After undefeated regular season, TCNJ ready for NJAC playoffs
It was short and sweet. Now, comes the chance to make this condensed New Jersey Athletic Conference season even sweeter for The College of New Jersey Women’s basketball team.
The Lions begin the league playoffs just as they started the regular season four weeks ago against Stockton. The game is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday in Packer Hall.
While the No. 2 seeded Lions (8-0) just got better from those first two games, the No. 7 Ospreys (1-4) have not played since Feb. 19th due to a quarantine situation.
The winner meet the winner of the No. 4 Rutgers-Newark (2-4) and No. 5 Kean (2-6) next Saturday
“Stockton having not played for a few weeks could go either way for us,” said TCNJ coach Chessie Jackson.
“They’ll be rested and eager to play, but we will be more prepared. We are trying not to think too much about what Stockton is doing and trying to focus on what we can control on our end.”
Through the regular season there wasn’t much TCNJ didn’t control.
It was the best offensive team in the NJAC at 70 points per game and the second best defensive team, allowing just 53.4 points.
When Stockton led the Lions, 20-19, at the 6:11 mark of the second period it was the last time TCNJ has trailed in a game. So, for 306 minutes and 11 seconds of the regular season the Lions held the lead, very impressive.
“I think our team is totally bought in and hungry to win a championship, it’s that simple,” said Jackson. “It has been showing in the level of competition in our practices. We’ve had some ups and downs and experienced our fair share of adversity
off the court in the last 8 weeks, so I think we are battletested heading into playoffs.”
Sophomore-transfer Julia Setaro leads the conference in scoring at 20.5 points, senior Shannon Devitt is second at 19.8 and senior Elle Cimilluca chimes in with 10.3 per game.
Devitt, who is a legit Player of the Year candidate, averages a double-double pulling down 10.3 rebounds. The gifted Devitt has 48 career double-double games. She also leads in blocked shots with 26.
Cimilluca leads the NJAC in assists with 5.9 per game and Setaro is shooting at a torrid pace of 60.8%.
The Lions also have a very deep bench.
“This team has completely lived up to my expectations, which were to compete every day, get better, and win,” Jackson exclaimed. “We’ve done
those things. They have high expectations of themselves, so that helps. I haven’t had to coach their commitment or intensity at all — they are making the most of this opportunity.”
If there was a concern heading to the playoffs it would be that Stockton probably gave the Lions their toughest test.
A perfect regular season is history and now the Lions can start their quest for the first conference championship since the 2008-09 season.
“I definitely think we have another level in us,” said Jackson. The playoffs tends to bring out the best in teams and I’m excited to see what that looks like for us. I am working to stay focused on the process with a young team, but I believe they have what it takes, so I’m pushing them towards this goal.”
EWING » All dressed up and nowhere to go.
This pretty much sums up what happened Friday when the championship game of the top pod of the Colonial Valley Conference Girls Basketball Tournament pitting Allentown at Ewing was canceled at the last minute.
The teams were all warmed up and the Allentown subs had formed lines for pre-game introductions when everything suddenly came to a halt. Following a 10-minute delay, Ewing High Athletic Director Ernie Covington then picked up a microphone and announced the game was off.
“We were unable to play because of public health concerns,” Covington told reporters.
Although everyone was tight lipped about what exactly caused the title game to be canceled, it did have something to do with the coronavirus.
The consolation game of this pod pitting Robbinsville at Notre Dame was also called off not long before game time Friday.
Without getting into details, some team in the CVC apparently had COVID issues and exposed another. It then became a domino effect right on down the line until it effected these teams as well.
Both Ewing coach Don Montferrat and Allentown’s Dana Wells had little to say on the subject and settled for simply calling what happened “unfortunate.”
Ewing was to have played a big game against prep power Stuart Country Day Saturday morning, but that game was also canceled.
It was a tough ending to the season for all the players, especially for the seniors. The good thing for both Allentown and Ewing is they were loaded with underclassmen and can look for very productive seasons next year.
