Tag: sjibt

Bittersweet moment

Battavio passes 1,000 points for her career, but Woodstown falls to Cherokee in close game in SJIBT Elite 8, will be updated; includes other county games of the day

SJIBT ELITE EIGHT
Saturday’s Games
Paul VI 77, Timber Creek 33
Cherokee 55, Woodstown 49
Sunday’s Games
Moorestown vs. Gloucester Catholic, 4:45 p.m.
Cinnaminson vs. Williamstown, 6 p.m.

OTHER GAMES
Girls
Pennsville 47, West Deptford 41
Boys
Gloucester Catholic 59, Woodstown 57
Salem 61, Paulsboro 60

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

VOORHEES – She really wasn’t feeling it right after the game, but in a day or so, once the sting of a hard-fought loss melts into the preparation of the next game, Talia Battavio will feel the rush accomplishment wash over her like it never has before in her career.

Battavio became the second Woodstown player to score her 1,000th career point this week when she reached the milestone in the third quarter of Saturday night’s Elite 8 game of the South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament at Eastern Regional High School.

The only thing that kept it from being a perfect night was her Wolverines lost to second-seeded Cherokee 55-49.

“It’s a good accomplishment, but it’s not the biggest thing to me,” the junior guard said. “I’m more proud of the South Jersey championship banner that we have and being undefeated in the division, and I think that’s more important than any individual accomplishment.

“It really does not mean anything; we didn’t get the win as a team.”

Woodstown’s Talia Battavio stands with the banner commemorating her membership in the 1,000-Point Club.

Battavio became the 11th player in the Woodstown girls program to score 1,000 points. She pumped in 28 in the game – matching her career high set earlier this year against Bridgeton – and now has 1,009 for her career, with the rest of this year and all next season to go. Teammate Megan Donelson, also a junior, reached the milestone Thursday night at Pennsville.

Woodstown plans a special ceremony to recognize the feats Wednesday night.

“I think they’re both relieved,” Wolverines coach Kara Straughn said. “I feel like I’ve lost 10 pounds (during the pursuit) because two girls in a week with 1,000 points. Two juniors.

“She honestly had no clue how many more she needed, which I was worried coming into the game that she was going to get in her head because she’s the queen of doing too much, but she was just enough. She was perfect. She was great.” 

Battavio is the fourth Salem County player to notch their 1,000th point this season, joining Donelson and boys players Luke Wood (Pennsville) and Anthony Farmer (Salem). Penns Grove’s Meely Horace (998) can join the club as early as Tuesday.

She needed 19 entering the game and set her sights on it after collecting 11 in the first half. She added nine more in the fourth quarter, including a rare four-point play with 20 seconds left that got her team to 52-48.

“I came in here and I said I’m going to get it,” Battavio said. “I do the best against good teams like this. I come in clutch when it comes to things like this and I love that.”

A free throw by Donelson after the four-point play made it 52-49, but the Wolverines had to foul to give themselves a chance and the Chiefs made three free throws in the final 15 seconds to close it out.

Battavio had envisioned reaching the milestone on one of her signature high-arching 3-pointers in a game the Wolverines would win. Instead, it came on a free throw with 5.5 seconds left in the third quarter.

In a sense, the free throw was an even better scenario because everyone in the gym knew what it was worth and it gave the player a chance to settle and savor the moment without the worry of having to immediately get back on defense. She actually made two free throws in the situation to draw the Wolverines within 36-30 at the end of the quarter.

There weren’t many who gave Woodstown much of a chance. The Chiefs (15-5) have won the tournament five of the last six years and are now in the Final Four for the eighth year in a row, but the Wolverines (14-4) were never out of the game, even when Donelson went out in foul trouble and post Shannon Pierman fouled out.

Three times they had fallen behind by 10 in the second half – as late as with 4:59 to play – and each time they climbed back into the game.

“I think a lot of people take us for granted because we’re a small school, but we wanted that more,” Battavio said. “We have a lot of more heart and it felt like it, too. We all work together, we all want it, it’s a great team.”

“For us to come in and lose by a handful, I can’t ask them for anything else,” Straughn said. “If we play like that against anybody in Group I, we’re beating them by 20 or 30. If we play like that against Wildwood, there’s no way it’s going to be the same outcome (as their 27-point loss 10 days ago). They played their butts off.”

Woodstown returns to the tournament Saturday at 8 p.m. against the loser of Sunday’s Moorestown-Gloucester Catholic game. If that happens to be Gloucester Catholic there already has been discussion of a shifting loser bracket opponents to avoid a Tri-County Conference matchup.

