JOLLY GOOD: Hun School girls’ basketball player Sam Jolly, right, looks to unload the ball in recent action. Last Monday, second-seeded Hun defeated seventh-seeded Hamilton West 58-35 in the first round of the Mercer County Invitational. The Raiders, now 10-10, will host third-seeded Pennington in the MCI semis on February 14. In addition, Hun will be competing in the Prep A state tournament where it is seeded second and will host third-seeded Lawrenceville in the semis on a date to be determined. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

By Bill Alden

With point guard and leading scorer Gabby D’Agostino sidelined by appendicitis, it was next player up for the Hun School girls’ basketball team as it hosted Pennington last Wednesday in a MAPL Tournament Play-In game.

“We had to step up for Gabby and play for Gabby,” said Hun sophomore guard Sam Jolly. “She put her heart out for this team and we wanted to make sure that we gave it back.”

Jolly knew she had to step up in terms of ball-handling duties.

“I had to move up more to point guard,” said Jolly. “We all shared the court. We all shared our roles and knew that we had each other on the court, so that was good.”

The Raiders got off to a very good start as they jumped out to a 12-4 lead, draining four 3-pointers in the process.

“Our game plan was to shoot as many as we can so that was whenever we could, take the open shot,” said Jolly, who made two 3-pointers in that stretch. “It worked in our favor in the beginning, putting up as many shots as we can and work for rebounds.”

Things didn’t work out in Hun’s favor as the game unfolded with Pennington building a 41-30 halftime lead and pulling away to a 86-57 win. Despite falling behind, the Raiders kept battling, pushing the tempo and firing up 3-pointers to the end.

“We didn’t want to give up,” said Jolly, who ended up with nine points against the Red Hawks. “Win or lose, we wanted to stay as fast as we can, pushing it up the court and everything. We played for each other to the end, we played for Gabby. She gave her heart out for this team. We wanted to make sure that we gave back as best we could.”

After having played on the junior variety for much of last winter before a late promotion to the varsity, Jolly has stepped into a key role this year for Hun.

“I had meetings with coach (Sean Costello) and I understood my role this year,” said Jolly. “I think the biggest thing was understanding my role and how I can play, just pushing myself as much as I can. My main sport is softball so I just play this for fun. I give it my all as much as I can. I won’t let this team down.”

Jolly, a star second baseman and leadoff hitter for the Hun softball team, makes time during the winter to hone her skills on the diamond.

“It is fun, I like it,” said Jolly. “It is a lot of work, I manage. I play basketball for fun but it is the best conditioning, it keeps me active in the offseason. We are always in the weight room so it is getting stronger. I practice softball every weekend and twice a week so I keep the balance of everything.”

Hun head coach Sean Costello credited his players with giving a strong effort in the absence of D’Agostino.

“We did great, we had about two days to implement a different system of play,” said Costello. “We gave energy. We are going to be trying to turn teams over a lot so we are going to expend a lot of energy. I told them that at halftime that we had 18 minutes of practice that we haven’t been able to have doing that system. I think we will continue to get better at it and hopefully we will be ready for the next one.”

Jolly gave the Raiders plenty of energy against Pennington. “Sam stepped up at the end of last year; she ended up starting in the last game that we played against Gill St Bernard and she played really well so she is totally capable,” said Costello.

“Obviously Gabby is a true point guard. Sam and Anna [Schweer] did a great job trying to fit in her shoes a little bit.”

Hun forwards CeeJay Thomas and Amira Pinkett also did a good job against the Red Hawks, scoring 15 and 13 points, respectively.

“We played one way for a long time and they are very familiar with that,” said Costello. “Both are talented kids and more than capable of doing that consistently, so that is the goal.”

With Hun having topped Hamilton West 58-35 in the first round of the Mercer County Invitational last Monday and set to face Lawrenceville in the Prep A semifinals, Costello is looking for his squad to keep playing hard.

“The focus is to get better at what we are trying to do now and turn it over less,” said Costello, whose team, now 10-10, will get a rematch with Pennington as it hosts the Red Hawks in the MCI semis on February 14. “We are trying to turn teams over and trying to get some early shots off. We had our moments when it worked and we had our moments when it didn’t work so we will just have to get a little better at it.”

Jolly, for her part, believes Hun can produce some highlight moments as it wraps up postseason play.

“It is, ‘keep going.’ We still have two more tournaments, so it is ‘keep pushing as hard as we can,’” said Jolly. “We will forget about this, tomorrow is a new day.”