Featuring several key freshman players, Ewing finished the season with a record of 13-0. Although the Blue Devils do have a state championship on their resume, it almost certainly marks the first undefeated season in program history.
Allentown, meanwhile, ended the year with a record of 10-2. It’s second loss of the year came earlier this week when it was blown off the court by Ewing.
As such, while Ewing certainly didn’t want it to end this way, it did come out of the season with the undefeated record and bragging rights over the rest of the Colonial Valley Conference.
Mitch Ducalo didn’t know whether to smile or cry.
Total exhilaration and satisfaction will do that to a high school hockey player when he’s just scored the winning goal with one-tenth of a second left in a championship game.
“That’s a goal I’ll never forget,” said Ducalo, the Robbinsville/Allentown senior after his put back of a rebound gave the No. 3 seeded Ravens a 5-4 win over No. 1 Notre Dame on Friday evening in the Colonial Valley Conference championship at the Mercer County Skating Center.
“Charlie (Pallitto) got the puck and he took a shot and it bounced back and I shot it, I saw it in the back of the net and then I heard the buzzer go off,” Ducalo said of the gamer. “I have never scored a better or more important goal in my life. This is No. 1.”
So, is the entire Robbinsville/Allentown hockey team. They are the 2021 champion.
“This feels great and I’m so happy for the kids,” said R/A coach Dan Bergan. “They’ve worked so hard to change the way they were playing in the early season to the way they are playing now. I’m just so happy for the kids.
Through a season that was filled with cancellations and quarantines, the championship game of the tournament just might have set a new standard for excellence.
The Irish and Ravens played with all the intensity of Mercer County Tournament finals past as the excitement grew with the lead changing hands in a great high school hockey game.
Notre Dame deserves a lot of credit, too.
The Irish fell behind early, 1-0, grabbed the lead at the end of the second, 3-2, and led, 4-3, with 7:41 left only to see Robbinsville/Allentown score the final two.
“This was tough, but both teams played great,” said ND coach Mike
McVey. “I’m very proud of my kids and I was so happy with this type of game and I have to congratulate Robbinsville.”
Ducalo finished with two goals and two assists, Pallitto had a goal and a game-winning assist, Teddy Wittenborn had a goal and a gamewinning assist and Ty Thomas had a goal.
Tyler Guttormsen, who did a great job on defense, had a pair of assists with Jack Battistelli and Ray Corneau each having one.
ND, which got amazing goaltending from Cole Werthman, saw Will Celli score two goals and assisted on another. Carson Skove had one and
one, Mike McVey had a goal and Trey Guire had a pair of assists. Jakob Papiez also had an assist.
“This is unbelievable,” said Pallitto. “This feels so good. We are a family and now we are the champions of the CVC. What a great game.”
Robbinsville/Allentown controled the first period, but only led, 1-0, due to the great play in goal by Werthman.
ND tied the game at 2-2 on McVey’s goal and went ahead at 3-2 with 7:18 left in the second period on Celli’s first goal.
The Ravens tied things on a power play goal by Wittenborn, only to see ND take a, 4-3, lead on Celli’s second at the 7:41 mark.
At 7:08, Ducalo tied the game and it appeared it was headed to overtime.
However, Ducalo and the Ravens just weren’t done yet.
“I can’t describe how I feel it, I’m on the verge of tears,” said Ducalo. “These are my brothers and I’m happy we could beat such a good team in the last game. We will always be champions, no one can ever take that away.”
R’ville/A’town (9-2-1) 1 1 3 — 5
Notre Dame (6-1-1) 0 3 1 — 4
Goals: R/A: Ducalo 2, Pallitto, Thomas, Wittenborn. ND: Celli 2, Skove, McVey.
Assists: R/A: Ducalo 2, Guttormsen 2, Wittenborn, Battistelli, Pallitto, Corneau. ND: Guire 2, Celli, Skove.