Hopewell edges Steinert for win

HOPEWELL TWP. » Everyone wants to finish strong, yet sometimes a slow start can just be too much as the Steinert High girls basketball team experienced at Hopewell Valley High Tuesday.

Head coach Coleen Ross’ Bulldogs came out and scored the game’s first 14 points, while holding head coach Kristin Jacobs’ Spartans scoreless for the first 12:20.

Steinert played much better in the second half and trimmed the lead to 10 points, but Hopewell would not fold, taking a 48-37 win.

“We’re still working on putting a whole game together,” Bulldogs’ senior Maddie Schrader said. “In the beginning of the game, our ball movement was very good. After the half, we were more flat-footed. We let up on defense at the end.”

Schrader’s nicely balanced club was very stingy in the first quarter and a half. The 5-foot-9 forward went on to share team leading scorer honors with her classmate, guard Ally Oldfield. But Oldfield got hot from outside late, hitting three 3-point field goals in the final stanza, while Schrader scored in each quarter.

That was more than the Spartans could say for the first quarter when Hopewell Valley opened the game with a strong defensive effort to take an 8-0 advantage.

“We were not communicating in the beginning of this game,” Steinert 5-6 senior guard Crysten Wood said. “I thought we were playing good defense, too, but our shots just weren’t falling.”

The visitors did not get on the scoreboard until Hope Mauro scored inside with 3:40 left in the second quarter. That basket came seconds after Charlotte Hare had hit two free throws to give the home team a 14-0 lead. The Bulldogs went to the locker room with a 20-7 edge.

“At halftime, we realized we can come back in this one,” Wood said.

The Spartans came out with more determination in the second half and stayed within, 25-12, when Wood, who led all scorers with 14 points, hit a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter. Hare answered with a trey of her own two minutes later, but Steinert freshman Ashley Adamson (11 points) matched that with a minute to play in the quarter.

That shot was important because Wood had gone out with an ankle injury late in the third and could not return until the fourth quarter.

She and Adamson scored eight points apiece in the final eight minutes, and senior Nicole Pappas scored six of her 10 points to get the visitors as close as 43-33 with 1:30 to go.

STEINERT (37)

Wood 5-1-14, Pappas 3-4-10, Haley 0-0-0, Wright 0-0-0, Mauro 1-0-2, Hannawacker 0-0-0, Casale 0-0-0, Naqvi 0-0-0, Conner 0-0-0, Adamson 4-0-11, Bonacci 0-0-0, Nolan 0-0-0, Conover 0-0-0.

Totals — 13-5-37.

HOPEWELL VALLEY (48)

Oldfield 3-0-9, Hare 2-2-7, Danieluk 2-0-5, Schrader 3-3-9, MMartin 4-0-8, FGomez 3-0-6, Morici 0-0-0, Cappucci 2-0-4.

Totals — 19-5-48.

Steinert (8-11) 07822—37 HopewellVal(10-8) 8 12 8 20 — 48

3-point goals: Wood 3, Adamson 3 (S), Oldfield 3, Hare, Danieluk (HV).