NBC cruises past WW-PN in nonleague action

COLUMBUS — The 201920 winter season has not gone as well as the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North or Northern Burlington High varsity girls’ basketball teams would have liked.

Yet, these two squads, who each entered Thursday’s action with 13 losses, have had very different seasons.

Despite playing in the ultra-tough Burlington County Scholastic League Liberty Division with powers like Trenton Catholic Academy, Westampton Tech and Rancocas Valley, the Greyhounds had six more wins than the Northern Knights.

Make that seven after Northern Burlington defeated WW-P North, 40-15, Thursday to improve to 1013 overall.

“Our team play as a whole has improved,” Northern’s Heather Russell said. “Problems that we were having, we’re working out now by playing as a team.”

Russell, a 5-foot-8 sophomore forward who has gained more varsity playing time, was one of head coach Molly Napolitano’s more consistent players against the Knights. In fact, with a few of the Greyhounds’ players battling the flu and/or injuries, Russell was one of the few who played all four quarters.

“Considering none of us really have basketball as our main sport, we’ve gotten better, and I think we’re ready for the state tournament,” said Russell, who provided seven points, eight rebounds, four steals and two assists. “Ours is probably one of the toughest leagues, but we’ve bounced back well.”

Northern got off to a slow start versus WW-P North, but got on a 19-6 roll after Maddie Holmes scored to give the visitors a 4-3 lead with 3:49 left in the first quarter.

“I think it was a breakdown in communication on our part,” said Holmes, who scored all of her team’s points in the first quarter as the Greyhounds stretched their lead to 11-6.

Head coach Frank Moore’s club, which suffered its fourth loss in February, had trouble producing over the final three quarters, while Northern Burlington used three first-half 3-point field goals from junior guard Sarah Krusen (nine points) to open a 24-10 halftime advantage. Senior guard Morgan Bentley and 5-11 freshman Angie Banas added four of their six points in the third quarter, then Baileigh Hall and Kelci O’Dell supplied buckets off the bench in the fourth to keep the home team in command.

“We’ve been working on communicating better,” said Holmes, who grabbed seven rebounds. “As the season’s gone on, we’ve been working better as a team.”

WW-P NORTH (15)

St. Amour 0-0-0, KMurphy 0-1-1, Babu 0-0-0, Bonfrisco 0-0-0, Holmes 3-0-6, JsWilliams 0-1-1, Cortez 0-0-0, AElfar 1-02, AByrne 2-0-5.

Totals — 6-2-15.

NORTHERN BURLINGTON (40)

Archer 0-0-0, Quigley 2-0-4, Mayernik 2-04, Bentley 3-0-6, Krusen 3-0-9, HRussell 2-3-7, Banas 3-0-6, SMoore 0-0-0, Fleming 0-0-0, BHall 1-0-2, Surdykowski 0-0-0, O’Dell 1-0-2.

Totals — 17-3-40.

WW-P North (3-14) 6 4 4 1 — 15 No.Burlington(10-13) 11 13 8 8 — 40 3-point goals: AByrne (WWN), Krusen 3 (NB).