Tag: 1000-points

Ain’t life grand

Donelson reaches 1,000-point milestone as Woodstown overcomes slow start to beat Pennsville; includes other Salem County games and box scores

THURSDAY’S GIRLS SCORES
Woodstown 66, Pennsville 57
Penns Grove 81, Overbrook 24
Glassboro 67, Schalick 14
Wildwood 67, Salem 22
Clayton 51, Salem Tech 30

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNSVILLE — Megan Donelson might have had prettier baskets in her career, but not many were more memorable than the one she dropped in the fourth quarter Thursday night.

The Woodstown junior became the 10th player in her school’s girls basketball history to score 1,000 career points — and the third player in Salem County to reach the milestone this season – in the Wolverines’ 66-57 win over Pennsville.

She needed 29 points to reach the milestone entering the game and hit it on the number. She hit the milestone on a layup with 1:57 left in the game.

“I was really determined to get my thousandth point and it put me to drive to get that goal,” she said. “I set that goal for myself as soon as I walked in my freshman year and I just wanted to complete my goal.”

Donelson was four points short of the milestone entering the fourth quarter, but given the weight of the situation they were as hard to get as the final three outs of a no-hitter and made harder by picking up her fourth foul with five minutes left in the game. She didn’t peel away the first two points until 2:41 remained – and they were on free throws. The milestone came about a minute later.

It wasn’t artistic, but it was effective. She took the outlet pass from one of Shannon Pierman’s defensive rebounds, drove the length of the floor and tossed an off-balanced shot towards the basket in traffic from the right side of the lane. It went through just as she was falling out of bounds.

“I thought it was a really good way to score the thousandth,” she said. “I had the defender on me and I got the thousandth point off the defender.”

She is the first Woodstown girls player to reach the milestone since Riley Fulmer in 2022. Junior teammate Talia Battavio could join her in the club as early as Saturday when the Wolverines play Cherokee in the South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament at Eastern. The girls school record for points is 1,566 by Tori Smick (2013).

Boys players Luke Wood (Pennsville) and Anthony Farmer (Salem) joined the club earlier this year and Penns Grove girls guard Meely Horace, who needs just two points after putting 38 on Overbrook Thursday, is a lock to get it in her next game against Schalick.

“There was anxiousness all day of is she going to get it, when is she going to get it, how is she going to get it, is she going to have to get Saturday,” Wolverines coach Kara Straughn said. “Once she got it, it was just like this overwhelming sense of relief, like, all the hard work she put in came to fruition.

“She’ll say she wasn’t counting, but I know inside she probably was.”

Woodstown’s Megan Donelson (24) drives on Pennsville’s Marley Wood (4) in the fourth quarter on the way to the basket for her 1,000th career point.

The final score may have looked like another routine win for the Wolverines (14-3), but it was anything but that. Pennsville (7-11), playing the best it has all season, jumped out to leads of 13-0, 15-2 and 26-15 before Donelson and Pierman brought their team back.

Donelson scored the last nine points in an 11-0 run that drew the Wolverines even at 26 with 1:27 left in the half. She made two free throws with 10 seconds left to give them a 32-30 halftime lead.

They never trailed again. They scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and by the end of it led by 15.

“I’m really proud of the way we didn’t give up,” Pierman said. “We obviously did not give up. We pushed back, we fought harder and it showed. We knew we could play better. We knew we were better than that. Eventually something has to change, especially when we know how we can win.”
Pennsville built its early lead by making layups inside Woodstown’s 2-3 zone and caught the Wolverines on a cold start.

Taylor Bass got it started with a 3 and two free throws. Marley Wood made three buckets and Bella Farina hit two free throws. Suddenly it was 13-0 and the Wolverines called time looking for energy. It was 17-8 at quarter’s end.

“We talked about what the best way to open up the court to get open looks, we talked about where the cuts need to be,” Eagles coach Sam Trapp said. “As long as that kept happening we kept scoring.”

The quick start wasn’t without a hitch, however. Post Bella Farina picked up three fouls in the first six and a half minutes and sat the rest of the half.

Meanwhile, the Wolverines were just stuck in the mud. They missed their first 11 shots and had five turnovers before Donelson finally broke the ice off an inbounds play with 2:34 left in the first quarter. They shot 2-for-14 from the floor in the quarter.

The Eagles’ inspired play continued through the first half of the second quarter, extending the lead to 26-15. The Wolverines were 7-of-25 from the field before Donelson and Co. started the charge to get back in the game.

