ALLENTOWN—Girls’ basketball prepares to host playoff game

By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
    For the third straight year, the Allentown High School girls’ basketball team has made the state playoffs. What’s different about this time is the fact Allentown will host a playoff game.
    Allentown has been seeded eighth and will host Weequahic, a ninth seed, on March 2.
    “I don’t know much about that team yet, but it’s definitely nice to have a home playoff game,” noted Allentown Coach Linda Weise. “We were shooting for at least one.”
    In regular season action this past week, Allentown defeated West Windsor South, 42-34, on Thursday to tie for the title in the Patriot Division.
    Hamilton defeated Hopewell Valley the same night. This gave Allentown the opening to tie Hopewell Valley with a 9-4 mark for the Patriot Division title. It is the first title for Allentown while playing in the CVC (they made the move from the Shore Conference in 2000).
    “It was great,” Weise said. “I was really excited for the kids. It’s been four years with this group. It’s been a long process and a lot of work. The fact the girls get to see an end result was really sweet.”
    Allentown was outscored in the first (10-7) and fourth (13-10), but dominated the middle of the game to earn the win.
    Angela Scibilia (16 points) and Haley Wilhelm (12 points) were the only two Allentown players in double figures. Bea Pesciotta (six points), Lindsay Bacovin (five points) and Amanda Turowski (three points) also scored for Allentown.
    Allentown defeated Florence, 46-39, in a BCSL/CVC Challenge game on Saturday.
    Wilhelm recorded 18 points and 10 rebounds. Turowski had 11 points, six steals and five assists. Pesciotta added 10 points.
    This was a big game for Allentown because it was a chance to see how it matched up against a team that is a regular in the state tournament.
    “We got to treat it like a state tournament game,” Weise said. “It was a game on a neutral court with referees that don’t usually do our games. It was good preparation for the state tournament.”
    Weise will have her team ready for the state tournament. She’ll have a full scouting report on Weequahic before March 2. One thing she will not be able to prepare for is what happens after Allentown plays its last tournament game.
    When Allentown started making the playoffs two years ago, it had a team filled with mainly sophomores. Allentown returned almost its entire team from last year. That’s not going to be the case after the final game sometime in March.
    “We’re trying not to think about that,” Weise said. “Our big thing now is to take each game as it comes. There’s only a month left. We want to make the most of the time we have left. We want to create some more memories.”
    Allentown was scheduled to host Ewing this past Tuesday in a Mercer County Tournament game. Win or lose, Allentown will also have a MCT game on Friday. Allentown is also guaranteed to have a MCT game on Wednesday.
    AHS BOYS
    The Allentown High School boys’ basketball team was defeated by Robbinsville in overtime, 42-37, on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
    Allentown got off to a slow start, but made up a seven-point deficit to force overtime.
    Brandon Bush scored 14 points for Allentown in the loss. Michael Spady added seven points and Dean Search tossed in six points.
    Allentown was defeated by West Windsor South, 54-12, on Thursday.
    Search scored eight points in the loss for Allentown.
    Allentown was defeated by Northern Burlington, 64-32, in a BCSL/CVC Challenge game this past Saturday.
    Mike Ballo led Allentown with six points. Dylan Castellano and Spady added five points each.
    RHS BOYS
    The Robbinsville High boys’ basketball team defeated Allentown in overtime, 42-37, on Tuesday, Feb. 10.
    Kevin Burum scored 15 points and Corey Korogozi added 13 points in the win for Robbinsville.
    NEHS BOYS
    The New Egypt High School boys’ basketball team defeated Bordentown, 46-37, on Friday night in a battle of two state playoff teams.
    Desmond Hubert (11 points), Kevin Janowski (11 points) and Mark Pryzbylkowski (11 points) all scored in double figures for New Egypt.
    NEHS GIRLS
    The New Egypt High School girls’ basketball team was defeated by Medford Tech, 46-36, on Tuesday, Feb 10.
    New Egypt had a strong finish, outscoring Medford Tech in both the third (10-7) and fourth quarters (14-13). Unfortunately, it was down 26-12 at the half.
    Bausher scored 11 points and Morgan Knigge added seven points for New Egypt in the loss.
    New Egypt was defeated by Bordentown, 42-36, on Friday.
    New Egypt jumped out to an 11-3 lead after the first quarter, but was outscored in each of the other three quarters.
    Bausher scored 32 points in the loss for New Egypt.
    New Egypt was defeated by Ewing, 62-43, in a CVC/BCSL Challenge game this past Saturday.
    Bausher scored 23 points and Knigge added 11 points in the loss.
    RHS GIRLS
    The Robbinsville High School girls’ basketball team was edged by Metuchen, 39-37, on Wednesday, Feb. 11.
    Jen Bryan scored 14 points for Robbinsville in the loss.
    Robbinsville defeated Burlington City, 59-48, on Saturday in a BCSL/CVC Challenge game.
    Robbinsville opened up a 17-7 lead after the first quarter and increased its advantage to 36-23 at the half. Burlington City made a run in the third quarter, but Robbinsville finished strong with a 13-8 fourth quarter.
    Claire Haeuptle scored 16 points and Bryan added 10 points.