(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) STANDING TALL: Princeton Day School freshman center Tiffany Patterson takes a break in a recent game. Patterson hasn’t given PDS’ foes a break as she averaged 17.0 points a game in helping the Panthers get off to a 3-2 start.

With Freshman Patterson Standing Tall, PDS Girls’ Basketball on Winning Track

Bill Alden

Tiffany Patterson may be a freshman but she wasn’t fazed as the Princeton Day School girls’ basketball team fell behind Prep A foe Blair last week.

PDS entered the fourth quarter trailing the Buccaneers 37-32 and seemingly headed to another in a series of losses to Blair.

But the 6’2 Patterson took the Panthers on her broad shoulders and refused to let them lose.

Scoring nine points and picking up some key rebounds and blocked shots, Patterson helped trigger a rally that saw PDS pull out a sweet 55-48 win.

In reflecting on the triumph, Patterson said she was just taking care of business. “When it comes to crunch time, I guess you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” said Patterson, who ended the evening with 28 points and 14 rebounds. “It was a matter of not panicking and staying focused and I think we did that.”

The freshman center was the first to acknowledge that the Panthers’ win was a group effort.

“I don’t think it was just me; it was a team effort,” asserted Patterson with a smile.

“It wasn’t a one-person game; the only way we could’ve won was by working together.”

As she makes her high school debut, Patterson is drawing on her extensive competitive background in hoops.

“I started playing AAU basketball at age 12, I play basketball year round,” said Patterson, who displayed her all-around game, dribbling and hitting free throws in addition to her scoring, rebounding, and blocked shots.

“As a freshman, you usually don’t make varsity. I guess I’m just proving myself.”

First-year PDS head coach Jessica Katz believes that Patterson has already proved that she has a cool head on the court.

“Tiffany is a nice, together kid,” asserted Katz of Patterson, who is averaging 17.0 points a game.

“To have that kind of composure makes a huge difference on the court. She doesn’t get frazzled. Sometimes she is a little too generous, passing the ball when she should go to the basket. She is in such a team mindset.”

Of course, Patterson brings a lot more to the team than a calm, unselfish demeanor.

“She can dribble, she can run the floor,” added Katz, who got 19 points and 11 rebounds from Patterson last Friday as PDS topped Timothy Christian 47-29 to improve to 3-2 on the season.

“She understands where her teammates are going to be. She is an outstanding player now and she is going to be unstoppable in the future.”

In the win over Blair, senior guard and co-captain Hannah Epstein couldn’t be stopped as she poured in a season-high 17 points and hustled all over the floor.

“We haven’t asked her to bring up the ball this season and she did a great job,” said Katz, noting that regular point guard Raquel Phillips was sidelined with a foot injury. “She was working her butt off.”

Epstein also showed leadership in the wake of a meeting the team had after a less than impressive 42-21 win over Purcell on December 10.

“We won that game but it wasn’t a pretty one,” recalled Katz. “We had a talk about what it means to be a basketball player and working hard for your teammates and playing for your team. Hannah and Erin reinforced that idea and they did it today.”

The Panthers got fine efforts across the board with Katz citing Marissa Davila and Dani Dawkins as making critical contributions.

“Marissa had seven points and five assists,” said Katz. “We put her on No. 11 (Christelle Akoh-Akech) at the end because she can step it up on defense. Dani Dawkins was in foul trouble and hurt her hand but she came back and did a great job of boxing out. She got some key rebounds for us at the end.”

In Katz’s view, the win over Blair could represent a turning point for the team.

“We needed this game, Blair is a good team but we had been telling them this is a winnable game,” said Katz, whose team plays at South Hunterdon on December.

“We hadn’t beaten them in years and we had lost a lot of those games by big numbers. We have been telling them that they are not the same team as last year and they are starting to believe it. I think this win shows them that we are a good team.”

Patterson, for her part, thinks that the Panthers are on the right track after weathering a 0-2 start.

“We started out kind of rough but now we are used to each other,” said Patterson. “We know each other’s weaknesses and our strong points. I think that’s going to help us.”

And in just a few games, Patterson has shown that she is a major strong point for PDS.

Return to Previous Sports Story | Return to Top | Go to Next Story