IRON LADY: Princeton Day School girls’ basketball star Molly ­Rubin looks to pass in a game last winter. With the PDS roster whittled down to six players due to a rash of injuries, senior Rubin has taken the Panthers on her shoulders. Last Thursday, she scored 10 points to help PDS top Nottingham 34-18. The Panthers, now 2-4, play at Rutgers Prep on January 5, at the Solebury School on January 7, and at Pennington on January 10. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

The World War II drama, The Dirty Dozen, stands as one of the hit movies of 1967, turning a profit of more than $18 million in ending up as the top-grossing film that year.

After taking some big injury hits in the early going, the Princeton Day School girls’ basketball team is rekindling the spirit of the soldiers portrayed in the film.

“We came up with a nickname, the ‘dirty half-dozen,’” said PDS head coach Mika Ryan, whose roster has been whittled down to six players. “I got them camo T-shirts. We are trying to turn negatives into positives.”

Ryan saw a lot of positives as her team split two games last week in its PDS Invitational, falling 51-38 to Allentown in the opening round of the tourney on December 28 before topping Nottingham 34-18 in the consolation game a day later.

In Ryan’s view, the score of the Allentown game was deceiving as the game was practically even through three quarters with PDS trailing 34-30 heading into the final eight minutes.

“We only had five players available,” said Ryan, whose team will bring a 2-4 record into 2012.

“I pressed too much in the third quarter and didn’t use timeouts. We got to the fourth quarter and we had nothing left in the tank. We played hard, smart, and executed well.”

While Ryan wasn’t overly pleased with her team’s overall performance in the win over Nottingham, she saw the game as a confidence builder for her short-handed squad.

“We didn’t play as well in the Nottingham game as we did in the Allentown loss,” said Ryan.

“In the third and fourth quarters against Nottingham, we were outstanding on defense, the girls imposed their will. We wouldn’t let them shoot.”

Senior Molly Rubin showed an iron will in the tournament, scoring 13 points in the loss to Allentown and 10 in the victory over Nottingham.

“Molly played an excellent game; she has done so much for the team,” asserted Ryan.

“She played the center position the whole tournament. I told her she is a point center. She guarded the best player on each of the teams and they happened to be centers. We are also asking her to handle the ball and score.”

Ryan is asking other players to take on a variety of roles, noting that she had Lauren Johnson running the PDS offense in the tournament.

“We used LJ at point guard last week,” added Ryan. “Not only are we dealing with injury, every game is an adventure as to what their role is going to be. To say two days before a tournament, that you are going to be the point guard is tough.”

Not having enough players to conduct a scrimmage, PDS has toughened itself up by playing against some of the boys’ teams at the school.

“I can’t tell you how much the boys have helped,” said Ryan. “Brian Dudeck, the freshman coach has been great, he has practiced with us a lot; he had his team in at 8 in the morning one day to practice with us. Rome [Campbell] has kept his 8th grade team late to practice with us. You can’t do anything at game speed unless you scrimmage. The freshman boys have been our scout team, duplicating what our opponents were doing. We would have been blown out in both of those games if we hadn’t had the chance to work with them.”

While Ryan thought about slowing the pace with her short rotation, she decided to maintain her up-tempo approach.

“We thought about playing more zone and being more passive and we talked about that,” said Ryan.

“But that is not who I am or how I coach and that’s not who they are. We decided that is not our style; we will push forward and keep the same philosophy. We just need to be more fit; I am giving this team more rest than I have given other teams.”

Ryan is confident that her players can emulate the character displayed by the misfit unit of the Dirty Dozen film as it courageously went about its mission.

“Underneath my southern accent, I am a streetfighter and I want the girls to be like that too,” said Ryan, whose team is playing at defending state Prep B champion Rutgers Prep on January 5, at the Solebury School on January 7, and at Pennington on January 10.

“They have been fighting and giving their all. They are giving a lot, showing resilience and resolve. They are working their way through this. High school sports isn’t all about wins and losses. I am hoping they will value this experience.”