 (Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction)
caption:
|
After leading the CVC last season in three-pointers, Erin Cook knew that she would need to diversify her game in order to remain as the top scoring threat for the Princeton High girls' basketball team.
"I worked a lot in the summer on driving to the basket," said the senior star guard. "I knew that if I had that in my game it would make us a lot better. I also knew that the other teams weren't going to just let me shoot threes."
Last Saturday against visiting Stuart Country Day, Cook gave an ample display of her versatility. Slashing to the basket on drives, muscling inside for putbacks, and knocking in some threes, Cook poured in 26 points to lead PHS to a 60-36 rout of the Tartans.
With the Little Tigers having lost six straight coming into Saturday, including nailbiters to Nottingham on Friday and Allentown on January 3, Cook and her teammates were poised for a breakthrough.
"We were ready for a win," asserted a grinning Cook, holding an ice pack to a sore left knee. "We were talking about it before the game, we really wanted to win. I was definitely happy with today. It wasn't just two or three of us scoring today, we all contributed."
Cook realizes that her contribution is important to setting a positive tone for the Little Tigers. "I think that some of the girls look up to me," said Cook. "I need to be a leader on the court as well as off the court. I need to work hard."
PHS head coach Nikki Inzano is happy with the good work she is getting from Cook. "She's giving us what we need and what we need is what she's giving us," said Inzano, whose team improved to 2-7 with the win over Stuart.
"She's improved so much. Last year she was just a three-point shooter. This year she can go inside or out. That's the danger with her."
Inzano believes her club can be more dangerous collectively if it can duplicate the balance it showed last Saturday. "Everybody who came off the bench did well," maintained Inzano, who got eight points apiece from Rebecca Shaffer and Rachel Basie together with five from Kelly Curtis and four from Mary McNutt. "Everybody contributed today, people like Rachel Basie, Casey Moran, Amanda Santamaria. That was nice to see."
It was nice for Inzano to see her team get into the winning column after suffering some tough losses. "Last night against Nottingham, it was a six-to-eight point game the whole way," recalled Inzano, whose team was slated to play at WW/P-N on January 10 before hosting Steinert on January 13 and then playing at Hopewell Valley on January 17.
"We haven't put all the quarters together. I think today we did some of that. There was some sloppiness but we put some things together. Our defense has picked it up quite a bit. We still have to work on running our offense."
Cook, for her part, thinks PHS can pick up some more wins in the wake of last Saturday's triumph. "Everybody was happy; everybody had their heads up downstairs in the locker room," added Cook. "I think this will help our confidence. We just need to keep it up and work together. We just need to stay confident."
And it certainly helps PHS' confidence to have the versatile Cook leading the way offensively.
Return to Previous Sports Story | Return to Top | Go to Next Sports Story