Tag: Vinny Vizzi

by Mike Pavlichko

It’s raining threes! No. 7 Spotswood hits a dozen times from the arc to down Woodbridge, 72-38

Petula Clark sang about it. George Costanza was confused about it.

But Lizzie Calandruccio and Gabrielle Hill knew what to do with it.

Seventh-ranked Spotswood hit 12 times from “downtown” – a season high and the most in a single game for the Chargers since they hit eleven in a 2022 win over Sayreville – en route to a 72-38 Greater Middlesex Conference White Division win Tuesday night at the Spotwood Athletic Center, in a game heard live on Central Jersey Sports Radio.

Calandruccio, a senior, led the way with 19 points and four first-half treys, while the sophomore sensation Hill scored 17 and netted three triples. Lily Kroun, Cat Caro and Violet Tharney each hit from beyond the arc, and sophomore Emily Devlin hit a pair of treys when she came in with the game in hand in the final five minutes.

Spotswood jumped on the Barrons early and never looked back. Tharney’s three opened the scoring, and Bobbi Jo Timinski tied it with her own. But the Lady Chargers went on a 17-0 run from that point on, led 22-7 after one quarter, and had as big as a 40-point lead in the third quarter before head coach Vinny Vizzi emptied the bench.

Up to the White Division this year from the Blue – where they won the last two division titles – Spotswood (8-2) sits in first place, and has won 20 straight divisional games going back to a late-season loss in 2023 to Highland Park.

It was the Chargers’ fourth straight win, and also their highest scoring output of the season.

Woodbridge dropped to 1-7, 1-4 in the White with the loss.

Click below for postgame reaction from Spotswood’s Lizzie Calandruccio, Gabrielle Hill, and head coach Vinny Vizzi:

by Mike Pavlichko

No. 7 Spotswood girls keep winning, entertain Woodbridge as Barrons seek to find footing

When it comes to wins and losses, the Spotswood and Woodbridge girls’ basketball teams are at opposite ends of the spectrum in the New Year.

The Chargers are 7-2, 4-0 in the GMC White Division – their first year up after winning back-to-back Blue titles – and have won 19 straight divisional games going back to a late 2023 loss to Highland Park.

Woodbridge is having an off year after losing several key players to graduation, just 1-6 so far.

But on a micro level, with the Barrons picking up their first win of the season against Perth Amboy last Thursday, they’ve split their first two games of calendar year 2025. And head coach Bobby Timinsky thinks they’ve begun to see the corner, if not turn it.

And he hopes it makes a big turn Tuesday night, when Woodbridge visits No. 7 Spotswood for a White Division tilt you can hear right here on Central Jersey Sports Radio. Mike Pavlichko will call all the action, with pregame at 6:15, and tip-off at 6:30. Click here to listen.

Spotswood, on the other hand, has senior Lizzie Calandruccio, who’s poised to become the second all-time leading girls’ scorer in school history by the time her career is all said and done. She’s fourth now, with 1,135 points, averaging 13.2 a game, and should end up only behind Beth Dickinson, the only 2,000-point scorer ever at Spotswood, boys’ or girls’.

And then there’s Gabrielle Hill, a sophomore leading the team with 16.7 points a game, part of an up-and-coming sophomore group that also includes fellow starter Cat Caro, who leads the Chargers in assists with 22.

But Woodbridge has some players, too. Junior Angel Smith is one Timinski has built around. She’s leading in scoring at 17.7 a game, and also leads the Barrons with 6.7 rebounds per game.

Click below to hear from both head coaches ahead of Tuesday night’s GMC White Division matchup:

Spotswood head coach Vinny Vizzi
Woodbridge head coach Bobby Timinski

by Mike Pavlichko

Spotswood girls basketball falls to… Spotswood? Chargers took on Virginia counterparts to tip-off season in historic She Got Game Classic matchup

“And in girls’ basketball news, Spotswood beat Spotswood.”

Wait, what?

No, it wasn’t an intersquad scrimmage. The Spotswood Chargers girls basketball team – from a small Group 2 school in Middlesex County – opened its 2024-25 season Saturday against what, according to MaxPreps, is the only other high school (with athletic teams) in the national also called Spotswood: the Trailblazers out of Penn Laird, Virginia.

A few miles east of Harrisonburg, VA – the home of James Madison University – lies the “other” Spotswood High School, which opened in 1973, just a few years before the Spotswood High School in New Jersey opened in 1976, giving local students their own high school. Previously, they attended South River, a big reason the two schools have been arch-rivals ever since.

The two Spotswoods played Saturday at The St. James, a multi-court venue just inside the Washington, D.C., Beltway, southwest of the nation’s capital.

The Chargers played a tight first quarter, down just 9-7 after the opening eight minutes, but were down 21-12 at the half, and fell 59-35 in the end. Sophomore Gabby Hill – who averaged 12.3 points per game last year as a freshman – had 17 points in the loss, the only Charger in double-figures.

Spotswood (NJ) girls’ basketball players pose on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on a trip to play Spotswood (VA) in the She Got Game Classic on December 14, 2024. (Source: @SpotswoodHoops on Twitter)

According to MaxPreps, Spotswood (VA) was 18-9 last season, while Spotswood (NJ) is coming off a 21-6 season, and has moved up from the GMC Blue Division to the White for this year and next.

The Chargers will appear on Central Jersey Sports Radio on Tuesday, January 7th, when they host Woodbridge at 6:30 pm.

There’s also a Woodbridge High School in Virginia, but the Chargers (probably) won’t be playing them any time soon.

Click below to hear Spotswood girls’ basketball coach Vinny Vizzi talk about the experience of his Chargers playing Spotswood (VA), and look ahead to the upcoming 2024-25 season with Central Jersey Sports Radio’s Mike Pavlichko: