Hun finds right energy in win over Agnes Irwin
PRINCETON >> After dropping their first two games of the 2018-19 season, the Hun School girls basketball team was mainly concerned about one thing — its energy.
This was not a problem that any sports drink was going to fix.
The solution came from within.
When the Raiders found more of it Saturday, they were able to start and finish with the same intensity to defeat the Agnes Irwin School, 60-37.
“When we lost Thursday (53-36 at Friends Central), we felt it was a winnable game with three and a half minutes left,” Hun senior Jada Jones said. “It felt like we were just going through the motions.”
That is uncharted territory for Jones. The 5-foot-8 guard/forward has been a scoring machine during her time with head coach Bill Holup’s and assistant coach Julie Davis’ team to the extent that she is on target to become the school’s first 1,000-point scorer since 2007 either later this month or early in January.
“We just didn’t have the intensity on defense or offense that game,” Holup said. “Today the girls put together a good game at both ends of the floor.”
For their home opener at Grant Shipley Pavilion, the Raiders jumped to a 19-8 lead in the first quarter behind sophomore guard Kennedy Jardine’s 11 points in the first eight minutes.
While that was a better sign for Hun, the true test of its intensity came in the second half when the Owls began playing a lot better. Despite being down, 33-13, at the break, the visitors came out and stayed stride for stride with the Raiders in the second half as Katie Anderson scored 16 of her game-high 20 points.
“Our philosophy is ‘Let’s start on defense and let the offense come,’” Jones said. “We have good chemistry. We have eight athletes, and we know are going to work together. Our energy in practice has been great.”
Saturday it transferred to the game.
Jones led the way with 19 points, and Jardine was right behind with 17 points, including five 3-point field goals, and 12 rebounds.
The contributions did not stop there.
Junior point guard Nicole Angelini turned in eight assists, seven points, seven rebounds and six steals. Freshman guard Kiera Hahn also scored seven, and senior forward Erin Harrigan contributed six points and six rebounds.
Turning their energy into a balanced attack was crucial in leading the Raiders to their first victory, considering 0-2 Agnes Irwin’s next highest scorer behind Anderson was Taryn Kelly’s six points, all of which she scored in the first half.
AGNES IRWIN (37) Anderson 9-0-20, McNulty 0-0-0, Miller 1-1-4, Kelly 2-2-6, Crowther 1-0-2, Vauclain 0-0-0, Leyden 1-0-2, Carlino 1-0-3, Cartier 0-0-0, Gallagher 0-0-0, Sauliner 0-0-0. Totals — 15-3-37. HUN (60) JaJones 7-3-19, Sutphen 0-0-0, Harrigan 3-0-6, Angelini 3-1-7, Buckley 1-0-2, Jardine 5-2-17, L’Oiseau 0-0-0, Hahn 3-1-7, White 0-2-2. Totals — 22-9-60. AgnesIrwin(0-2) 8 5 11 13 — 37 Hun (1-2) 19 14 11 16 — 60 3-point goals: Anderson 2, Miller, Carlino (AI), JaJones 2, Jardine 5 (H).
PENNSBURY 43, HATBORO-HORSHAM 18 HORSHAM, PA. >> The 2-0 Falcons got 12 points from Cami Wiegand, 10 points from Nicole Pompili and eight more from Ava Sciolla to defeat the home team in the championship game of the Hatters’ Tip-Off Tournament.
CANCELLATION
Stuart Country Day School’s game at Pennsylvania’s Country Day School of the Sacred Heart was a late scratch.