doing their second half thing. That’s what he’s talking about.

“They responded very well,” Green said. “Good teams hold each other accountable and we don’t do that all the time. I challenged them again to hold each other accountable because I’m not going to keep doing it. It’s got me looking crazy. I’m yelling. I don’t yell.

“Today they held each other accountable. You saw my starting lineup? Those are the people who have been accountable up to this point. The guys who have been given minutes, been given opportunities, y’all got to earn them now because I’m going with the people who hold each other accountable. They responded well. They responded very well.” 

On Thursday night the Oaks fell behind Delaware Tech 14-0 at the start and trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, but unlike their first two games when they rallied from slow starts to win, this time they never recovered and suffered their first loss of the season.

It prompted the second-year coach to say his team was “not good enough” to regularly give teams points early with hopes of rallying later, a point he reiterated in Friday’s meeting – and again at halftime Saturday.

“We are a very good team when we play together, so coach was saying we have a lot of selfish, a lot of egos, going on,” freshman guard Tyrone Tolson said. “We came together, we talked about it, everybody figured out what we wanted to do and get our roles all in.”

What was particularly frustrating about Thursday’s game was they endured one of the worst shooting nights in Green’s short tenure with the program. The Oaks made 188 3s in their 18 games with Green last year, but were only 6-of-36 from 3-point range against the Squares and had just 14 in the last two games.

But they hit seven 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes against the Cougars Saturday and drained a season-high 17 in the game — the second most in the Green era — on 38 attempts. The first basket of the game was a jumper by Tyrese Fortune and then all 10 of their field goals the rest of the half all from beyond the arc. And then they opened the second half with one from Niame Scott to take the lead for good. Seven players made at least one 3-pointer in the game. Leading scorers Josh Ramos (15 points) and Tolson (13) had four each. 

“Our shooters had to lock in and shoot,” Tolson said. “The pass is there, we’re getting open shots and today we were knocking them down. They were falling for us and we stayed locked in.”

The reason it worked is they were moving the ball. They had a season-high 23 assists (on 27 baskets), tied for the most in the Green era, and that doesn’t count “coach’s assists” on passes that resulted in free throws on shots that failed to fall. Twelve of the 13 Oaks who got in the game scored.

“I’m in the gym with these guys all the time; I know they can make shots,” Green said. “When we’re not making shots it’s because people are being selfish; you’re not passing the ball to the open man. When we’re making shots, it’s just because we’re moving the ball. We have to be a high-volume assist team because we’ve got shooters.”

It wasn’t all rosy, though. Late in the second half the Cougars cut a 20-point Salem lead with 8:30 left to nine with 4:25 to play. Going back to the initial theme the Oaks are “not that good” to have garbage time with a big lead.

They managed to stop the bleeding by returning the accountable players to the game. Stefan Phillips’ putback (his only bucket of the game) and Tolson’s left corner 3 got the Oaks back on track and they kept the lead in double digits the rest of the game.

“We’re all supposed to hold each other accountable,” Tolson said. “The bench is supposed to come in with the same energy. They came in, we had a couple guys lollygagging, not playing serious, getting petty fouls, but coach took them out and put us back in the game.

“I told coach we can’t have that. We’ve got to stay on it, everybody has to be on the same page, everybody has to be together. We’re only good as one. Without each other we don’t do good.” 

