Hun falls to St. Benedict’s in Peddie Tip-Off Tournament
HIGHTSTOWN >> The Hun School varsity girls’ basketball players are still getting to know each other, but two games into the 2022-23 season, the Raiders are getting closer to where they want to be as they showed Friday in the opening round of the seventh annual Peddie School Tip-Off Tournament in the Erik B. Hanson Field House within the Ian H. Graham Athletic Center.
Hun learned from an earlier loss this week to Newtown, Pa.’s George School, and stayed within striking distance of St. Benedict’s in the tournament opener.
Yet, after leading by a point at halftime, the Raiders saw the Gray Bees break away in the third quarter on the way to a 54-44 victory.
With the win, St. Benedict’s advances to play the winner of yesterday’s second game between host Peddie and Kimberton Waldorf of the Penn-Jersey League in Saturday’s 5 p.m. semifinal.
Hun, meanwhile, will return for Saturday’s 1 p.m. consolation game versus the loser between Peddie and Kimberton Waldorf.
“After our first game against George (a 59-35 loss Wednesday), we’re taking baby steps. We were a little better today,” the Raiders’ new head coach Sean Costello said. “In a close game like today, it’s always the little things that stand out. We missed a lot of free throws, and we had a lot of turnovers.”
Hun did its best to keep the game within reach despite shooting 11-for31 (35 percent) from the foul line.
That was an especially tough pill to swallow in the first half when the Raiders only hit 6-of-17 free throws, yet still managed to battle back from a 10-5 deficit in the first quarter to take a 19-18 lead at the break when Lauren Larkin came off the bench and hit a pair of foul shots with 27.8 seconds left in the half.
“It’s been tough, but we’re still getting used to each other,” Hun’s Emily O’Dwyer said. “We made improvements today. (Foul shooting) is definitely something we need to do better.”
O’Dwyer is the fourth postgraduate import the Raiders have brought over from Ireland. The Maynooth resident followed the Maguire sisters over to the states, where she hopes to have the kind of success they did, which could lead to playing college ball in the U.S.
“I would love to be able to do that,” said O’Dwyer, who had been in contact with the Maguire family before making the trek to Princeton. “This season, I want to help lead the team and be a good teammate.”
O’Dwyer led Hun’s attack with 15 points in the first three quarters versus St. Benedict’s, while freshman Addison McNally scored nine (eight of them in the fourth quarter).
It was the third quarter in which the Gray Bees took control.
After a 3-point field goal by freshman Victoria Lubaczewski kept the Raiders as close as 26-25 with five minutes left in the third, St. Benedict’s went on a 12-3 spurt to end the stanza.
Included in their 20-9 quarter, the Gray Bees hit 8-of-12 free throws. Senior Shauntia Alexander connected on six of those (out of eight) on the way to scoring a game-high 19 points. Freshman London Caldwell hit the other two foul shots in that quarter on the way to 18 points.
Hun drew within five points twice early in the fourth quarter, but could only get as close as 49-42 after that when senior forward Sasha Moise scored inside with 1:32 to go, only to miss an accompanying free throw which could have drawn the locals closer.
ST. BENEDICT’S (54)
Lubega 2-0-4, Alexander 6-7-19, Richardson 1-0-2, Alston 0-0-0, Seymour 2-1-5, Forbes-Morgan 2-0-6, Caldwell 5-7-18, Patterson 0-0-0, Rankin-Maize 0-0-0. Totals — 18-15-54.
HUN (44)
O’Dwyer 6-1-15, McNally 3-1-9, Schweer 1-3-5, Lubaczewski 1-0-3, Moise 1-3-5, Pinkett 2-0-4, Neely 0-1-1, Larkin 0-2-2.
Totals — 14-11-44.
StBndcts(1-0) 10 8 20 16 — 54
Hun (0-2) 5 14 9 16 — 44
3-point goals — Forbes-Morgan 2, Caldwell (SB), O’Dwyer 2, McNally 2, Lubaczewski (H).