Blunt’s 27 points carry Peddie past Pennington
PENNINGTON >> Taylor Blunt accomplished something this year that every senior high school basketball player would love to do, but it’s pretty near impossible in a normal season.
The 2021 campaign has been far from that, and Blunt took full advantage.
The 5-foot-9 Peddie School guard/forward scored more points every time she took to the court in her final high school season.
Blunt’s 27 points in a 61-44 win at the Pennington School Thursday made that a reality after she had scored 16, 21 and 26 points in the only other games the Falcons were able to play this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
For this extremely talented player headed to the University of Detroit Mercy to play Division I ball next season, the journey that was her high school career must have seemed as circular as the top of the hoop she was constantly dropping points through.
“Ending my career here is like I’ve come full circle,” said Blunt, who began her career at Twin Valley High in Pennsylvania before transferring to Pennington, then Peddie. “My first game for Pennington was at Peddie against Stuart. Now my last game for Peddie is at Pennington.”
Wherever she played, Blunt became very familiar with the nets. She showed that again yesterday with six 3-point field goals, each seeming like it came from farther away.
She had 16 points and half of her treys in the first half to help the visitors pull away for a 34-21 halftime lead after the home side stayed as close as 16-15 after one quarter.
“We’re fast, and we always went hard to the ball, battling them the best we could,” Pennington 5-6 senior guard Ava Kavulich said.
However, at one point in the third quarter, Blunt hit a 3-pointer which somehow swished through a hole in the near side of the net as if the ball was coming back to her.
That quarter also contained what seemed like a game of horse between Blunt and the Red Raiders’ current scoring phenom. Mary Kathryn “M.K.” Kramli, a 5-7 sophomore guard, went back and forth with the Falcons’ big scorer. Kramli scored 13 of her teamhigh 22 points in that stanza. She knocked down four 3-pointers, three in the third quarter.
“That was fun,” said Kavulich, one of three seniors for head coach Jeff Eckerson’s team who played with Blunt while at the school. “Taylor’s a great person. She tries to help everyone get better, whether they are on her team or not.”
Ava Kavulich and her twin sister, Sophia, combined to score 16 points and grab 16 rebounds for the Red Raiders in the game. That production came from plenty of hard work going up against head coach Kurt Bennett’s senior forward tandem of 6-1 Mya Ademilola (10 points, 13 rebounds) and six-foot Ekene Owunna (13 points, 11 rebounds).
“I’m so grateful to every school I’ve been at,” said Blunt, who finished her high school career with 1,638 points. “But this team at Peddie, we were like a family. We really bonded together. We wanted a longer regular season this year, but we’ll take what we got.”
The Falcons ended up with four games over the last week and a 3-1 record, with Blunt and her teammates getting stronger each time out.
For Blunt, at least, it was a chance to accomplish something no other senior will probably ever be able to do again.
PEDDIE (61)
Ademilola 4-2-10, EOwunna 6-0-13, Blunt 101-27, Tamm 0-0-0, Loughran 1-1-3, CJohnson 3-0-8, Jordan 0-0-0, Szarvas 0-0-0, Naidrich 0-0-0, Nearing 0-0-0. Totals — 24-4-61.
PENNINGTON (44)
SKavulich 3-5-11, AKavulich 1-2-5, JKing 0-0-0, Kramli 8-2-22, Taranto 0-0-0, Bluni 0-0-0, O’Neil 1-0-3, MRodriguez 1-0-2, CKing 0-1-1. Totals — 14-10-44. Peddie (3-1) 16 18 19 8 — 61 Pennington(3-4) 15 6 16 7 — 44 3-point goals: EOwunna, Blunt 6, CJohnson 2 (Pd), AKavulich, Kramli 4, O’Neil (Pn).