Sports roundup: Wildcats advance in H/W/S Tournament
SUSSEX. Girls and boys basketball teams win first-round games.
Sussex /
| 02 Feb 2025 | 09:57
High Point's Ashley Schell leaps during a shot in the second half of the game against Lenape Valley on Jan. 10. The Wildcats lost, 49-37. (Photos by George Leroy Hunter)
Lenape Valley's Addison Coles focuses on the hoop from the free throw line. She scored six points.
High Point's Brooke Wagner handles the ball in the second half. She scored 11 points.
High Point's Claire Sieminski scored four points.
Lenape Valley's Lexie Esposito grabbed two rebounds and made two assists.
Lenape Valley's Callie Stevenson passes the ball toward a teammate. She scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds.
Lenape Valley's Gabrielle Kot scored 15 points.
High Point girls basketball coach Gary Ruban instructs players during a break.
Claire Sieminski and Aiden Hamilton each reached career highs in their respective games as the High Point Regional High School girls and boys basketball teams won their first-round games in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament during the weekend.
Here’s how each fared:
Girls basketball
Sieminski, a junior guard, scored 21 points and Brooke Wagner added 14 as High Point, the 10th seed, rolled to a 58-31 victory over 19th-seeded Hopatcong on Friday, Jan. 31 at home.
Also aiding the win were Ashley Schell (five points), Kennedy Shepherd (four points), Abi Amick (four points), Rhiannon Conover (four points), Daphne Mathews (three points) and Sofia Lawrence (three points).
Sieminski, whose previous high was 14 points Jan. 3, is averaging 8.9 points per game this winter.
High Point (12-8) os scheduled to play at seventh-seeded Belvidere in a H/W/S second-round game Tuesday, Feb. 4. If the Wildcats win, they would play at second-seeded Voorhees in a quarterfinal game Saturday, Feb. 8.
Boys basketball
Hamilton (20 points), Kyle Morsell (12 points), Tucker Berry (nine points) and Noah Reilly (eight points) powered 11th-seeded High Point to a 61-40 victory over 18th-seeded Belvidere at home Saturday, Feb. 1.
The Wildcats are slated to play at sixth-seeded Voorhees in a H/W/S second-round game Feb. 4.
Hamilton’s previous high was 14 points, which he reached three times this season.
Also contributing to the victory over Belvidere were Ayden Mann (four points), Alex Mann (four points) and Evan Fisher (four points).
Here’s how other High Point teams fared recently:
Ice hockey
The High Point/Wallkill Valley/Kittatinny tri-op squad won its third straight game with a 4-0 victory over Morris Catholic on Feb. 1 at Skylands ice World in Stockholm.
Brady Reid and Alex Sonvico each had two goals and an assist, and Anthony Tokar assisted three times to pace the offense.
Junior goalie Landon Healy earned the shutout with a 19-save performance.
Sonvico leads the team in scoring with 25 goals and 21 assists, with Tokar (18 goals, 18 assists) and Reid (nine goals, 20 assists) also reaching double digits in points.
High Point/Wallkill Valley/Kittatinny finished the regular season with a 9-8 record. The team was 8-4 and in second place in the Haas/Charette Division of the MCSSIHL.
Boys wrestling
High Point improved to 15-5 with a workmanlike 64-12 victory over Newton on Thursday night, Jan. 30 at home.
Thomas Jaust (106 pounds), Sean Licata (132), Michael Tidona (138), Nick Clayton (150) and Gerard Empirio (157) each won by fall. Jesse Huelbig (144) won by tech fall, and Brady Conklin (113) and John McCarthy (165) each won by decision.
High Point (15-5) finished a perfect 4-0, winning the Freedom Division of the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC).
Girls wrestling
Freshman Elle Changaris won the 116-pound championship to lead High Point to a fourth-place finish at the NJAC championships Feb. 1 at Vernon Township High School.
Changaris, now 28-1, pinned Roxbury’s Alexandra Perez in 1:30 to win the title. Other place-winners for the Wildcats included Kayley Bruner (second at 154), Isabella Power (fourth at 109 pounds) and Payten Mann (fourth at 187).
On Jan. 5, Changaris won the 114-pound title at the H/W/S Tournament and also won the event’s outstanding wrestler award after pinning Eleanor Kisselbach of Phillipsburg in 1:10 at home.
High Point finished fourth in the team race and boasted six other place-winners, including Ella Poalillo, who won the 152-pound title. Others included Bruner (second at 145), Gabriela Villafana (third at 138), Karly Lockburner (fourth at 185), Faith Mellito (fifth at 100 pounds) and Emily Cooper (sixth at 126).