PDS moves past WW-P North for victory

PRINCETON » Good things may come to those who wait, but even better rewards come to those who make things happen … at least on a basketball court.

The Princeton Day School and West Windsor-Plainsboro High North varsity girls’ basketball teams battled through a very stationary first quarter in an early starting Saturday game approximately 16 hours after both had opened their seasons Friday.

Fatigue definitely played a part in it. So when the host Panthers came out in the second quarter moving more on offense and defense, it helped head coach Seraphine Hamilton’s team turn the tide and open the door for a 30-23 win, PDS’ first of 2021-22.

The motion created openings and allowed the Panthers to flip a threepoint, first-quarter deficit by way of an 11-3 second quarter.

The Northern Knights adjusted more in the second half, yet could not slow up PDS enough to get closer than 27-23 with 3:57 to go. Adding to the visitors’ frustration, when the home team got the ball back with 1:10 left, it continued moving to hold the ball for 53 seconds before WW-P North could get it back.

“Our communication was a lot better today,” said 5-foot-6 sophomore guard Jen Lightman, comparing her club’s performance to its 61-22 loss at the George School Friday. “We passed the ball around. We moved around on defense and switched on screens. After the first quarter, we realized that we were able to move around on offense as well to get open shots.”

Ah yes, that first quarter. It was like one of those bad dreams you have where everything is moving in slow motion. In terms of a basketball nightmare, it is when everyone is content to hang around the perimeter and fire up shots.

Northern Knights head coach Frank Moore’s squad got the better of that struggle, forging a 7-4 lead with 5-8 junior guard/forward Kylie Vandenberg scoring six of her teamhigh eight points in that stanza.

“I think part of it was that it was a Saturday morning, and we weren’t mentally there. We weren’t making smarter decisions,” said WW-P North 5-5 senior guard Aimee Byrne, who were her team’s secondleading scorer with four points, all scored in the third quarter. “I think we played better as the game went on. But we definitely need to talk more on defense and work on our boxing out. If we could have gotten more rebounds, it would have helped.”

Instead, the Panthers overtook the Knights with 4:30 left in the second quarter when Lightman connected on a left-handed jump shot. Lightman (eight points) would score again ahead of the halftime buzzer to give PDS a 15-10 edge.

The lead grew to 20-12 when Maddie Nowack (six points) hit the game’s only 3-point field goal 2:13 into the third quarter.

Tochi Owunna, a 5-9 sophomore guard/forward, added eight points, mostly from in the paint, while also grabbing eight rebounds. That was a perfect complement to Lightman, who helped out with six rebounds.

“They were trying to break our zone defense in the second half, but we kept moving our feet and communicating well,” said Lightman, who also had eight points in the Panthers’ opening game.

WW-P NORTH (23)

AByrne 2-0-4, EByrne 0-2-2, Russell 1-1-3, Salgian 0-0-0, Alfonso 0-0-0, Vandenberg 4-0-8, Potenza 1-13, Anico 0-0-0, AHolmes 0-0-0, JKelly 1-1-3. Totals — 9-5-23.

PDS (30)

Anhut 0-2-2, Nowack 2-1-6, MZarish-Yasunas 1-0-2, Gardner 0-0-0, TOwunna 4-0-8, Lightman 4-0-8, SRuf 1-2-4.

Totals — 12-5-30.

WW-PNorth(1-1) 7 3 8 5 — 23

PDS (1-1) 4 11 9 6 — 30

3-point goal — Nowack (PDS).