Spartans top North Warren, 58-29
SPARTA. Boys basketball team advances to second round of Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament.
Sparta /
| 03 Feb 2025 | 11:34
SB1 Sparta's Molly Chapman, foreground, lifts the ball toward the hoop during a game against River Dell on Jan. 30. The Spartans won, 51-46, and Chapman scored nine points. (Photos by George Leroy Hunter)
SB2 Sparta's Katie Sutton is in the midst of a shot. She scored 17 points.
SB3 Sparta's Brooke Shust drives forward with the ball. She scored six points.
Sparta's Molly Chapman dribbles the ball past a River Dell defender. She scored nine points.
Sparta's Katie Sutton handles the ball while being shadowed by a River Dell defender. She scored 17 points.
Sparta girls basketball head coach Patrick McCarney speaks to players during a break.
Leshem Little scored a game-high 27 points to pace the 10th-seeded Sparta High School boys basketball team to a 58-29 victory over 19th-seeded North Warren in the first round of the 15th annual Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 1 in Sparta.
Sparta, which last won the tri-county crown in 2023, is scheduled to meet seventh-seeded Hackettstown in a H/W/S second-round game Tuesday, Feb. 4. If the Spartans prevail, they would meet second-seeded Wallkill Valley in the quarterfinal round Saturday, Feb. 8.
Against North Warren, Sparta also was led by Tyler Conlee (eight points), Louis Rossi (four points), Eric McCall (four points), Robbie Ambrosino (four points), Anthony Settembre (three points), Pat Connors (two points), Luke Spelman (two points), Nate Coleman (two points) and Hayden Kopco (two points).
Little, a junior guard, netted a career-high 28 points, along with five rebounds and three assists, as Sparta defeated Wallkill Valley, 66-49, there Jan. 30.
Here’s how other Sparta teams fared recently:
Girls basketball
Katie Sutton scored a team-high 17 points, Molly Chapman added nine points and Moira Sweeney had eight points to lead Sparta to a 51-46 victory over River Dell at home Jan. 30.
Sparta (12-6) is seeded third for the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament and slated to play host to 14th-seeded Phillipsburg in a second-round game Wednesday, Feb. 5.
Chapman (14.1 points per game), Sutton (7.3 ppg), Brooke Shust (7.1 ppg) and Abby Connors (6.1 ppg) lead the Spartans in scoring.
Wrestling
Ryan Hrenenko (138 pounds), Garrett VanHouten (157) and Sebastian Chiong (175) each won by fall; Sean Brown (144) won by technical fall; and Trevor Ekeland (165) won by decision to highlight Sparta’s 44-32 victory over Voorhees there Jan. 25.
Sparta (4-15) is scheduled to wrestle at Kittatinny at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7.
Ice hockey
The Kinnelon/Jefferson/Sparta tri-op squad registered a 6-0 victory over Bernards on Friday, Jan. 31 at Skylands Ice World in Stockholm.
Brayson Sisco led the way with a career-high five-goal outburst, and Jake Prunty added a goal and four assists.
Goalies Brian Sisti (15 saves) and Andrew Corrado (11 saves) combined on the shutout for KJS.
KJS, which snapped a five-game losing streak, is 9-6-1 this season.
Sisco, a sophomore forward, has 30 goals and 14 assists this winter.
Bowling
Evan Miller had a high series of 612, including a high game of 216, to lead Sparta to a 7-0 victory over Hopatcong on Jan. 22 at Sparta Lanes.
Other contributors to the win included Diego Torres (493 series), Matthew Trela (415 series), Nicholas Vasquez (414 series), Joshua Lipton (388 series), John Ferrara (321 series) and Bilal Masri (121 series).
Sparta (3-8) will meet Wallkill Valley at 3:15 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6 at Sparta Lanes.
Indoor track
The Sparta boys and girls will compete in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) North Jersey, Section 1, Groups 1 and 2 championships beginning at 4 p.m. Feb. 8 at the Bennett Indoor Complex in Toms River.