SJIBT ELITE EIGHT
CHEROKEE 55, WOODSTOWN 49
WOODSTOWN (14-4) – Talia Battavio 10 4-5 28, Megan Donelson 4 6-10 15, Gianna Mairoini 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Baber 0 1-2 1, Shannon Pierman 1 3-6 5, Lauren Hengle 0 0-0 0, Emma Perry 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 14-23 49.
CHEROKEE (15-5) – Brielle Alaba 4 6-8 16, Olivia Salverian 2 1-2 7, Sofia Recinto 2 0-0 4, Leila McNair 2 0-0 6, Jada Branford 6 4-6 16, Abby Ball 1 2-2 4, Jordan Arnold 1 0-2 2. Totals 18 13-20 55.

Woodstown5141119 –49
Cherokee11131219 – 55
3-point goals: Woodstown 5 (Battavio 4, Donelson); Cherokee 6 (Alaba 2, Salverian 2, McNair 2). Fouled out: Pierman, Alaba, Recinto. Total fouls: Woodstown 22, Cherokee 20.

PENNSVILLE 47, WEST DEPTFORD 41: The Eagles trailed by eight entering the fourth quarter, but Nora Ausland and Taylor Bass combined for 13 points to fuel their comeback. Ausland finished with 18 points and Bass had 10.

PENNSVILLE (8-11) – Calli Ausland 1 0-0 2, Nora Ausland 7 3-3 18, Taylor Bass 5 0-1 10, Karsen Cooksey 0 0-0 0, Bella Farina 3 0-2 6, Kylie Harris 0 0-0 0, Izzy Saulin 1 0-2 2, Marley Wood 4 1-1 9. Totals 21 4-9 47.
WEST DEPTFORD (8-11) – Janie Cross 2 1-2 7, Alivia Arrera 2 0-0 4, Jescenia Diaz 1 0-0 2, DaeOnna Lawrence 3 2-3 8, Reyanna Jamison 4 2-2 10, Alyssa Taylor 0 0-0 0, Olivia Smith 0 0-0 0, Carleen Connelly 2 0-0 4, Addison Fronza 1 0-0 3, Jumanna Abdelhamid 1 1-2 3, Micahya Devose 0 0-0 0. Totals 16 6-9 41.

Pennsville126920 –47
West Deptford516146 –41
3-point goals: Pennsville 1 (N. Ausland); West Deptford 3 (Cross 2, Fronza). Total fouls: Pennsville 13, West Deptford 11.

Boys Games

BATTLE BY THE BAY
SALEM 61, PAULSBORO 60
PAULSBORO (8-10) – Malakhai McKenzie 6 1-2 14, Ty Hodges 5 3-7 13, Antonio Pandolfo 2 5-6 11, Ryann Briscoe 2 3-5 7, Aiden Milligan 2 0-0 6, Eric Scott 1 3-4 5, Jamal Robinson 2 0-0 4, Stephen Lane 0 0-0 0. Totals 20 15-28 60.
SALEM (13-6) – Paul Weathers 8 0-0 16, Ramaji Bundy 2 0-0 5, Jabez DeJesus 2 102 7, Tymear Lecator 5 5-6 18, Anthony Farmer 2 11-13 15. Totals 19 17-21 61.

Paulsboro17101221 – 60
Salem15161713 –61
3-point goals: Paulsboro 5 (McKenzie, Pandolfo 2, Milligan 2); Salem 6 (Bundy, DeJesus 2, Lecator 3).

GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC 59, WOODSTOWN 57 (OT)
WOODSTOWN (9-7) – Blake Bialecki 6 0-0 16, M.J. Hall 2 0-2 4, Garrett Leyman 2 0-0 4, Max Webb 7 0-0 18, Rocco String 4 0-0 8, Elijah Caesar 2 0-0 5. Totals 23 0-2 57.
GLOUCESTER CATHOLIC (12-7) – Carlos Mendez 4 3-4 13, Jack Mustaro 8 3-5 22, Trey Battle 4 0-0 9, Billy Ginipro 1 0-0 3, Kyle Guldin 5 0-3 10, Ehthan Dugue 1 0-0 2. Totals 23 6-12 59.

Woodstown121317105 –57
Gloucester Cath.14171110 7 –55
3-point goals: Woodstown 11 (Bialecki 3, Hall 2, Webb 4, Caesar); Gloucester Catholic 7 (Mendez 2, Mustaro 3, Battle, Ginipro).