Cover photo: Tyrone Tolson launches one of the season-high 17 3-pointers the Salem CC men’s team hit Saturday in a 90-76 win over Lehigh Carbon. (Photo by John Holt)

SALEM CC 90, LEHIGH CARBON 76
LEHIGH CARBON (1-4) – Joel Contreras 6-15 10-12 24, Josh Shepherd 5-16 5-5 16, Robert Johnson 5-8 1-5 13, Andrew Hoadley 5-15 2-4 12, Daquan Burgess 2-9 5-6 16, John Kuchta 0-0 0-0 0, Nick Hetman 0-1 0-0 0, Jacob Schuebel 0-0 0-0 0, Mekhi Adonis 0-3 1-4 1. Totals 23-68 24-36 76.
SALEM CC (3-1) – Julien Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Tyrese Fortune 3-12 1-2 7, Tyrone Tolson 4-7 1-2 13, Rodney Shelton 0-0 3-4 3, Sami Anderson 2-3 2-2 8, Dontarius Jones 3-5 0-0 8, Niame Scott 2-8 1-2 7, A.J. Jones 3-6 0-0 8, Tivon Woolford 0-4 2-2 2, Josh Ramos 5-12 1-2 15, Xavier Brewington 2-7 0-0 4, Shyheed Taylor 2-4 3-3 8, Stefan Phillips 1-1 5-6 7. Totals 27-68 19-25 90.

3-point goals: Lehigh Carbon 6-26 (Contreras 2-5, Shepherd 1-9, Johnson 2-3, Hoadley 0-4, Burgess 1-5); Salem CC 17-38 (Fortune 0-4, Tolson 4-6, Anderson 2-3, D. Jones 2-4, Scott 2-4, A.J. Jones 2-3, Woolford 0-1, Ramos 4-9, Brewington 0-2, Taylor 1-2). Rebounds: Lehigh Carbon 42 (Hoadley 14, Johnson 8, Contreras 9); Salem CC 36 (Fortune 8, Shelton 5, Brewington 5). Technical fouls: Lehigh Carbon coach Foley. Fouled out: Adonis. Total fouls: Lehigh Carbon 18, Salem CC 26.

Scott’s acrobatic layup in closing seconds saves Mighty Oaks from slow start, women open their season with dominant victory; stories will be updated

SALEM CC BASKETBALL
Men 83, Bucks County CC 82
Women 99, Anne Arundel 61

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – When Niame Scott was growing up in North Philly two things used to always happen. He would watch highlights of Kyrie Irving playing basketball and then he would go out in the park and practice acrobatic layups, never really knowing if he’d ever get to use one or not.

The Salem CC sophomore pulled one out of his bag of tricks at the most opportune moment Tuesday night and the Mighty Oaks benefitted from it big time.

Scott contorted his body around Bucks County CC big man Jaquis Heath and hit a layup with 5.4 seconds left to give Oaks only their second lead of the night and they held on as a last-second shot bounced off the rim beating the Centurions 83-82 for their second win of the season.

“When I was little I worked on those shots, acrobatic layups, and I watch Kyrie, so I know how to do them,” Scott said. “Some of them go in, some of them don’t. I think this one was just me and him, just a one-on-one, and I’m good at one-on-one so I’m pretty sure I know I was going to make that.”

Because this one went in, the game ended a whole lot better for the Oaks than it started. They fell behind 14-0 in the first four and a half minutes and trailed by as many as 15 in the first half. Stefan Phillips finally got them on the board on a putback with 15:20 left in the half.

It was a long road back, but they eventually took the lead for the first time, 81-80, on two free throws by Xavier Brewington with 33.5 seconds to play. Bucks retook the lead on Heath’s aggressive putback with 12.2 seconds left. 

Scott got the game-winning play started by inbounding to Brewington then bolting to the far right corner. Brewington dribbled three times then fired a pass to Scott’s location. Scott then drove on Heath, putting up a shot with his right hand as he was falling to the ground. It went in and the Oaks had the lead.

“Basketball’s a long game and our guys fought to the end,” Salem coach Mike Green said. “I knew once we found the right unit, the cohesiveness, I knew we would get back in it.”

Green and staff spent the halftime break trying to get the right combination on the floor and apparently found the answer. The Oaks outscored their visitors 57-44 in the second half, shot 42 percent from the floor, ramped up their defense and steadily cut into the deficit until making it a one-possession game through the final five minutes.

