Pennington tops Blair to capture Prep A crown
BLAIRSTOWN >> Fresh off winning the Independent School Gold Division National Championship over the weekend by defeating Florida’s Empower Academy in overtime, 74-69, Sunday, the Pennington School girls basketball team returned to New Jersey looking for its second consecutive NJISAA Prep A championship.
This season, however, the secondseeded Red Raiders had to head to top-seeded Blair Academy for that chance Tuesday.
Head coach Jeff Eckerson’s team would not let defeat happen as it rallied past the Bucs in the fourth quarter to claim a 72-68 victory.
All Pennington did was put together a 22-10 rally in the final eight minutes to erase a 58-50 deficit.
Senior guard Diamond Christian and junior guard/forward Taylor Blunt paced the Red Raiders with 22 points apiece. Senior center Leah Johnson added 15 points and 17 rebounds, and senior forward Gianna Lucchesi contributed nine points.
The balanced attack was able to offset the 12 3-point field goals hit by Blair, including five by Olivia Miles, who had a game-high 24 points. PENNINGTON (72)
LJohnson 5-5-15, Lucchesi 3-1-9, Christian 6-7-22, Blunt 7-5-22, Makela 0-0-0, Kiefer 1-0-2, Kramli 1-0-2. Totals — 23-18-72.
BLAIR ACADEMY (68)
Darius 8-2-21, SDavis 1-0-3, Miles 8-3-24, Clarin 3-311, Lovisolo 0-0-0, Amanze 3-0-6, Abdul-Hamid 1-0-3. Totals — 24-8-68.
Penningtn(25-5) 18 14 18 22 — 72 BlairAcad(20-9) 21 17 20 10 — 68
3-point goals: Lucchesi 2, Christian 3, Blunt 3 (P), Darius 3, SDavis, Miles 5, Clarin 2, Abdul-Hamid (BA). Ewing (17-7) 18 15 16 21 — 70
3-point goals: Dente 2 (OT), Lowe 2, MJackson 2, Warner 2 (E).
HOPEWELL 53, NEPTUNE 46 HOPEWELLTWP.>> The sixth-seeded Bulldogs shook off a slow start to get past the 11th-seeded Scarlet Fliers.
Katee Kemether scored 15 points, while Meggy Wiley and Franki Gomez added 11 points apiece to send Hopewell Valley on to play at thirdseeded Westampton Tech Thursday. NEPTUNE (46)
Evans 6-2-17, AYoung 7-3-18, Brackett 4-1-9, CSmith 0-0-0, Totten 1-0-2.
Totals — 18-6-46.
HOPEWELL VALLEY (53)
Wiley 3-4-11, Kemether 6-2-15, Hare 1-0-2, Oldfield 2-0-6, Danieluk 2-0-6, Schrader 1-0-2, FGomez 3-4-11. Totals — 18-10-53.
Neptune (10-13) 11 10 13 12 — 46 HopewellVal(16-8) 10 13 15 15 — 53
3-point goals: Evans 3, AYoung (N), Wiley, Kemether, Oldfield 2, Danieluk 2, FGomez (HV). JacksnLib(12-16) 6 10 3 14 — 33
Allentown (13-11) 12 16 11 26 — 64
3-point goals: AMcGee (JL), Coiante 3, Carotenuto 2, Dona 2, Schweitzer (A).
COLTS NECK 46, NOTTINGHAM 29 COLTS NECK >> Nydia Lyles scored 11 points, Ivonne Vasquez had 10 points, but the 16th-seeded Northstars lost to the top-seeded Cougars. NOTTINGHAM (29)
Haas 0-4-4, Pocino 0-0-0, Penix 1-0-3, Liles 4-0-11, Vasquez 4-2-10, AOliver 0-1-1, Girman 0-0-0. Totals — 9-7-29.
COLTS NECK (46)
Boliver 0-0-0, Foltz 4-6-14, Gagliardi 0-0-0, CGibson 3-0-8, EGibson 4-2-10, JGibson 0-0-0, KJacobs 1-1-3, Marsh 1-0-3, Thesing 4-0-8, KTorres 0-0-0. Totals — 17-9-46. Nottingham(5-18) 6 2 12 9 — 29
ColtsNeck (18-7) 9 12 11 14 — 46
3-point goals: Penix, Liles 3 (N), CGibson 2, Marsh (CN).