Princeton knocks off Steinert for 2nd time
PRINCETON >> When it comes to hard-nosed basketball, the Princeton and Steinert High girls teams play that as aggressively as anyone out there.
Maybe that is why both of their meetings this season have been so intriguing.
Everyone expected that kind of play out of head coach Kristin Jacobs’ Spartans, but when the Tigers came out and matched their intensity in both of their games, it showed how much better head coach Dave Kosa’s troops are playing in their second year under his direction.
After defeating Steinert in overtime in the championship game of the Monroe Holiday Tournament Dec. 29, Princeton came back and defeated the Spartans in their official Colonial Valley Conference meeting Friday, 42-31.
The score appears a little more lopsided than the game really was. Much like in their 47-46 win at Monroe, the Tigers were in a tight game the whole way through. At halftime, the contest was tied at 16. After three quarters, Princeton only had a 24-22 edge. And, with 2:25 to go, the lead was only 34-31 after Steinert’s Jayda Bing drove in for a basket.
Then, the home team scored the final eight points on a 3-point field goal by Shaylah Marciano, 3-of-4 free throws by Erin Devine and two more foul shots by Catherine Dyevich.
“I really think this is all about us sticking together,” Tigers 5-foot-5 senior guard Olivia Intartaglia said. “(The Spartans) are a very energetic team with very energetic fans. We’ve done a good job of calming down the way coach wants us to when we’ve played them.”
Everyone plays a part in Kosa’s set, and when the players unselfishly fill their roles, good things will happen. Such was the case Friday.
Olivia Intartaglia, for one, had a set-up role. She would scrap for loose balls and rebounds on the defensive end, then on offense, she would find the person with the best chance to score.
With four minutes left in the game after Bing (12 points) stole the ball and scored to get- the deficit to 28-26, Olivia Intartaglia found her twin sister, Anna, open on a backdoor cut to the basket. Then, after Leila Collazo buried a 3-pointer at the other end to make it a 30-29 game with 3:55 to go, Olivia Intartaglia inbounded a pass to a wide-open Devine under the basket for a layup.
“I love getting the ball inbounds,” said Intartaglia, who finished with six points, six rebounds and four assists. “We were expecting their intensity. Once we calmed down, we were able to play the way we can.”
The night did not start that way for Princeton, which found itself trailing, 13-8, after one quarter. But one area where the home team did not waver was on defense. It held Steinert’s 5-9 senior forward Natalie Mehl, who was averaging 12.3 points per game, scoreless.
“I can’t give a solid answer as to what went wrong. I wish I could,” said Collazo, a Cabrini College-bound senior who added 11 points to the Spartans’ attack. “We’ve got to come out strong, end strong and avoid foul trouble.”
While 5-10 senior forward Devine led all scorers with 15 points, it was her 5-11 frontcourt classmate, Catherine Dyevich, doing a lot of the dirty work on the boards. She grabbed 12 rebounds, including eight in the second half, and scored 10 points with six after intermission to help Princeton (6-1) pull off its third straight win.
That high-intensity teamwork will get another test at 11:30 a.m. Saturday when another scrappy New Egypt squad visits the Tigers’ home court.
Steinert (3-2) will also get right back to it as it heads to the College Choice Showcase at the College of Staten Island at 10:30 a.m. Sunday for a game against Tottenville (N.Y.)
STEINERT (31)
Mehl 0-0-0, Bing 4-4-12, Collazo 4-0-11, Diszler 0-0-0, Huth 0-0-0, Comfort 0-0-0, Zoldi 1-0-3, Wood 2-1-5, Haley 0-0-0, Pappas 0-0-0, Giori 0-0-0.
Totals — 11-5-31.
PRINCETON (42)
Dyevich 4-2-10, EDevine 4-6-15, AIntartaglia 1-0-2, OIntartaglia 3-0-6, Kotsen 1-0-2, Marciano 1-2-5, Petrone 1-0-2. Totals — 15-10-42.
Steinert (3-2) 13 3 6 9 — 31 Princeton(6-1) 8 8 8 18 — 42
3-point goals: Collazo 3, Zoldi (S), EDevine, Marciano (P).