They trailed in the first half of their opener, too, and needed A.J. Jones’ steal and layup in the final 10 seconds to earn them a 35-35 halftime tie.

“It seems like that’s been us every game,” Green said. “I told them maybe it’s me. Maybe I’ve got the wrong rotation in there. Maybe I’m starting the game with the wrong people. We can’t score in the first half. Me and the coaching staff has to figure that out.

“I thought we would come back, but it’s got to be on the coaches. If your team is not up and ready to go, it’s got to be on the coaches. We have to take credit for that. If we’re going down 14-0 maybe we’re starting the wrong people, maybe we’re not getting the right energy. It’s definitely on the coaches.”

Tyrese Fortune, Phillips, Brewington, A.J. Jones and, of course, Scott all played big roles in the comeback. Josh Ramos hit a corner 3 with 2:53 left to get the Oaks within one for the first time.

Fortune and Phillips combined for 18 points and eight rebounds in the second half and both finished with double-doubles. Shyheed Taylor had 13 of his team-high 16 points in the second half. Scott wound up with 12.

The Centurions still had time after Scott’s go-ahead layup to break Salem’s heart. They got the ball back into the hands of Heath, who dribbled from midcourt deep into the lane, pulled back out and shot it surrounded by Salem defenders Brewington, Scott and Phillips. The shot was in the air as the horn blew and backboard lit, but it hit the back of the iron and bounded harmlessly away.

The Oaks overcame a near disastrous technical foul in the final minute when a player on the bench spilled onto the floor after Scott and Jones forced the Centurions into a 10-second violation after Jones’ three-point play got them back within one again, 78-77.

SALEM CC 83, BUCKS COUNTY CC 82
BUCKS COUNTY CC (1-3) – Jeremy Henry 3-8 3-6 10, Noah Morris 8-13 2-2 24, George Marion 3-11 5-5 11, Roberto Maldonado 0-2 0-1 0, Jaquis Heath 3-11 1-2 7, Octavio Alexander 2-6 5-6 10, Tyler Riddle 4-8 8-8 16, Craig Stargell 0-0 0-0 0, Al Corsino 0-1 0-0 0, Yaasir Muhammed 2-2 0-0 4, Niko Bianco 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-62 24-30 82.
SALEM CC (2-0) – Niame Scott 4-14 3-7 12, Tyrese Fortune 4-11 3-5 11, Josh Ramos 2-8 0-0 6, Xavier Brewington 1-9 5-8 7, Rodney Shelton 0-4 0-0 0, Julien Jones 1-2 0-0 3, A.J. Jones 3-10 1-1 8, Tivon Woolford 3-6 0-1 7, Tyrone Tolson 0-2 0-2 0, Shyheed Taylor 5-9 4-5 16, Stefan Phillips 5-8 3-3 13, Sami Anderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 28-83 19-32 83.

3-point goals: Bucks 8-17 (Henry 1-2, Morris 6-10, Marion 0-2, Heath 0-1, Alexander 1-1, Riddle 0-1); Salem 8-36 (Scott 1-6, Fortune 0-2, Ramos 2-7, Brewington 0-6, Shelton 0-1, J. Jones 1-1, A. Jones 1-5, Woolford 1-3, Tolson 0-1, Taylor 2-4). Rebounds: Bucks 41 (Heath 9, Alexander 7); Salem 55 (Fortune 13, Phillips 13, Shelton 9). Technical fouls: Salem bench. Fouled out: Henry, Taylor. Total fouls: Bucks 25, Salem 20.

Women’s Game

SALEM CC 99, ANNE ARUNDEL 61: The restocked Mighty Oaks did some nice things during their scrimmages while second-year coach Brian Marsh was trying to acclimate his seven newcomers into the rotation and style they want to play with an expanded roster, but he really wanted to see what they looked like when the lights came on for real.

The Oaks got points from 10 different scorers and nearly broke the scoreboard in their season opener against the undermanned Riverhawks.

