Ewing wears down Wall in 4th

EWING » It wasn’t so much a matter of the Ewing High girls playing some great basketball Wednesday night in its 67-54 victory over Wall in the Central Jersey Group III Tournament.

Rather, it was more a matter of Ewing simply wearing its Shore Conference opponent down.

With its defensive pressure taking its toll in a fourth quarter in which Ewing outscored Wall by eight points, the defending sectional champion Blue Devils (23-5) advanced into the semifinals on Friday night.

Their opponent will be Hopewell Valley, a team Ewing has already trounced twice by the scores of 69-40 and 62-32. “Whether it was our manto-man or zone press, the hope was it would get to them by the end,” said Ewing coach Mike Reynolds. “I also thought we did a better job of moving our feet instead of reaching as the game went along.”

In the first half, Wall guard Lauren Karabin was consistently able to drive through the lane and as a result she scored 16 points to leave her team trailing by only one point at intermission. With Jaycee Lowe putting the clamps on Karabin in the third quarter, Ewing was able to up its lead to five points heading into the fourth.

Karabin did manage to finish with 27, but most of her second-half damage came late in the game after Ewing had taken command with a series of turnovers and clutch foul shooting in which it hit seven of eight free throws down the stretch.

Ewing also did a good job of spreading the offense around. Fresh off setting the school record for most career points, Mya Grimes finished with 17. Ditto for Jentle Sheridan, who did much of her damage at the free throw line late in the third quarter and early in the fourth. In addition to a solid defense game in which she helped make Karabin expend a lot of energy just getting the ball across half court, Lowe was also able to slash her way to the basket to finish right behind Grimes and Sheridan with 16 points. Kiyla Peterson chipped in with eight. “I guess it means it was a good year for Colonial Valley Conference basketball,” replied Reynolds when asked about the fact the other semifinal will also be an All-CVC affair with Steinert taking on Allentown.

“We knew they (Wall) were better than their record. They play a tough schedule in a very good (Shore) conference.”

WALL (54)

LKarabin 11-3-27, Hyde 1-0-3, Russo 1-0-2, Casuccio 7-1-15, JKarabin 3-0-7.

23-4-54.

Totals —

Grimes 6-5-17, KiPeterson 1-5-8, Lowe 5-416, Sheridan 5-7-17, Jackson 2-1-5, Gillette 1-0-2, Davis 1-0-2.

20-22-65.

Totals — Wall (10-17) Ewing (23-5) 3-point goals — 14 18 19 16 12 16 9 — 17 — 54 67

LKarabin 2, Hyde, JKarabin (W), KiPeterson, Lowe 2 (E).