Spartans beat Mount Olive, 66-23

Molly Chapman collected 15 points, eight rebounds, five steals, four assists and one block to power the Sparta High School girls basketball team to a 66-23 season-opening victory over Mount Olive there Tuesday, Dec. 17.

Brooke Shust added nine points, five rebounds, four steals, three assists and one block; Abby Connors totaled nine points, eight assists and two assists; Kiernan Moore had eight points and two steals; and Kayla Barreau had six points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Chapman had 14 points in Sparta’s 42-37 home loss to Morris Knolls on Thursday, Dec. 19 and also dropped in 14 points in a 36-34 home setback to Morristown on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 21. Moira Sweeney added 10 points in the loss to Morristown.

Sparta (1-2) will compete in the Voorhees Holiday Tournament on Dec. 27-28 in Glen Gardner.

Here’s how other Sparta teams fared recently:

Ice hockey

Jake Prunty collected six goals and two assists; Cormac Gibbons scored twice; and Braydon Sisco totaled a goal and six assists to fuel the Kinnelon/Jefferson/Sparta tri-op team to a 12-3 victory over Lakeland on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at the Ice Vault in Wayne.

KJS United (3-1) also received a goal and an assist from Eddy Brown, single goals from Ryan Saletto and Michael Pandiscia, and three assists from Cody Sutton.

Goalie Brian Sisti made 25 stops in net.

KJS will play Chatham at 4:40 p.m. Friday, Dec. 27 at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm and Wayne Hills at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 28 at the Ice Vault.

Boys wrestling

Sparta had three finalists, including one individual champion in Ryan Hrenenko, to finish in sixth place at the Morris Knolls Tournament on Dec. 21 in Rockaway.

Hrenenko earned an 11-1 major decision over South Plainfield’s Joseph Stanzione in the 138-pound final. Sparta finished with 94 points. South Plainfield finished atop the 10-team field with 148.5 points.

Sparta’s Sean Brown reached the 144-pound final, bowing to South Plainfield’s Anthony Matteo, 14-12, and Liam Hassloch suffered a first-period pin to Montville’s Sean Elsmore in the 215-pound final.

Patrick Bruseo (126 pounds), Ryan Hrenenko (138), Brown (144) and Logan Hrenenko (150) all won by fall as Sparta was edged, 39-34, as it opened its season with a dual meet against Pompton Lakes on Dec. 12.

Girls wrestling

Paige Weiss placed eighth at 120 pounds at the third annual Beast of the East Tournament that culminated Friday, Dec. 20 in Newark, Del.

Weiss, a junior, won twice in the championship bracket by fall before going 1-2 in the consolation bracket to finish eighth.

Boys basketball

The Spartans suffered losses in their first two games of the season: a 54-45 setback to Chatham at home Dec. 17 and a 60-55 decision at Morris Knolls in Rockaway on Dec. 19.

Leshem Little had 21 points and Shane Hoover added 12 points against Chatham, while Hoover led the way against Morris Knolls with 19 points, with Tyler Conlee scoring 11 points.

Sparta (0-2) will be playing in the Roxbury Holiday Tournament on Dec. 27 and 30.

Bowling

Evan Miller rolled a high series of 622, which included a high game of 256, and John Ferrara added a high series of 559 and high game of 234 to pace Sparta to its first victory of the season over Hopatcong on Dec. 12 at Sparta Lanes.

Other contributors for Sparta (1-4) included Diego Torres (508 series), Joshua Lipton (408 series), Matthew Trela (353) and Nicholas Vasquez (315).

Sparta then placed 13th in the Northwest Jersey Athletic Conference Tournament on Dec. 20 at Rockaway Lanes.