DYE HARD: Princeton High girls’ basketball player Catherine Dyevich passes the ball in action last week at the Stuart Invitational Basketball Tournament. Sophomore Dyevich earned All-Tournament honors as the Little Tigers went 1-2 at the tourney to take fourth place. PHS, now 3-3, plays at Hamilton on January 6, hosts Princeton Day School on January 7, and WW/P-N on January 10. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

Catherine Dyevich was confident that she could make an impact in moving up to the Princeton High girls’ varsity basketball team on a full-time basis this winter as a sophomore.

“I played in two or three varsity games last year,” said forward Dyevich. “I was excited to play with varsity this year and be a big part of the team.”

Last week, Dyevich played a big role as PHS went 1-2 at the Stuart Invitational Basketball Tournament. She drained two free throws with less than a second left to give PHS a 44-43 victory over Villa Walsh on December 27 in the opening round of the tourney. A day later, Dyevich scored nine points in a 62-33 loss to Stuart. Last Friday, she tallied six points as the Little Tigers fell 43-19 to Stone Ridge (Md.) in the third place game to move to 3-3.

Excelling at the Stuart event was a confidence builder for Dyevich, who earned All-Tournament honors for her play over the week.

“I thought it was going to be a little harder going from JV to varsity because the competition is usually a lot better,” said Dyevich. “So far it has been going really well.”

Dyevich worked hard over the offseason to prepare herself for varsity competition.

“I played in a spring AAU league with a bunch of tournaments on the weekends,” said Dyevich.

“We practiced two or three times a week. I also worked on my own with some girls on the team — we would shoot around together.”

Although Dyevich is a sophomore, she is already working on bringing the PHS squad together.

“I see myself as a leader on the team, I feel like I can be a motivator for the freshmen coming in because I was in that position last year,” said Dyevich. “You want everyone to join together into the team.”

With classmates Anna and Olivia Intartaglia along with Erin Devine seeing a lot of playing time, Dyevich believes the Little Tigers have a foundation for success down the road.

“The twins, Erin, and me make a big part of the team,” said Dyevich. “I am really excited for the future with us sophomores. I think it is going to be really fun, especially when we are seniors.”

PHS head coach Steve Hennessy is excited by what he is getting from Dyevich in the early going.

“Dyevich is playing well,” said Hennessy, who is in his first year guiding the program. “We can’t expect her to shoot great every game but I think she is probably our best offensive threat right now.”

Like Dyevich, Hennessy expects the PHS sophomore group to pay dividends in the future for the program.

“They are the core, our juniors are not a big class so it is going to be those girls and the freshmen next year,” added Hennessy.

With PHS missing senior captain Ines Arroyo and Zoe Tesone at the Stuart tourney, the team’s younger players gained some valuable experience.

“Zoe and Ines are both away, not only are they good for points and rebounds but those two give us leadership and confidence for our sophomores out here,” said Hennessy.

“I think they still need to grow up a little bit because they are young. When they are shooting, we compete, that is the key.”

Senior guard Jamaica Ponder made her presence felt last week in the absence of Arroyo and Tesone.

“Jamaica has been a great leader this week,” said Hennessy. “She kept their heads up, she gave a half-time speech at the last game that was great.”

While PHS’s start is promising, Hennessy knows there is plenty of room for growth.

“I am happy at 3-3 but I am not happy overall because the games that we lost we gave away,” said Hennessy.

“We are like two different teams. Against Nottingham (a 44-40 win on December 22), we secured the ball so well and today we didn’t. We didn’t get a lot of shots off today, relative to those other games.”

Hennessy is confident that the Little Tigers can secure some wins in upcoming action.

“We need to pick up our defense and we need to focus on beating the teams that we can beat, that is key,” said Hennessy, whose team is slated to start the 2017 portion of its schedule by hosting Hightstown on January 3 before playing at Hamilton on January 6, and then hosting Princeton Day School on January 7, and WW/P-N on January 10.

“We have got Hamilton West and Hightstown coming up so those are two teams we think we can compete with.”

Dyevich, for her part, believes PHS can be competitive as the season unfolds.

“I think the focus is to win a few more games and beat last year’s record (7-17),” said Dyevich.

“With a new coach and almost a whole new starting lineup, I think that is a good goal.”