Irish postgrad leads Hun
PRINCETON >> As much as Enya Maguire may be following in her sister’s footsteps, she is also trying to make a name for herself.
Enya Maguire is a 5-foot-6, 19-year-old guard from Ireland who is spending a postgraduate season with the Hun School girls’ basketball team, much like her older sister, Anna, did during the 2016-17 campaign.
After missing the first eight games of the season with a wrist injury, Enya Maguire is back in the Raiders’ lineup doing what she loves to do.
Thursday was her best game yet as she lit up the court at the Grant M. Shipley Pavilion for 23 points to lead head coach Bill Holup’s squad to a 90-44 win over the Perkiomen School.
Maguire’s total was the game high, just outpacing Perkiomen’s Chardae Stone, who posted 22 points. It was also Maguire’s ninth game, which means she has now played in more games than she missed.
“I do feel like I’m back to playing the way I can,” Maguire said. “It’s great because we have a lot of firepower on this team. There are a lot of people who can do the scoring.”
The Panthers, who were without the services of Peddie School transfer and Xavier University commit Janayshia Brown, found that out the hard way as Maguire led four Hun players in double figures.
Besides Maguire, Kennedy Jardine scored 21, Lainey Nolan scored 19 and Izzy Lalo scored 13. Nicole Angelini just missed joining them in double digits, finishing with nine points.
“We have a lot of guards, but I like to be the floor general,” Maguire said.
Despite the overflow of guards, the Raiders have made it work. In fact, with a month left in its season, Enya’s team already has more wins (12) than Anna’s team did (10).
Maguire started her team toward its seventh win in its last eight games by scoring 10 points in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating, 3-point field goal (her second in the stanza), which gave Hun a 24-11 edge.
She went on to hit three 3-pointers as did Jardine and Nolan. Maguire added seven assists, most of them to Nolan, who is also from Ireland, yet is a year younger.
“Lainey actually played on our national team with my younger sister, Erin,” Maguire said when told of their noticeable connection on the court. “My mom and dad and Erin are coming to visit this weekend.”
The hope is that she and the Raiders will continue to play as well as they have the last two days in defeating Perkiomen and the Hill School, 67-60, when Maguire scored 18 points to help her team lock up the third seed for the upcoming Mid-Atlantic Prep League Tournament (Feb. 7-9 at Hill).
Unfortunately, Enya Maguire has not been able to get to see Anna Maguire play this season after her sister transferred from St. Peter’s University to Houston Baptist.
“We’re both in our seasons, so it’s tough,” Enya Maguire said. “She’s happy and is going to be able to go for her masters in international business down there.”
As her play continues to rise, more college coaches are also going to be looking to have Enya Maguire in their future.
For now, she is content to keep helping Coach Holup’s team improve along with her. PERKIOMEN (44)
Santos 5-2-12, Heintz 0-0-0, Stone 9-1-22, STaylor 1-0-2, Knight 4-0-8, Glavin 0-0-0, Roudoulgh 0-0-0. Totals — 19-3-44. HUN (90)
Maguire 10-0-23, Nolan 8-0-19, Angelini 4-1-9, Jardine 9-0-21, Lalo 5-3-13, Moise 1-35, Stelmach 0-0-0. Totals — 37-7-90. Perkiomen(5-5) 11 11 9 13 — 44
Hun (12-5) 24 25 28 13 — 90
3-point goals: Stone 3 (P), Maguire 3, Nolan 3, Jardine 3 (H).