 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
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Kelly Curtis made her name as a tenacious defensive player in their first two seasons with the Princeton High girls' basketball team.
But with PHS struggling to a 2-10 start and relying heavily on senior sharpshooter Erin Cook as its main scoring threat, Curtis took it upon herself to become more of an offensive force.
The athletic junior forward, who also stars for the PHS track team, poured in 26 points to help the Little Tigers rout Princeton Day School 64-10 and then chipped in 13 in a 56-47 win over Hightstown.
Last week, Curtis kept up the heat as she fired in 22 points, including two clutch free throws, to help the Little Tigers edge archrival WW/P-S 65-62.
For Curtis, her recent scoring outburst has come down to a change in mentality. "Mainly my confidence in my drives and my ability to actually score," said Curtis when asked what has made the difference lately in her offensive game.
"I don't have so much confidence in my shot because I'm still working on that. This has been my breakout season in terms of people seeing me score; I try to complement Erin."
Curtis believes it's just a matter of time before her shooting catches up with the rest of her game.
"I've been working on my shot since last summer," added Curtis. "I think that once that starts clicking on a regular basis, I could be as big a scorer as Erin Cook."
While Curtis is enjoying being more of an offensive factor, she has maintained her defensive prowess.
"South came out really strong on defense," recalled Curtis, who helped PHS build a 55-42 lead over WW/P-S with five minutes left in the fourth quarter. "I think we matched it. I just tried to step up and I saw the other kids stepping it up too."
In Curtis' view, stifling defense leads to a more productive offense. "When we're focused on defense, our offense comes alive," asserted Curtis. "They both feed off of each other."
PHS head coach Nikki Inzano is pleased with the focus she is seeing from Curtis. "Kelly has really been picking it up," said Inzano. "It's in her head that she has to set a goal for that game and I think everybody has been feeling that. She's been more aggressive in the last four games."
The Little Tigers have been getting aggressive play all season long from senior star Cook, who fired in 35 points in the win over WW/P-S. "She is just doing so well this year," said Inzano, referring to Cook who is averaging more than 19 points a game for the Little Tigers. "It's her senior year so I think she's going out with a bang. The leadership out there right now shows for her."
The defensive tenacity displayed by PHS played a main role in the win over WW/P-S.
"We kept switching it up defensively; everybody was on top of that," explained Inzano, whose club improved to 6-12 by topping Sayreville 61-57 last Saturday as Casey Moran scored the game-winning basket. "Everybody knew what we were doing; we called it out right away, I think we did an incredible job of playing hard."
The win over WW/P-S was another step forward for a PHS team that is starting to develop a self-belief. "My thing going into tonight was that we are capable of upsetting a big school," said Inzano, whose squad is next in action when it plays at New Egypt on February 2. "The confidence has definitely come along. I go in there thinking we're going to win this game and I'm hoping they now do that too."
Curtis, for her part, is confident about the team's prospects for the rest of this season and beyond.
"We're trying to pick it up; we've finally realized that we can play against these big-name schools," asserted Curtis, who notched 13 points in the win over Sayreville.
"There have been fewer frustrations on the court. We have four juniors starting and we're going to come back strong next year. We have to finish this year out strong."
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