STREAKING AHEAD: Princeton High girls’ basketball player Anna Winters dribbles upcourt in recent action. Last Wednesday, sophomore standout Winters tallied 14 points with six rebounds, three assists, and four steals to help PHS defeat Princeton Day School 56-32. The Tigers, who topped Barnegat 54-43 last Saturday to post its sixth straight win and improve to 9-4, host Lawrence on January 26 and Medford Tech on January 27 before playing at Steinert on January 30. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

Anna Winters has diversified her game in her sophomore season for the Princeton High girls’ basketball team.

“I feel I have gotten better in some ways, I have learned more moves,” said Winters. “Last year, I just drove to the right, now I have some moves.”

Last Wednesday, forward Winters displayed her versatility, tallying 14 points with six rebounds, three assists, and four steals to help PHS defeat the Princeton Day School 56-32.

In reflecting on her performance, Winters acknowledged that she wasn’t at her sharpest and credited her teammates with picking her up.

“I wasn’t feeling that great on the court today; we had a lot of good seals and I got open — it was a team effort,” said Winters. “It was just our teamwork, we were all playing together really well. We were all looking for each other, we weren’t being selfish with the ball.”

With one high school campaign under her belt, Winters is feeling more of a comfort level on the court.

“Last year it was really nerve-wracking for me being a freshman,” said Winters, who tallied 17 points as PHS defeated Barnegat 54-43 last Saturday to post its sixth straight win and improve to 9-4. “I love it now. This year as a sophomore, I can say stuff to the other players.”

The squad’s depth has helped the Tigers catch fire. “I think everyone getting in is really good,” said Winters. “We love that our bench is getting in — it is fun to watch.”

PHS head coach Dave Kosa is having fun watching his team as it has gotten on a roll.

“One thing that I really like is we are getting out and we are running a lot, which is creating a lot of easy opportunities for us,” said Kosa, noting that the Tigers have scored 50 or more points in each of its recent wins. “We are shooting the ball much better. Just looking at our free throw percentage, at the start of the season it was under 50 percent  and now we have put it to almost 60 percent.”

Kosa credited his players with putting in extra effort to improve their game.

“It is just a matter of hard work, the girls are working hard on the shooting,” said Kosa. “Even in some of the losses, we were getting open shots but we weren’t knocking them down. To the girls’ credit, they have really worked on their form and have really concentrated on it. We always play pretty good defense for the most part. If we get to the 50 or 60 mark, it definitely looks promising that we are going to win that game.”

Winters has worked hard to become a more well-rounded player.

“Anna can score in a lot of different ways  — she can take the ball to the basket, she can shoot the ball from the perimeter,” said Kosa. “She is shooting the ball with more confidence. Her overall game has improved. She is rebounding the ball better. She is getting out in transition with steals which is a big part of our defense. When we get those turnovers, it creates easy opportunities and she is capitalizing on that.”

Senior point guard Riley Devlin, who had nine points and five assists against PDS, has played a key role in creating scoring opportunities for her teammates.

“The biggest thing she has given us is leadership and being able to run our offense,” said Kosa. “There is a lot that we put on her, but a lot of the time she is like a one-player press breaker. It is hard to take the ball from her when we are pushing it in transition. She is key to a lot of the fast breaks we are getting. She is very unselfish and has great instincts. With her and Anna, I think their steals are two, three a game, so that really gets us going. She finds people very well. I think that is a big reason why we are scoring.”

Another big plus for the Tigers has been the play of junior Luna Bar-Cohen, who emerged as force in the paint.

“Luna is really controlling the inside for us, especially with her defensive presence,” said Kosa. “She is our best rebounder. In a lot of the games, she is close to double digits in rebounds. That is also another spark for us to get us going. We need to get rebounds and she is doing that. She has worked hard on her low post game. She had 10 points against PDS — she has worked hard on her shot.”

The team’s offensive balance has sparked PHS in its hot streak. In the win over PDS, the Tigers had five players in or around double figures with the 14 points from Winters, Devlin and Bar-Cohen getting 10 apiece and Sephora Romain and Katie Sharkey each chipping in nine.

“If we get three or four girls to score like that in a game, it makes you a really, really versatile team,” said Kosa.

With PHS hosting Lawrence on January 26 and Medford Tech on January 27 before playing at Steinert on January 30, Kosa believes his team has the game to continue its winning ways.

“It is continuing to practice hard, play hard, and play together,” said Kosa. “We are really playing well. We are sharing the ball, we are making the extra pass. We really have something good going here and we just want to keep feeding off of it.”

Winters, for her part, is confident that PHS will keep doing good things.

“We had a rough start, we weren’t playing together,” said Winters. “We have really grown as a team together and we are all developing really well. We are on a winning streak, which is good.”