PASSING IT ON: Princeton Day School girls’ basketball player Kate Bennett looks to pass the ball in a game this season. Senior stalwart Bennett provided leadership and stability as PDS won two of its final three games to end the winter at 5-16. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Dealing with injuries from the first week of the season, the Princeton Day School girls’ basketball team had trouble finding a rhythm this winter.

“Our struggle was just keeping everybody heathy throughout the year,” said PDS head coach Kamau Bailey.

“We went into that first tournament, the Hill tournament, and we had two starters. Everyone was coming off the bench.”

Finally getting back to full strength in the final weeks of the season, PDS won two of last three games, including a 38-32 victory over WW/P-South in its season finale.

“The girls did very well, I was proud of the way they finished,” said Bailey, reflecting on the win over South.

“It was a close game. One of the things that we were trying to do is finish. We talked about it in the last huddle; let’s finish this one off, it is our last game and especially for the seniors, let’s try to go out with a win. We made some adjustments.”

While the Panthers took their lumps in posting a 5-16 record, Bailey believed that his players gained some valuable lessons from the experience.

“I thought it was a pretty productive season, I would have liked to have had some different results in terms of the win-loss column overall,” said Bailey.

“A lot of things that I talk about with these girls in a season like this is that it has to be about more than basketball. I thought some other things were accomplished in terms of growth and character and chemistry.”

Bailey credited his quartet of seniors, Ryan Robinson, Kate Bennett, Bridget Kane, Maddie Coyne, with showing character all winter long.

“What those girls did in terms of being captains and leaders on the floor and in the locker room, it was second to none,” said Bailey.

On the court, sharpshooting guard Kane (a team-high 13.5 points a game with 46 3-pointers) and forward Coyne (a team-high 118 rebounds and 102 blocked shots) produced special final campaigns.

“Bridget Kane was like having a second coach out there, more so than any other year,” said Bailey.

“We had a lot of conversations, just talking about what is going on out there because she sees stuff, she knows the game. Maddie, with her length and athleticism, gets up the court like a gazelle.”

Bailey, who has decided to step down from the PDS post to pursue other hoops opportunities, is going out with a sense of pride over his growth as a coach and the growth he has seen in his players during his five-year tenure.

“I learned a lot about communicating and coaching girls; this is the first opportunity I have had to coach girls. I had coached boys before that,” said Bailey, who is involved with running youth camps sponsored by the Philadelphia 76ers.

“When I took the position, I had maybe two girls who had played JV and swung varsity, and the rest were all freshmen. I kind of had like a JV/freshman team going, so that was huge challenge in the beginning. To watch these girls grow, this same group of girls through the four or five years I was there, was really something to see and to be a part of.”

In Bailey’s view, the program is in a good position going forward. “One of the things that Tim [PDS Athletics Director Tim Williams] asked me to do when I took the position was to grow the program,” said Bailey.

“We had very few girls and no JV program when I came and now we had 24 girls who tried out for JV and varsity. We had a full JV squad this year. I think they are set and ready to go. We have some nice talent, so the future of PDS basketball is good.”