Coming off an impressive 40-21 opening day victory over Hamilton, the Princeton High girls’ basketball team seemed on track to make it a 2-0 start as it hosted WW/P-S last Monday.
Utilizing a stingy defense and opportunistic offense, PHS jumped out to an 18-9 halftime lead over the Pirates.
“We came out strong,” said PHS senior guard and co-captain Mary Sutton. “We get pretty nervous in the first quarter so if we can score the first couple of baskets and just control things and calm things down a little bit, we’ll be fine for the rest of the quarter and the rest of the half. We were moving the ball really well in the first half and getting back on defense and getting stops. We were talking. We had lots of energy on the floor and the bench. It was overall a really big team effort.”
But in the second half, WW/P-S had a burst of energy, outscoring the Little Tigers 30-14 to pull away to a 39-32 victory.
“When South picked up the intensity and the toughness, we didn’t get defensive rebounds,” said Sutton. “They were getting offensive boards and they were able to put them up for baskets. That killed us.”
While PHS knows it let a win slip away, Sutton believes the team will be better for the experience.
“We could have had that one but we needed to stay positive,” said Sutton, who had seven points in the third quarter on the way to a team-high 15 points. “I think by the end of the season we will be tougher and better than we are now.”
Sutton and her four fellow seniors on the team, Mira Shane, Mia Levy, Briana Blue, and Catherine Curran-Groome, are looking to end things on a high note this winter.
“Some of us have played with each other since the 5th grade with coach Clarence White on travel basketball,” said Sutton.
“They are my right and left hand girls. They are awesome. It is just wonderful being able to play with them for four years in a row and finish strong.”
PHS head coach Dan Van Hise liked his team’s strong start on Monday. “We tried to switch things up defensively a little bit more this year, trying to stay ahead of things,” said second-year head coach Van Hise.
“We came out in our man and then we made some substitutions to get some more athletic girls in and run some zone press and fall back into a little bit of a matchup zone. I think that really worked. I mentioned after the game that we should really hang our hats on that as one of the positives. That is a good way to get some of the bench girls involved. We will do that more and more.”
Van Hise tipped his hat to WW/P-S for playing sharper and harder in its second-half rally.
“They started heating up from the outside, they had a couple of wing jumpers so that brought me out of the zone a little bit,” said Van Hise.
“We didn’t have the energy left to play hard man defense. Credit goes to them, they hit some shots. We can’t give them so many second chance shots, whether it is off of actual rebounds that they get or deflections that go out of bounds for them. It is too demoralizing to have them get another shot.”
Sutton’s energy on the offensive end was a plus for PHS. “Mary is going to the basket,” said Van Hise. “I think the best part about her shot not being on early and in our scrimmages is that she has forced herself to go to the hoop. So if her shot is on, that’s great, but she is always going to go to the basket. That is really good to see.”
Junior guard Julia Ryan showed her shooting touch, scoring 10 points against WW/P-S after tallying 15 on opening day.
“I think Julia is going to be a little more consistent this year,” said Van Hise. “I think it is her nature to be a little bit streaky. She is going to be more consistent in not going away.”
In Van Hise’s view, PHS is not going to go away when things get tough this winter. “You have got to stay pretty positive in the fact that we were trying to get some defenses in and we are doing things that the program really hasn’t tried in the past and stuff has been working,” said Van Hise, whose team will take part in the Stuart Country Day School Christmas Tournament from December 27-28.
“I think at some point it is going to come down to whether we can do those things that just killed us tonight. Whether we can rebound, whether we can hit shots. I think the chemistry is great. They play hard all the way through. From that stance, I think we are going to be in a lot more games this year. I would just love to have them reward themselves by doing those other things so those close games turn into wins.”
Sutton, for her part, believes that PHS has what it takes to win a lot of games this winter.
“We have so much more energy than last year, so much more intensity and toughness, mentally and physically,” said Sutton.
“I think if we can keep building on those three things and start making our shots we can have a good season, better than last year.”