STRETCH DRIVE: Princeton High girls’ basketball player Julia Ryan drives to the basket in a game earlier this season. Last Friday, senior guard Ryan scored 10 points to help PHS defeat WW/P-S 38-29. The Little Tigers, now 6-13, will start play in the Mercer County Tournament this week where 16th-seeded PHS is slated to play 17th-seeded Hightstown in a play-in game with the victor heading to top-seeded Ewing on February 18 in a first-round contest. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

In mid-December, the Princeton High girls’ basketball team opened the season with a 48-31 loss at WW/P-S.

But when the rivals met last Friday for round two, Julia Ryan and her PHS teammates were confident of a different result, having won two of three games coming into the contest.

“We are an entirely different team from the beginning of the season,” said senior star guard Ryan.

“When we first played South, we weren’t ready. We were still a little rusty with only a few practices. We have grown a lot. We have gotten some wins under our belts.

In the early stages last Friday, PHS looked a little rusty as it trailed 6-4 after the first quarter. But showing its growth, the Little Tigers outscored the Pirates 17-6 in the second to build a 21-12 lead at halftime and never looked back on the way to a 38-29 win.

“It is the tough defense that turns into good offense, it ends up rewarding itself all over,” said Ryan, who scored a team-high 10 points in the win.

“We have been getting better at putting together runs like that, In our last game (a 47-32 win over Hightstown on February 10) we had a 21-point quarter. Now we have a 17-point quarter. That is exactly what we need and that is how we win these games.”

PHS closed the deal by being smart with the ball, running plays and not rushing things.

“We have gotten better at that too, it is something that we struggled with,” added Ryan.

“Now we are learning that the clock is our friend when we are up that much and to just be calm. One of the things that we struggle with is patience. We get frantic and take rushed shots. Over the season, the maturity has gotten so much higher.”

Ryan showed patience in the win as she got her 10 points in the flow of the offense, dealing with extra defensive attention from the Pirates.

“The box and one is tough to get shots off because the Rivers twin is really great on ball defender,” said Ryan, explaining WW/P-S’s defensive approach.

“Once the team starts to realize and set screens and off ball movement starts to get open, you can really find jump shots that way.”

In Ryan’s view, PHS’s 44-43 win over Trenton on February 2 gave the team a lift. “I can’t even remember the last time we have beaten Trenton; we asked our AD (John Miranda) and he doesn’t know either,” said Ryan.

“It was a huge win for us, a morale booster. It let us know that we can pull out games like that against better teams.”

For Ryan, who has committed to attend Temple University and play for its women’s lacrosse team, heading down the stretch of her final season on the court is bittersweet.

“It is a little sad because I originally did want to play basketball in college and that ended up not working out so I switched to lacrosse,” said Ryan.

“It is really sad that this is my last high school season. I know my dad and I love basketball; it is something we bond over and this is it because I am the last kid that plays. It is sad for him and sad for me too.”

PHS head coach Dan Van Hise loved the way his team took care of business on the defensive end in the win over the Pirates.

“We worked a lot on that yesterday, we knew what they ran,” said Van Hise.

“It is a lot of Rivers twins (Alyssa and Alyssen) dribble handoff and try to get to the rim. We worked on that a lot yesterday and I think just paying attention to it is sometimes enough. They knew what to expect so that kind of settled them down a little bit. They knew nothing was going to come as a surprise.”

The Little Tigers worked well together on offense as seven players scored with senior guard Crystal Wang chipping in eight points, Jamaica Ponder contributing six and Taylor Stone adding five.

“I told them it was the most complete effort we have had all year,” said Van Hise.

“We lost Zoe Tesone halfway through the third quarter and Adria Backus didn’t play because she has a knee problem so we played seven girls the whole game.”

The balanced scoring reflected a growing maturity for PHS. “The biggest thing that I have seen is that earlier in the year, we were playing as a team but it was really only a couple of passes and shoot and if that went in great,” said Van Hise.

“There is more patience, they have matured as a team. You can tell that they have been playing together for a while. I can name three or four plays that would have never happened a month ago. We have been doing drive and kick stuff for weeks because they are so used to driving and shooting but we are getting open shots now and we are finding out that we can score a little bit if some of the shots we take are wide open.”

In Van Hise’s view, Ryan excelled in both hitting shots and setting up things for her teammates.

“They went box and one on her early so she always has to deal with that,” said Van Hise.

“There have been box and ones that have taken her out but she stayed in it and let the game come to her. She got a few free throws in there and she did a great job on press break too, facilitating that.”

The team’s late surge, which has seen it win three of its last five games in moving to 6-13, is testament to the perseverance of the players.

“I really think it is the togetherness they have been able to develop,” asserted Van Hise, whose team starts play in the Mercer County Tournament this week with 16th-seeded PHS, and is slated to play 17th-seeded Hightstown in a play-in game with the victor heading to top-seeded Ewing on February 18 in a first-round contest.

“We went through rough stretches. We knew that this was coming at the end of the year, the opponents that we had. It was just whether or not we cared enough to cash in here at the end and that says a lot about all of them, that they want to do this for the team. They want to get to seven or eight wins.”

The improvement displayed by senior guard Wang has epitomized the team’s approach.

“Crystal has come so far and she has been so confident the past few games,” said Van Hise.

“It is literally to the point where if she gets set I think it is going in and that’s a big deal. If there is anybody that is a microcosm of what we are doing here at the end, it is her. She has been awesome.”

Ryan, for her part, is confident of the team’s prospects in the short and long term.

“We have a play-in game against Hightstown, who we just beat last week so I think we are really ready for that,” said Ryan.

“It is the last season for the three seniors, it is really awesome. The underclassmen are definitely going to be able to step up next year so I have confidence in them.”