Peddie falls to Blair in MAPL title game

PRINCETON » While all but one of the six Mid-Atlantic Prep League boys teams have won the league’s tournament during its 20 years of existence, only two girls basketball squads have their name on the trophy passed along at Hun’s Grant Shipley Pavilion Sunday.

Perhaps it was appropriate that the two playing in this year’s championship game were those two.

The Peddie girls can remember a time when they were the MAPL’s hunted team after winning the first 12 tournament trophies.

Blair Academy has become the powerhouse, winning the last eight MAPL crowns, including Sunday’s 77-39 win over the Falcons.

“They’re good. They’ve got talent 1-5 in their lineup,” Peddie head coach Sarah Venanzi said.

It may go deeper than that. Besides the five Bucs who scored in double figures, seven of the eight who played hit at least one of Blair’s nine 3-pointers in the game. Only one of their players did not score.

“They came out firing on all cylinders, especially the second half,” Venanzi said.

That was tough for the third-seeded Falcons (6-15), who stayed as close as 15-9 after one quarter and only trailed, 36-21, at the break.

Then the Bucs (17-2) ran off the first eight points of the second half, en route to outscoring Peddie, 19-6, in the third quarter. The top seed did not let up in the fourth as it posted its best quarter yet with 22 points.

“We had a good first half, but they came out stronger than us in the third quarter,” West Point-bound senior Natalie Stralkus said.

Stralkus and junior forward Katie Rodriguez led the Falcons with nine points apiece, while sophomore Julia Gorajek chipped in seven points.

Blair received 16, 15 and 14 points, respectively, from Onome Akindbode-James, Sydney Brown and Olivia Miles to go a perfect 7-0 in MAPL games this season.

Stralkus 3-0-9, Rodgers 0-0-0, Grant 0-0-0, KRodriguez 4-1-9, DiLuzio 0-0-0, JBrown 2-0-4, KHall 0-0-0, Guest-Hicks 0-0-0, Markey 0-0-0, Gorajek 3-0-7, Favours 1-3-6, Ademilola 1-0-2, Owunna 1-0-2.

15-4-39.

Totals —

Clarin 3-3-10, SBrown 3-8-15, Miles 6-0-14, Darius 3-0-7, Douglas 4-2-12, Akinbode-James 6-3-16, Amadi 1-0-3, Groseibl 0-0-0.

26-16-77.

Totals — Peddie (6-15) 39 Blair (17-2) 77 3-point goals — 9 15 12 21 6 19 12 — 22 —

Stralkus 3, Gorajek, Favours (P), Clarin, SBrown, Miles 2, Darius, Douglas 2, Akinbode-James, Amadi (BA).

STUART 67, NEWARK AC. 29 PRINCETON » The Tartans took a giant step toward one of their biggest goals this season by defeating the Minutewomen in an NJISAA Prep B semifinal.

Second-seeded Stuart (157) got more good news when it learned fourth-seeded Academy of St. Elizabeth (11-10) knocked off top-seeded Morristown-Beard, 40-37, in the other semifinal. That means coach Justin Leith’s team will get to host its long awaited first Prep B final Wednesday.

“One of our goals all season has been not just getting to the final,” Leith said. “I think it helps the girls when we play teams from out of the area. They don’t know what to expect, so they just play basketball.”

That was definitely the case versus third-seeded Newark Academy (13-8). The Tartans jumped to a 13-2 lead in the first five minutes and expanded that margin to 27-8 two minutes into the second quarter with a 12-2 opening burst.

Freshman guard Nia Melvin put on a show with a gamehigh 21 points, while junior forward Bey-Shana Clark scored 16 and grabbed 12 rebounds, and senior guard/forward Jalynn Spaulding added 13 points with eight assists.

Bethea 7-0-14, Armas 0-0-0, Hermans 1-0-2, Gaby-Biegel 1-0-2, Keller 2-1-5, Cooperman 3-0-6, Fullilove 0-0-0, Nivarthy 0-0-0, RParikh 0-0-0, Weiss 0-0-0.

14-1-29.

Totals —

Spaulding 5-2-13, Michaels 0-0-0, BClark 8-0-16, Hansford 3-2-9, AJames 2-0-5, Dunn 0-0-0, Lagay 0-0-0, Melvin 8-4-21, Adams 0-0-0, Martin 1-1-3.

27-9-67.

Totals — NewarkAc(13-8) 29 Stuart (15-7) 67 3-point goals —

Spaulding, Hansford, AJames, Melvin (SCD).

McNeal 4-0-9, Kolaja 7-0-14, Farmer 7-4-20, Friedman 5-0-14, Portnoi 0-1-1.

23-5-58.

Totals —

Higgins 6-7-21, Phillips 6-1-13, Tucker 1-1-3, Hartpence 6-1-13, Sterling 3-4-10, MDiop 2-0-4.

Totals — MKA (13-7) 58 Penningtn(14-6) 64 3-point goals — 4 — 12 — 17 — 16 —

McNeal, Farmer 2, Friedman 4 (MKA), Higgins 2 (P).

MO-BEARD 65, PDS 55 MORRISTOWN » The Panthers led early, but could not hold off the Minutemen in the second half of the other Prep B semifinal. David Coit’s 21 points led PDS, but it was Morristown-Beard, behind 27 points from Justin Rodriguez, which moved on to play Pennington in Wednesday’s Prep B Final.

Champion 8-1-17, Coit 9-2-21, LFranzoni 1-1-4, SParikh 1-0-3, Samuels 1-1-3, Young 3-0-7.

23-5-55.

Totals —

Buemee 0-0-0, Castillo 7-0-14, Dees 3-1-8, Kelly 0-0-0, Martin 0-0-0, Moten 0-0-0, JRodriguez 6-12-27, Russo 6-3-16.

22-16-65.

Totals —

24-14-64.

PDS (11-12) 55 Mo-Beard (13-8) 65 3-point goals — 8 15 11 12 16 8 7 20 12 19 12 18 10 20 18 17 13 20 14 — 19 —

Coit, LFranzoni, SParikh, Young (PDS), Dees, JRodriguez 3, Russo (MB).