(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: ROCK STEADY: Princeton Day School girls’ basketball guard Raquel Phillips heads up the court in a game last winter. Phillips, known as “Rocky” by her teammates, has been a solid contributor for PDS this season. Last week, Phillips helped the Panthers advance to the final of the Moorestown holiday tournament where they fell 58-45 to Haddonfield in the title game.

Showing Its Potential at Moorestown Tournament PDS Girls’ Hoops Primed to Get Rolling in 2010

Bill Alden

Jessica Katz was at a loss for words after her Princeton Day School girls’ basketball team dismantled Moorestown High 63-32 last week.

“We did everything right,” said PDS head coach Katz referring to her team’s win over Moorestown in the opening game of the latter’s holiday tournament.

“It was exciting to see the girls follow the game plan; almost everyone scored. We fixed some of the problems we had been having. I am usually pretty critical but I didn’t have much to say after that game.”

A day later, Katz had a little more to say afterward as her squad fell 58-45 to Haddonfield in the tournament championship game.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t follow up that performance; it came down to legs,” said Katz, who got 14 points from junior center Tiffany Patterson with sophomore guard Janie Smukler adding 13 and classmate Sarah Godwin chipping in 12 as her team moved to 3-3 on the season.

“Haddonfield had a big team and we only had seven players because we were missing a player. We started to get tired; we got out of our game plan and we stopped moving without the ball.”

Godwin showed a lot of game in the Moorestown tourney, scoring a season-high 18 points in the opener.

“Sarah really came on in the tournament,” asserted Katz. “She was moving without the ball and not hanging out in three-point land. That makes a real difference.”

The inside-outside punch of Patterson and Smukler is making a big difference for the Panthers.

“Janie and Tiffany work well together,” said Katz. “Janie is looking for different kinds of shots this year; she is pulling up for jumpers. Tiffany is so great at finding other people.”

Katz believes her club is finding a rhythm as it heads into the new year. “I think we will be more confident the first week back,” asserted Katz. “We will work together better. I am glad we will have a few days to practice and fine tune some of the things we did in the tournament. I am looking for a strong 2010; things are coming together well.”

With PDS opening the 2010 portion of the schedule by hosting Great Road rival Stuart Country Day, Katz knows her team will have to produce a strong effort to prevail.

“The girls are really pumped up for that,” said Katz, whose team will also host the Lawrenceville School on January 9 and the Pennington School on January 12.

“We played three close games with them last year. We split the regular season games and they beat us by two in the playoffs. It will be a good test.”

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