“We really want to have energy all over the floor,” Marsh said. “We were Anne Arundel last year. We were shorthanded, so I know what that’s like. We wanted to push the pace. They didn’t have a bench. We finally have a bench this year so we really wanted to go and use our depth to our advantage.”

Anne Arundel came into the game with only six players so it didn’t take long for the deeper Oaks to take control. They opened as much as a 21-point lead in the first half and then erupted for 60 points in the second half. They had 90 points with just under six minutes to play. The most points they scored in a game last year was 81 and they scored more than70 just six times.

“I liked it,” Marsh said of the opening-game effort. “When we played our last pre-season game we had 15 turnovers in the first half. That was one of things we were really focusing on, to really take care of the ball. I told them I wanted it under 10 for the game. (They had seven).”

The Oaks placed four scorers in double figures – Kathryn Laurence (13), Nyajiah Jackson (16), Geo Tjaden (14) and Alexa Hopkins (15). Tjaden was quite active. In one particular exchanged, she blocked a shot, knocked the rebound off the shooter out of bounds and a 3-pointer on the other end.

SALEM CC 99, ANNE ARUNDEL 61
ANNE ARUNDEL (0-1) – Aichatta Soumaoro 3-15 5-9 11, Addi Hurst 1-4 0-1 2, Lania Nick 9-18 3-4 24, Reona Robinson 1-14 1-2 3, Ayannah Gorham 7-11 7-12 21, Jasmine Mauldin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 16-28 61.
SALEM CC (1-0) – Maggie St. Clair 4-12 1-2 9, Daniella Gustin 2-4 0-0 4, Kathryn Laurence 5-16 0-0 13, Jakayla Jenkins 3-5 1-2 8, Akira Chambers 3-7 3-4 9, RayNescia King 1-5 0-0 3, Nyaijah Jackson 5-9 6-9 16, Caroline Zullo 0-3 0-0 0, Geovanna Tjaden 5-9 1-5 14, Jolee Robinson 0-1 0-0 0, Imara James 4-8 0-0 8, Alexa Hopkins 6-9 1-1 15. Totals 38-88 13-23 99.

3-point goals: Anne Arundel 3-11 (Soumaoro 0-2, Hurst 0-1, Nick 3-6, Robinson 0-1, Gorham 0-1); Salem CC 10-33 (St. Clair 0-3, Laurence 3-11, Jenkins 1-1, King 1-2, Jackson 0-3, Zullo 0-3, Tjaden 3-5, Hopkins 2-5); Rebounds: Anne Arundel 48 (Gorham 15, Nick 10); Salem CC 42 (Gustin 8, James 7). Fouled out: Gorham. Total fouls: Anne Arundel 16, Salem CC 22.

After a cold first half, Ramos hits 5 3-pointers to spark run that lifts Salem CC past Delaware County CC for first season-opening win since 2021

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Mike Green doesn’t hold back when he says Josh Ramos could easily be the top 3-point shooter in the league, region or any other classification you want to put the Salem Community College basketball team in. And the sophomore shooter did nothing to dispel his coach’s confidence in Saturday’s season opener, especially in the second half.

Ramos nailed five straight 3-pointers – each farther out than the next – during a four and a half minute stretch midway through the second half that gave the Mighty Oaks control of their 81-73 win over Delaware County CC at the DuPont Fieldhouse.

It was their first win in a season opener since 2021-22 when they beat the Eastern University JV 67-56.

“He’s just like a little microwave,” Green said. “He’s a spark. He’s a big spark.

“Once you see one go through you’d better come back to him again. You probably have to come back to him for the next four minutes until he’s burnt up. He’s one of those type players you’ve got to go right there to him.”

And that’s exactly they did. Ramos was just 1-of-4 from behind the arc in the first half as teams battled to a 35-35 draw, but he got hot after halftime, going 5-for-5 during a 19-7 run that took the Oaks from 48-45 down to 64-55 with 9:45 to play. He finished with 18 points.