Cover photo: Woodstown’s Talia Battavio focuses on the rim as she prepares to score the 1,000th point of her high school career in the SJIBT Elite Eight against Cherokee Saturday night.

Battavio breaks out

Woodstown junior hits a 3 to spark run that lifts Wolverines in SJIBT, hit her 100th 3-pointer earlier in game

By Al Muskewitz
Riverview Sports News

WOODSTOWN – Talia Battavio and her Woodstown girls basketball teammates needed a spark. The junior guard was fighting through another Saturday shooting slump and the Wolverines were locked in a tight game that early on didn’t look like it would be. They both needed something to happen and they needed it quickly.

That’s when Battavio, as she’s done throughout her career, got the ball at the top of the key and smoothly drained another 3-pointer to break a tie that in the first quarter didn’t seem likely.

It touched off an 8-0 run that put Woodstown back on top and propelled it to a 46-33 victory over Eastern in the South Region of the South Jersey Invitational Basketball Tournament. The fourth-seeded Wolverines (8-2) now play at Camden Catholic (4-7) in the second round, likely Friday depending on next week’s weather. They have to get it done by January 27.

Woodstown’s Talia Battavio displays that banner that will hang in the gym commemorating her 100 career 3-pointers. She reached the milestone in the first quarter Saturday.

“Usually I don’t remember (particular shots), but that one I do,” Battavio said. “It got me really fired up and I was like, ‘We’re in this. I know what I have to do,’ and we put it away.” 

Woodstown coach Kara Straughn knew what Battavio’s go-ahead 3-pointer meant as soon as it slipped past the rim. When it went down, she turned to her dad and assistant coach Dave Wildermuth in the seat next to her and said, “That’s the game-winner; it’s done.”

It meant a lot more than that.

It got Battavio back on track as a shooter. She followed the tie-breaking 3 with a three-point play that extended the lead to six, then threw a sharp pass to running mate Megan Donelson for a layup that made it 32-24 and forced the Vikings to call time.

And she kept going. Battavio scored 16 points on 6-for-7 shooting in the second half and finished with 23 points. It was her third straight 20-point game of the week after a dreadful shooting Saturday against Our Lady of Mercy. In the second half alone against the Villagers she was 0-for-16, and that’s when she usually does her best work.

“After that OLMA game I got in the gym because that was worst shooting I’ve had in years,” she said. “I knew what I had to do and I got in the gym and I shot and I shot and I shot.”

It didn’t surprise Straughn, nor did the results.

“She works her butt off,” the coach said. “She’s the first one in the gym, she stays an hour after practice, so when you see her play like this in the second half and she does all those things you need her do against a great team, that’s why she’s as good as she is, because she’s the one who puts in all those extra hours and all that extra work.”

It look like she was headed for another bout of the Saturday blues in the first half against the Vikings. She was 2-for-12, missing her last eight shots, but the first basket she did make was the 100th 3-pointer of her career. It came with 5:14 left in the first quarter.

Donelson hit her 100th 3-pointer Thursday against Pennsville. She had 11 points against the Vikings, but was active all game, diving on the floor at least eight times for loose balls.

Of course, both are on track for an even bigger milestones. After Saturday’s win, Battavio now has 853 career points and Donelson is at 860.

“There’s nobody like the two of them, but there’s nobody like them individually either,” Straughn said. “She (Battavio) needed that. We’ve played some really good teams and the last time we played a great team (OLMA) she was a little hurt, upset with herself, so she needed this. She said it was her comeback.”

SOUTH JERSEY INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
WOODSTOWN 46, EASTERN 33
EASTERN (4-7) – Leah Schuenemann 1 0-0 2, Marlee Praesel 0 0-0 0, Araba Abanyie 0 4-4 4, Madison Stuart 10 0-2 20, Remi Cherkas 2 3-5 7, Aubrey Benfield 0 0-0 0, Ashley Stanz 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 7-11 33.
WOODSTOWN (8-2) – Talia Battavio 8 5-5 23, Megan Donelson 5 0-0 11, Gianna Mairoini 2 0-0 4, Alyssa Baber 0 0-0 0, Shannon Pierman 3 1-2 7, Lauren Hengel 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 7-9 46.

Eastern81087 –33
Woodstown1661113 –46
3-point goals: Eastern 0; Woodstown 3 (Battavio 2, Donelson). Total fouls: Eastern 16, Woodstown 10. Officials: Johnson, Reiners, Merritt.