Nottingham shows improvement despite loss
BORDENTOWN >> Only a week has passed since the season opener for the Nottingham High girls’ basketball team, yet one can already see the improvement head coach Matt Paglione wants for his team.
The change was so much so that the Northstars had a chance at moving on to the championship game of the Bordentown Holiday Tournament Friday before one bad quarter did them in.
The outcome was a 35-30 loss to Pennsauken, but it was still a noticeably better showing than Nottingham’s 34-17 loss to Robbinsville Dec. 20.
In fact, the Northstars had already outscored that first outing by halftime of this game with a 20-14 lead.
“We played more fundamental basketball,” Paglione said. “We shot better. We passed better. We rebounded.”
By battling for the tempo it wanted early on, Nottingham was able to take an 8-6 lead at the end of one quarter.
Then, with the game still close, the Colonial Valley Conference squad began to pull away from their Burlington County Scholastic League opponent when Eriel Flowers converted a three-point play with 2:56 left in the half to stretch the lead to 16-11.
“We made our shots in the first half,” Paglione said. “We were still getting them in the second half, but they didn’t fall as much. I think it comes down to confidence. We have to have a more confident thought process.”
That will come with time. For now, the Northstars are learning to play together at the tougher varsity level.
Some of the responsibility in helping smooth that transition falls on the shoulders of 5-foot11 center/forward Ashanti Myles, who is the only member of this season’s team who was on varsity in 2018-19.
“It was real different today. We played way better than we did in our first game,” Myles said. “I think it’s because we came out and put it all out there. In our first game, everybody was so tense and worried about proving themselves. It was more nerves than anything, but a lot of the girls are playing for the first time on varsity.”
Myles played like a leader by scoring a game-high 14 points. However, she could not keep the Indians from putting together a rally of their own in the third quarter. Pennsauken came out of the locker room and outscored Nottingham, 132, to build a 27-22 lead as Briasia Perry scored all six of her points in that stanza.
“I don’t know what happened in the third quarter,” Myles said. “Coming into this game, I had stuff to work on. We all did. I learned how to shake things off.”
Myles showed that by scoring two quick buckets in the fourth quarter to pull the Northstars as close as 27-26 with 5:30 remaining. But when Ebony Johnson responded with a conventional three-point play and Angela Carrasquillo hit a pair of free throws, the Indians rebuilt their lead to 32-26.
Myles scored two more baskets (for all eight of her team’s fourth-quarter points) down the stretch, only to see Evelyn Cortorreal answer with three of her team-leading, 12 points to put Pennsauken into Saturday’s noon final versus Bordentown.
Nottingham will keep striving for its first win at 10 a.m. Saturday when it returns to take on Lindenwold in the tourney’s consolation game.
PENNSAUKEN (35)
Cortorreal 4-3-12, EJohnson 1-4-6, Truitt 1-0-3, Perry 2-1-6, Carrasquillo 3-2-8, Mosley 0-0-0. Totals — 11-10-35.
NOTTINGHAM (30)
Myles 7-0-14, Alers 1-0-3, Bolon 1-0-2, SJohnson 0-0-0, DeLeon 0-0-0, Flowers 1-1-3, Seidl 1-1-3, Prall 2-1-5, MWilliams 0-0-0.
Totals — 13-3-30. Pennsauken(1-2) 6 8 13 8 — 35 Nottingham (0-2) 8 12 2 8 — 30
3-point goals: Cortorreal, Truitt, Perry (P), Alers (N).
BORDENTOWN 56, LINDENWOLD 7
The Scotties cruised into the championship game of their seasonal soiree, using a very balanced attack to outrun the Lions.
Oshynn Cosom led the way with nine points, while Ciara Conover, Aja Reeves and Sofia Peterson finished right behind her with eight points.
LINDENWOLD (7)
JJackson 1-1-3, Walden 1-0-2, Knight 0-0-0, Parker 0-0-0, Johnson-Cook 0-0-0, Morales 0-00, Lopez 0-0-0, Hill 1-0-2, HBrown 0-0-0, Wilson 0-0-0, Bonilla 0-0-0.
Totals — 3-1-7.
BORDENTOWN (56)
Drew 3-0-6, Reeves 3-2-8, Grilletto 0-0-0, Lukach 2-0-4, Scranton 3-0-6, Wojcik 3-0-6, Reed 1-0-2, Conover 4-0-8, Cosom 4-1-9, Peterson 4-0-8, Montonez 0-0-0, Calderon 0-0-0.
Totals — 25-6-56.
Lindenwold (1-2) Bordentown(2-0) 2 4 1 0 — 7
20 17 6 13 — 56