WDHS Sports Week In Review/Preview: Winter Winds Down

As the winter season continues to wind down, individual performances become the focus for wrestling and bowling, while the boys’ and girls’ basketball teams look to ride a hot streak into the playoffs. Last week saw three wrestlers win district titles, a bowler place second in the state and a reserve basketball player have a season high in scoring.

All that and more can be found below in the week in review.

WRESTLING

Last weekend kicked off the portion of the wrestling season that grapplers work all season to get to: individual season. made a statement at the District 29 Tournament, and sending seven wrestlers into this week’s Region 8 Tournament. Evan Zuzulock, Rory Bonner and Gerald Owens all won individual titles, with Bonner doing so as the only No. 1 seed. Zuzulock and Owens entered the tournament seeded second. Tyler Kaminski, Dan Gibson, Steve Alt and Christian Terinoni each placed in the top three.

The seven region qualifiers matched last year’s total. The Region 8 Tournament begins Wednesday with the pre-quarterfinals and continues Friday and Saturday at Egg Harbor Township. By virtue of winning district titles, Zuzulock, Bonner and Owens have an automatic place in the quarterfinals and will not have a match until Friday.

BOYS' BASKETBALL

It was another successful week for the Eagles, who went 2-1 and improved their win total to 13. was a goal for West Deptford, which won six games last year and two games the year before. West Deptford’s only blemish came in a hard-fought 70-63 loss to Woodbury. The Eagles were playing without sophomore point guard Justin Hansen, but got 20 points for Tom Jakubowski and 15 from Tim Fair. Reserve forward T.J. Harcum also had a big game, pumping in a season-high 14 points.

The team responded from the loss with a 42-40 overtime win against Palmyra. The Eagles led 23-13 at half time, before seeing Palmyra storm back to send the game into the extra session. Jakubowski finished with a team-high 12 points as West Deptford won overtime, 5-3, to squeak out the win.

GIRLS' BASKETBALL

The Eagles are playing the type of basketball every team hopes to be playing with the playoffs right around the corner. The team went 3-0 this week to increase its win streak to four games. West Deptford has now won eight of nine.

The Eagles were not even challenged last week defeating Lindenwold (37-17), Woodbury (46-27) and Bordentown (46-27). Tarryn Bundy scored 12 points against Lindenwold, Megan while Megan Kirschling had a and 21 against Bordentown. The team has two games remaining—against Haddon Township on Thursday and Haddon Heights Friday—before taking on Deptford next in the opening round of the playoffs next Tuesday.

BOWLING

Morgan Brown was already regarded as one of the top bowlers in the state, but she upped that reputation even further last week, in the NJSIAA individual bowling championships. Brown made it all the way to the finals, where she fell to Washington Township’s Nicolette Sarin, 226-212. Brown’s finish was a big upgrade over last year’s ninth-place result and the highest in the history of the West Deptford bowling program.

THIS WEEK

–Wrestling again is a focus, with the Region 8 tournament kicking off Wednesday and continuing Friday and Saturday.

–The girls’ basketball team travels to take on Haddon Township Thursday and Haddon Heights Friday to close out its regular season.

–The boys’ basketball team hosts Haddon Township Thursday and Holy Cross Saturday.

–The winter track Meet of Champions will be held Saturday at Toms River, beginning at 9 a.m.