“The first half, I don’t know, I could tell it was long, but I came into the second half mentality-wise like I’m going to keep my head up, get in the game and if he started me for the second I came here (and started hitting),” Ramos said. “My teammates were finding me, I was just letting it go and the confidence just kept building. As the half went on … we won.”

He went bang-bang-bang on three straight possessions, tying the game, putting the Oaks up for good and extending the lead. The fourth came from out near the Salem logo. 

“After I hit the first four it was no-brainer, I was just letting it go,” he said. “Shooters shoot, that’s all I can say.”

“He should have had more, he should’ve had eight,” Green said. “We need to do a better job of finding him.”

Ramos was one of the best 3-point shooters in the region last year, hitting 60 of 146 in 23 games (41.1 percent) and 42 of 96 in conference play (42.9). He was sixth in the league in number and top 10 in percentage playing six fewer games than the leader. He wants to be the No. 1 3-ball in the league.

He was 8-of-20 in six games before Green became the Oaks’ coach shortly before Christmas, but flourished in the role after the change. He had one three-game stretch in early February in which he went 18-of-31.

“Anytime Josh’s on the floor, we’re going to Josh,” Green said. “Everybody knows it. We had a meeting. I told them we only run plays for three people and really it’s only Josh. They know. The team knows.”

If Ramos’ goal is to be the No. 1 3-point shooter in the league, A.J. Jones’ goal is to be the No. 1 defensive player. He got off to a impressive start Saturday. He had 14 points – all in the first half – but also had several several steals, assists and rebounds and did what Green called a “wonderful” job on Delco’s Darrius Best, holding one of the region’s best guards to 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting.

It was his steal and layup in the final 10 seconds that earned the Oaks their 35-35 halftime draw.

“He didn’t play well in our last scrimmage and I challenged him,” Green said. “We challenged him big time and he responded.”

Saturday’s game kicked off a busy week for the Mighty Oaks. They play three games next week in doubleheaders with the women’s team and play their first seven games in their House of Pane.

“It can give great confidence, but it can give false confidence, too, because it’s a different game on the road and we saw that last year,” Green said. “It was tough on the road. But I’ll the other side of it, I’ll take the confidence.”

SALEM CC 81, DELAWARE CO. CC 73
DELAWARE CO. (1-1) – Cameron Daut 1 2-2 4, Jabree Martin 6 2-2 16, Omar Davis 5 3-5 13, Evan Vandelti Spahr 3 1-1 8, Jaquan Fisher 3 3-4 9, Darrius Best 5 2-2 14, Luke Bushra 0 0-0 0, Tahmeire Manning 1 2-4 7, Amir Wilson 0 0-0 0, Stephen Rosemin 1 0-0 2. Totals 25 15-20 72 71.
SALEM CC (1-0) – Dontarius Jones 1 1-2 3, Niame Scott 1 7-8 10, Tyrese Fortune 2 1-2 5, Tyrone Tolson 2 0-0 5, Rodney Shelton 1 1-2 3, Julien Jones 0 1-2 1, A.J. Jones 6 0-1 14, Josh Ramos 6 0-0 18, Xavier Brewington 4 3-4 12, Stefan Phillips 3 2-2 8, Sami Anderson 1 0-0 2. Totals 27 16-23 81.

3-point goals: DCCC 6 (Martin 2, Vandelti-Spahr, Best 2, Manning); Salem 11 (Tolson, Brewington, A. Jones 2, Ramos 6, Scott).

Cover photo: Josh Ramos puts up one of his five second-half 3-pointers in Salem CC’s season-opening win.

Salem CC women’s basketball has ‘historically busy’ offseason, signing eight players, two assistants

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

CARNEYS POINT – Brian Marsh has had an “historically busy” offseason, as busy as any the Salem CC women’s basketball coach can remember as a player, coach or manager. And it was all in the name of bringing his program up to speed with the competition and on the map.

