Hun rallies past L’ville in MAPL tourney opener

PRINCETON » While things may not have gone as the Hun School girls basketball team would have liked for a good portion of the 201718 season, the Mid-Atlantic Prep League Tournament provided the Raiders a chance at change.

Paired with local rival Lawrenceville for an opening-round game Friday at the Grant Shipley Pavilion, coach Bill Holup’s team got another chance against a team that had narrowly defeated it early in the season.

Despite missing two key components to its lineup, Hun shook off a slow start and rallied past the Big Red for a 70-59 victory.

The point total was the highest yet for the Raiders even though they were without junior guard/forward Jada Jones and sophomore forward Alexis Harvell, who are both out with injuries.

“We’ve had some hard losses, so winning this feels really good,” Hun sophomore guard Nicole Angelini said. “Sometimes we don’t play together, but when we do, we can play well. Today we knew we needed to work hard, and we did.”

Angelini played a big role in keeping the Raiders on top once they turned around a game they trailed, 22-15. With 6-foot-4 postgraduate forward Kai Volcy and 5-7 freshman guard Kennedy Jardine leading the way, Hun outscored L’ville, 17-6, in the second quarter to flip the scored to a 32-28 Raider lead at intermission.

Hun held the Big Red to six points again in the third quarter to keep Lawrenceville at bay, 46-34, until a frantic fourth quarter which saw coach Antoine Hart’s squad draw within a basket with 4:03 to play.

“We weren’t working together. Our heads weren’t in it,” said L’ville sophomore guard Heaven Figueroa, who scored 10 of her 16 points in the fourth quarter to help her team get back in.

With Volcy scoring a game-high 25 points and Jardine right behind her with 23 points, the Raiders seemed to have enough, but Angelini, who had not hit for double digits yet this season, added 15 points with nine of those coming down the stretch to help fifth-seeded Hun advance to play topseeded Blair Academy at 2 p.m. Saturday.

After Taylor Thompson (18 points) hit a free throw to get the Big Red as close as 54-52 midway through the fourth quarter, Angelini hit a jump shot along the baseline, then came up with a steal at the other end and was fouled. She missed her free throw, but Volcy put back the rebound and was fouled, converting a critical three-point play.

When Lawrenceville cut the lead to 59-54 with 3:16 left, Angelini hit a pair of foul shots to help the Raiders begin stretching their lead once more.

Volcy 11-3-25, Cunniff 0-0-0, Sutphen 0-1-1, Harrigan 2-0-4, Angelini 4-5-15, Buckley 0-0-0, English 1-0-2, Jardine 6-9-23.

Totals —

TThompson 6-5-18, Baginski 3-3-9, Bebel 0-1-1, JFord 1-0-2, Dugan 5-0-11, Figueroa 4-7-16, Safir 1-0-2, Molgat 0-00, Gillen 0-0-0.

20-16-59.

Totals —

24-18-70.

Hun (7-13) L’ville (7-10) 3-point goals — 15 22 17 1424 6 625 —70 —59

Angelini 2, Jardine 2 (H), TThompson, Dugan, Figueroa (L).

PEDDIE 45, MERCERSBURG 19 PRINCETON » When the Peddie School girls play team basketball, they know they can achieve big things.

Coach Sarah Venanzi’s third-seeded Falcons are hoping that will be the case this weekend in the MAPL Tournament at the Grant Shipley Pavilion.

With 6-foot-1 sophomore guard/forward Janayshia Brown leading the charge Friday, Peddie cruised into a 3:45 p.m. meeting with Hill Saturday.

“Sometimes it feels like we’re rushing, so we try to get more of our teammates involved,” Brown said after scoring 13 of her game-high 15 points in the first half.

Brown’s fine stroke lifted the Falcons to a 16-1 lead on sixth-seeded Mercersburg Academy at the end of one quarter. From there, it was all about balancing the floor as Peddie coasted past the Blue Storm.

“Yes, I think this will help us and our confidence,” Brown said. “But we still need to rebound better and block out on defense.”

If the Falcons can do that, they can avenge a 4839, regular-season loss to Hill and move on to Sunday’s noon MAPL championship game.

Mercersburg will play Lawrenceville in Saturday’s 10 a.m consolation game.

Gooch 0-2-2, List 3-2-8, Jornlin 1-0-2, Ahlgren 0-2-2, Kendrick 0-1-1, Titus 0-00, Schuldt 1-0-2, Newton 0-0-0, Yeager 1-0-2, Geitner 0-0-0, Ecton 0-0-0.

6-7-19.

Totals —

Stralkus 4-0-8, Rodgers 3-0-7, Grant 1-0-2, KRodriguez 2-0-4, DiLuzio 0-0-0, JBrown 6-1-15, KHall 0-0-0, Guest-Hicks 0-0-0, Markey 0-0-0, Gorajek 1-0-2, Favours 3-0-7, Ademilola 0-0-0, Owunna 0-0-0.

Totals —

20-1-45.

Mrcrsbrg(4-15) Peddie (5-14) 3-point goals —

Favours (P).

1 16 6 5 7 8 1011 —19 —45

Rodgers, JBrown 2,