EWING — The 2024-25 Hightstown High varsity girls’ basketball team was able to accomplish something Thursday night that it had not been able to do in more than 16 years and the rest of the Colonial Valley Conference had not been able to do in 76 consecutive games. The Rams knocked off Ewing High at Emil Wandishin Gymnasium, 57-46, in a CVC Colonial Division first-place clash. Hightstown and the Blue Devils have had a handful of close calls since 2009-2010, but the Rams were unable to come out on top until last night when a triple-double from 6-foot-4 senior forward Penelope Swarn, a double-double from 5-11 senior guard/forward Caitlyn Nagle and a game-high 19 points from 5-10 freshman guard Hayley DeKok allowed the visitors to come away with their 11th win. Both teams now lead the Colonial Division with 5-1 marks and one regular-season league game remaining. “It’s been so long since we’ve won against them,” Gettysburg College-bound Nagle said. “But we believed if we played hard enough, we could win. We really worked on getting the ball up court.” With ballhandling skills to go along with her sharp shooting and steady board work, Nagle was often in the middle of that mayhem. From the time Ewing (7-8) took its only lead, 4-3, with 6:11 left in the first half when Taylor Williams put back a shot, Hightstown responded with an 8-0 run. Nagle led Swarn on the fastbreak, then 5-3 senior guard Grace Weissenberger fed her classmate Olivia Roberts for a 3-point field goal. DeKok, the CVC’s leading scorer, drained another trey with 4:42 left in the stanza to put head coach Jenna Marcus’ team up, 11-4. Blue Devils’ 5-7 junior guard Lillie Alston, who led the home side with 14 points, stopped the surge 37 seconds later, but head coach Dan Montferrat’s squad could only draw as close as one point on three separate occasions in that same quarter before the Rams began stretching their lead again with a 12-6 rally in the second stanza. “Penelope’s so tall. She stopped us driving in,” Ewing 5-7 sophomore guard Ariana Wadley said. “We started to put up different shots than we usually do.” Howard University-bound Swarn was a problem. Besides scoring 17 points, she grabbed 20 rebounds and blocked 12 shots. Nagle also haunted the Blue Devils with 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. “Penelope’s taller than everybody out there,” Nagle said. “We want to post her up. If we hit her, she will put it in.” Wadley helped keep Ewing close with eight points, five rebounds and four steals off the bench to keep the outcome in question until the final 2:22. Only Alston and 5-9 junior forward Taylor Williams (nine points) produced more offense for the Blue Devils. “We tried to use the extra pass and got past (Swarn) more in the second half,” Wadley said. “We tried to draw her in.” What Ewing was unable to do, however, was get Swarn in deep foul trouble or get to the foul line consistently. The Blue Devils took just four free throws in the game compared to 20 by Hightstown. “We graduated good players, but not as many as they did,” Nagle said. “The rest of us want to prove that we’re still good. And I just really want to win.” As elated as the 11-6 Rams were, Ewing’s players took the loss hard, especially on their home floor. “I feel like we shouldn’t have lost this game,” Wadley said. “We’re hoping we get to play them again.” That would have to be in the CVC Tournament Feb. 4-15. HIGHTSTOWN (57) Nagle 5-3-13, Swarn 6-5-17, Weissenberger 1-1-3, ORoberts 2-0-5, Wersching 0-0-0, DeKok 6-4-19. Totals — 20-13-57. EWING (46) Durham 2-0-5, Miller 2-0-4, Alston 7-0-14, TWilliams 4-1-9, Wadley 4-0-8, Bennett 3-0-6, Maldonado-Washington 0-0-0. Totals — 22-1-46. Hightstown (11-6)                   17    12    14    14    —    57 Ewing (7-8)                            14      6    12    14    —    46 3-point goals — ORoberts, DeKok 3 (H), Durham (E).