Marsh has spent the last few months scouring the landscape to bring aboard players and assistant coaches that will provide flexibility in games and even conduct proper practices.

He has brought in eight new players – four bigs and four guards – and a pair of assistant coaches to give the Mighty Oaks full complements in each area.

Last year he was recruiting to build a brand new program, at least one that hadn’t fielded a team in 10 years, and this year he was basically doing the same, but with the benefit of a product to show the prospects he was chasing.

“You remember the team last year,” Marsh said. “I only had eight, so I didn’t have enough to go 5-on-5 (in practice), so me and the assistant coach had the jump in. I wanted not only the players to be 5-on-5, but in case something happened I wanted some numbers.”

No chance of being short now. The goal was to get bigger, more physical, more athletic and more sure-handed, and with this bunch he’s done that, giving him 13 players (with maybe one more to come) for what he considers his first full year as head coach.

The bigs:

Imara James, 5-11, Bridgeton. The first commitment in the class to get the ball rolling and a projected power forward considered a nice steal.

Akira Chambers, 5-11, Cleburne Texas. A strong rebounder who can take charge inside and still shoot out to 15 feet.

Daniella Gustin, 6-0, Houston. Long and athletic, a combination of James and Chambers who could have a immediate impact. Attended the same Texas high school as Mighty Oaks softball player KC Garcia.

Jolee Robinson, 5-9 , Delta, Colo. Coming to Salem to play softball alongside her sister Jill Robinson, but also was a strong basketball player in high school.

“We had to get bigger,” Marsh said. “We needed to do a better job on rebounding and our interior defense. I told the team I needed to do a better job of getting them in positions to succeed. I thought we were small, we’re going to play fast, but we’d get outrebounded by 30 rebounds a game sometimes and it’s really hard to win games like that. So, my first priority was to go big. We got big.”

The guards:

Imirah (MyMy) Trader, 5-5, Wilmington. College transfer with two years of eligibility. Led A.I. Dupont is points, assists, steals as a senior. She played on the boys varsity as a sophomore when her school cancelled the girls season because of COVID. 

Ny’Aijah Jackson, 5-9, Wilmington. Versatile player who led A.I. Dupont in rebounds and was second in assists, steals and blocked shots looking forward to reuniting with Trader.

Ray’Nesecia King, 5-4, Dallas. Blue-collar defensive specialist who brings the toughness to set up and break the press.

Genovanna (Gia) Tjaden-Smith, 5-9, Wilmington. A long, athletic wing from Delaware Military Academy who can play multiple positions.

“Once I got my rebounding and my interior defense, one of the other things we needed to get better at was our ballhandling and setting up the press and breaking the press,” Marsh said. “We just didn’t have enough ballhandlers.

“I loved my players from last year’s depth, but we needed some toughness and that’s what we got. Last year we just didn’t have the numbers to press. I want to play an up-tempo style, I want to press; we just didn’t have the numbers last year. I have the numbers now.”

Kiara Eubanks and Garret Sample are the two new assistants. Eubanks was a four-year player at Wilmington and an assistant on that staff last year. Eubanks was a senior manager and women’s basketball practice player at Temple – just like Marsh – and he’ll work with the guards.

“They know what it takes to play at a high level,” Marsh said.

The pieces seem to be in place. Now, it’s just a matter of finding the right combinations and going to play a schedule that includes 16 home dates.

“To be really honest I was hoping after we recruited last year what I was going to do was have five new incoming players, but with the way things worked out I realized that wasn’t going to be enough,” Marsh said. 

“It was definitely easier recruiting this year because we have a team and people can go on our website and see what we have,. It’s easier once you set the table already. Last year it was hard to recruit … because we don’t even have a team yet. They set the table. It’s time to eat.”