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 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption:
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Coming Together From the Start, PHS Girls' Hoops Turning Heads
By Bill Alden
The bounces haven't exactly gone in favor of the Princeton High girls' basketball team in recent years.
The Little Tigers went 3-19 in the 2003-04 season on the heels of posting back-to-back 5-18 campaigns.
But it didn't take long this season for PHS to experience a reversal of fortune. In its season opener on December 17, with the Little Tigers clinging to a 41-40 lead over Lawrence, a last-second lay-up by the Cardinals rolled around the rim and out to preserve a dramatic win for PHS.
Buoyed by that triumph, the Little Tigers went on to beat Monroe 39-29 on December 20 and then topped WW/P-S 48-46 a day later to post their first 3-0 start since the 1990s.
While PHS head coach Nikki Inzano acknowledged that her club got a boost from that good bounce on opening night, she had already seen a lot of positives before the Lawrence shot went awry.
"That buzzer beater really helped us, it gave us a lift," said Inzano, who is in her second season guiding the PHS program. "We played well the whole game so even if we had lost, we would have felt good about that effort. The team has really come together."
The club's special bond was evident as it hung together down the stretch in its win over WW/P-S. "I think some people may have thought that we were a fluke and the kids really hadn't had big games before," said Inzano, whose team trailed the Pirates 18-17 at halftime.
"WW/P-S is a solid team and we played well. Last year we played from behind a lot and we didn't learn to pull our offense out. I told them in the third quarter to just settle down. This year we don't have to play helter-skelter."
A calming influence for PHS has been the play of heady senior guard/forward Zoe Sarnak, who sank two free throws in the final 30 seconds to seal the win over the Pirates.
"Zoe is controlling the game for us," said Inzano of the willowy Sarnak who had 11 points in the WW/P-S game and 13 in the win over Monroe. "She makes good decisions for us. She is versatile. I've been playing her at point guard but she can also play at forward."
Another player who has helped PHS move forward is high-scoring junior guard Erin Cook. "I think when Erin's shots go in early, she really gets going," said Inzano, referring to Cook who had 23 points in the win over WW/P-S and is averaging 17.3 points a game. "Erin is finishing well this year. She has her shooting range down and she is driving hard to the basket."
Inzano is also getting good minutes from the trio of Kelly Curtis, Stephanie Grubb, and Milah Parker. "Kelly is so quick and athletic, she works really well with Erin," added Inzano, whose team dropped to 3-1 with a 65-19 loss to East Brunswick in the opening round of the War of the Worlds holiday tournament at WW/P-N.
"Stephanie is really boxing out this year and getting offensive and defensive rebounds. Milah does the dirty work. She may not have big scoring numbers but she does so many things for us." In Inzano's view, it is her players' team-first attitude that has paved the way for the Little Tigers' turnaround. "We read each other so well," said Inzano, whose team will play two more games at the War of the Worlds event on December 29 and 30 before playing at Nottingham on January 4. "I'm very happy, the girls are working so well together. When we play good defense, the offense seems to come around. It's not just the five starters. The bench is really into the game and there are always players volunteering to go in when I need them."