“Their two leading scorers were creeping into their 1,000, that always makes a kid nervous, that kind of got in their head a little bit and this is the first time they’ve seen us at full strength and now they’re being able to see what the girls Pennsville basketball team can really bring,” Trapp said. “I think that was what executed that great 13-0 stretch at the beginning.

“I’ve been putting a big emphasis on playing together, looking ahead, focusing on using each other’s strength and I think that’s a big component. I keep telling the girls when we play together, when we’re sharing the ball, distributing the ball, making everybody work to help us get to a good place we play our best basketball.”

Nora Ausland led the Eagles with 21 points. Wood had 15.

Donelson’s 29 points matched her season-high. Pierman had 12 points and 15 rebounds for her fourth straight double-double. Battavio had 21 points and needs 19 to become the next member of Woodstown’s 1,000-Point Club.

WOODSTOWN 66, PENNSVILLE 57
WOODSTOWN (14-3) — Talia Battavio 7 4-4 21, Megan Donelson 9 7-8 29, Gianna Mairoini 1 0-2 2, Alyssa Baber 0 1-2 1, Shannon Pierman 4 4-4 12, Lauren Hengel 0 1-2 1, Emma Perry 0 0-0 0, Brae DiGregorio 0 0-0 0, Jala Thomas 0 0-0 0, Lizzy Daly 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 17-22 66.
PENNSVILLE (7-11) — Celli Ausland 0 0-0 0, Nora Ausland 9 1-1 21, Taylor Bass 3 2-2 9, Karsen Cooksey 0 2-2 2, Bella Farina 1 2-2 4, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0, Izzy Saulin 2 2-2 6, Marley Wood 7 0-2 15. Totals 22 9-11 57.

Woodstown8242311 —66
Pennsville17131017 —57
3-point goals: Woodstown 7 (Battavio 3, Donelson 4); Pennsville 4 (N. Ausland 2, Bass, Wood). Fouled out: Farina. Total fouls: Woodstown 16, Pennsville 18.

WILDWOOD 67, SALEM 22
WILDWOOD (14-4) — Sophia Wilber 4 3-4 12, Angela Wilber 2 0-0 5, Macie McCracken 9 0-0 25, Saliah Sumlin 2 0-0 4, Rebecca Benichou 8 1-2 20, Cydnee Kilian 0 0-0 0, Mia Cripps 0 1-4 1, Ashley Nagle 0 0-0 0, Janet Gonzalez 0 0-0 0. Totals 25 5-10 67.
SALEM (7-10) — Ryann Foote 1 1-6 3, Ava Rodgers 3 1-2 7, Ameriyona Hunter 1 0-0 3, Kaela Nichols 1 0-0 3, Carlysia Pierce 1 0-0 2, NaeNae Logan 1 0-0 2, Marjziah Bundy 1 0-0 2, Zaniyah Freison 0 0-0 0, Nevaeh Hickman 0 0-0 0, Marissa Bower 0 0-0 0. Totals 9 2-8 22.

Wildwood19191613 —67
Salem7645 —22
3-point goals: Wildwood 12 (S. Wilber, A. Wilber, McCracken 7, Benichou 3); Salem 2 (Hunter, Nichols). Rebounds: Wildwood 29 (McCracken 9, Sumlin 9); Salem 57 (Rodgers 13, Logan 10).

CLAYTON 51, SALEM TECH 30
SALEM TECH (1-13) — Morgan VanDover 5 3-4 15, Kaylin Beardsley 2 0-0 5, Hanna DeWitt 1 0-2 2, Rylee Doerr 2 0-0 4, Shelby Drummond 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 3-6 30.
CLAYTON (8-9) — Jordyn Jones 9 6-8 24, Deondria Simon 4 1-2 9, Ava Delaney 4 0-0 8, India Williams 1 0-0 3, Janice Blair 0 2-4 2, Kaya Gunther 1 1-4 3, Sophia Petsch 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 10-18 51.
Salem Tech65127 —30
Clayton9121516 —51
3-point goals: Salem Tech 3 (VanDover 2, Beardsley); Clayton 1 (Williams).

