(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) QUICK STARTER: Stuart Country Day freshman guard Amber Bowman races up the court in recent action. Bowman, the daughter of Stuart head coach Tony Bowman, has made a sudden impact for the Tartans averaging 14.0 points a game so far in her debut season. Stuart, now 7-2, hosts Rutgers Prep on January 15, Pennington on January 17, and Princeton Day School on January 22.

Stuart Hoops’ Bowman Making Dad Proud as She Makes Sudden Impact for Tartans

Bill Alden

As a starting freshman guard for the Stuart Country Day basketball team, Amber Bowman is facing plenty of challenges in adjusting to the high school level.

“It’s more running; it’s more plays,” said Bowman. “I’m adjusting to it.”

But Bowman is dealing with another issue that most freshmen don’t have since the Stuart coach is her father, Tony Bowman.

That transition is also going well as the younger Bowman is learning to respond to her often vociferous father as player rather than a daughter.

“It’s fun; I don’t think of him as my dad,” said Bowman. “When he is instructing us, he’s just coach. He’s instructing us to make us better as a team.”

Bowman is following those instructions well, averaging 14.0 points a game through Stuart’s first eight contests.

Last Friday, Bowman chipped in 15 points as Stuart went across Great Road to top rival Princeton Day School 55-44.

Bowman said the clash with the Panthers had the intensity befitting the long-time rivalry between the schools.

“They pressured us; we pressured them,” said Bowman. “We were forced to run our plays and play as a team.”

After PDS put together a 7-0 run at the end of the second quarter to cut a double-digit Stuart lead to 25-20 at the half, Bowman and her teammates knew they needed to turn up the pressure.

“At the half, we said we had to play better defense; we had to step it up,” recalled Bowman. “When we played the right defense; they couldn’t do anything with it.”

Coach Bowman saw defensive intensity as the key to the win for his club.

“We were letting them go by us in the first half,” said Bowman, whose team fell 66-46 to Lawrence last Monday to move to 7-2 on the season.

“We’re right across the street from each other so everyone wants to play hard. We needed to pick it up and I think we did.”

Bowman likes the way his daughter is picking up things in her debut season.

“She thinks a step or two better than we were last year,” said Bowman. “She brings athleticism; she’s able to finish and hit the jumper. She is going to the basket and looking for the open player. She’s averaging four or five assists a game so that complements everything.”

The coach, though, concedes that he has faced some challenges in guiding his daughter.

“It’s sometimes difficult; she takes what I say personally because I’m dad,” said Bowman. “She’s looking at me as coach; that’s what we’re doing now. It took us a while to get that point but we are there now.”

Bowman is getting his points across to front court performers Sarah Schulte and the Passano sisters, Alex and Caroline.

“Sarah did a great job; what she needs to do now is to finish,” said Bowman, referring to Schulte’s fine work in containing PDS freshman star Tiffany Patterson for most of the game.

“Her defense has stepped up and she’s starting to score. The Passanos at the ‘3’ and ‘4’ are getting rebounds and finishing. Caroline hit two or three jumpers in the corner.”

But Bowman acknowledges that it is his corps of guards, featuring his daughter, Diamond Lewis, and Jasmine Smarr that jump start the Tartans.

“I have guards who can bring the ball down and pass it,” said Bowman.

“I have Diamond and Amber running the point at any given time. Last year, I only had Diamond running the point. Now I get Amber running the point so you can’t double-team Diamond.”

With Stuart at 7-2 for the first time in recent memory, Bowman is more than excited about how things are going.

“I don’t just like it, I love it,” said Bowman, whose club hosts Rutgers Prep on January 15, Pennington on January 17, and Princeton Day School on January 22.

“We’re running well; we’re scoring well. We have been playing hard; the practices have been good. The freshmen have a big learning curve. They are a smart team and they want to work together.”

The younger Bowman, for her part, is enjoying working together with her back court partners.

“We have been playing with each other for a little bit; we’re molding together as a high school team,” asserted Bowman.

“We lost the first game but we hadn’t had many practices. As the season goes on, we are getting together.”

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