GLASSBORO 67, SCHALICK 14
SCHALICK (5-10) — Ava Scurry 1 0-2 2, Gianna Gaines 0 3-4 3, Taylor Sparks 1 0-0 3, Abby Willoughby 0 0-2 0, Cali Fisler 3 0-0 6, Victoria Basich 0 0-0 0, Olivia Lunemann 0 0-2 0, Carly Vicente 0 0-0 0. Totals 5 3-10 14.
GLASSBORO (11-5) — Sanaa Thomas 5 0-0 13, Tamia Smith 8 3-8 21, Kezia Bracektt 9 6-8 28, Sianna Wedderburn 2 0-2 4, Kimora Miles 0 1-2 1, Ante Davis 0 0-0 0, Jayde Darling 0 0-0 0, Nevaeh Cox-Clement 0 0-0 0, Samyra Lane 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 10-20 67.
Schalick2354 —14
Glassboro 1592518 —67
3-point goals: Schalick 1 (Sparks); Glassboro 9 (Thomas 3, Smith 2, Brackett 4). Fouled out: Davis. Total fouls: Schalick 16, Glassboro 13.

Goal oriented

Penns Grove’s Horace marching towards 1,000 career points on the way to a deep run in the playoffs

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

PENNS GROVE – Meely Horace really wants 1,000 points. And she really wants a championship banner.

There’s no reason those two items have to be mutually exclusive.

The Penns Grove senior guard moved a little closer to that personal goal and helped her team gain a lot of power points for the other when she went for 22 points to earn Player of the Game honors in the Red Devils’ 63-27 rout of Group IV Bridgeton in the only girls game of this year’s Red Devil Classic.

She now has 747 career points after two games this season. At her current pace – 19 points a game – she’s reach the milestone sometime late next month.

Just how much does she want it? She has 1K written on one of her pairs of shoes. She figures averaging five points a quarter should do the trick.

“I want to get to my 1K, my 1,000 points,” she said. “I want to break the record for them. It’s been a while since somebody hit 1K. I want to do that before I leave.”

There’s banner hanging high on the gym wall containing the names of the six 1,000-point scorers in Penns Grove girls basketball history, The last name went up in 2018 (Natrice Reed, 1,065).

There’s a piece of tape covering the next line on the banner. No one will say what the tape is covering, but it’s presumed that’s where Horace’s name will go when she hits the number.

“She’s going to get her 1,000 points and we want her to get that,” Red Devils coach Jennifer Denby said. “This is why we’re trying to coach her so she can become a better player mentally and physically on the court. 

“It is reachable. She most definitely is going to get her thousand, but she wants to win a championship. This is why we’re doing all this work now.”

Denby knows a little about scoring points as the all-time leading scorer in the Rowan women’s basketball program. She’s personally placed four of the six names on the banner during her tenure.

Meely’s mental toughness was put to the test early in the game. The Bulldogs held her scoreless in the first quarter and she admitted her game was “all over the place” in the early going. But as the game went on she fixed her mistakes, became a defender and turned it into offense to help her team.

Even as she struggled to get on track, the Red Devils were building a 13-2 lead in the first quarter. In the second quarter she hit a couple 3s and Penns Grove extended the lead to 13 at halftime. She scored 13 points in the second half.

“Meely did struggle in the first half,” Denby agreed. “We pulled her off and talked to her and she got back in there and did her defense assignment, and she played offense. So, she deserves that reward that she got.”

And a bigger reward is yet to come.

PENNS GROVE 63, BRIDGETON 27
BRIDGETON (0-2) – Diara McGriff 0 0-0 0, Karina Perez 0 0-0 0, Alyanna Ridgeway 0 0-0 0, Kahmya Johnson 0 0-0 0, Adelina Wilks 3 11-12 17, Madison Garner 0 0-0 0, Kimona Notice 1 0-0 2, Imara James 4 0-2 8, Jayla Bowman 0 0-0 0, Tatiyanna Crawford 0 0-2 0. Totals 8 11-16 27.
PENNS GROVE (2-0) – Syanna Robbins 0 0-0 0, Brianna Robbins 5 1-7 12, RaNiyah Wilson 7 0-0 17, Arianna Dowe 1 0-0 2, Amani Taylor 1 0-0 3, Semijah Hines 1 0-0 2, Meely Horace 8 3-6 22, Zoey Caesar 1 2-2 4, JaNiyah Cummings 0 1-2 1, Jamira Lewis 0 0-2 0, Ruiande Delva 0 0-0 0, Totals 24 7-19 63.

Bridgeton21564  –27
Penns Grove13171716 –63
3-point goals: Bridgeton 0, Penns Grove 8 (B. Robbins, Wilson 3, Taylor, Horace 3). Total fouls: Bridgeton 19, Penns Grove 13.