(Photo by Tim Pitts) caption: UNBOWED: Stuart Country Day School basketball star Amber Bowman drives to the basket in recent action. Last Saturday, senior guard Bowman scored a game-high 14 points to help Stuart edge Montgomery 33-31. The Tartans, now 5-6, play at Academy of New Church on January 26, host Pennington on January 28 and Holy Cross on January 29, and then play at Notre Dame on January 31.

Senior Star Bowman Acts as Stabilizing Force, Helping Stuart Hoops Edge Montgomery 33-31

Bill Alden

After suffering two tough losses in the last week, the Stuart Country Day School basketball team engaged in some film study last Friday.

“Yesterday in practice, all we did was just run through our offense and defense and figure out what was going on in the games,” said Stuart senior star Amber Bowman.

“We even watched tape to see what we were doing wrong and we picked up on that.”

Last Saturday, Bowman and the Tartans applied what they learned from those clips to put on a show in pulling out a 33-31 nailbiter over Montgomery.

After trailing 4-3 after the first quarter, Stuart got rolling in the second quarter as they outscored the Cougars 12-7 to take a 15-11 lead into halftime.

“I thought we were running our offense but we weren’t dropping shots,” said Bowman, reflecting on the early stages of the contest.

“We were playing good solid defense but our shots just weren’t going in. Summer Ramsay-Burrough hit a couple of shots and it really helped get us going and we got that flow.”

The athletic Bowman used her aggressiveness to help get the Tartans going as she scored eight points in the second quarter.

“I realize that when I was driving that they were getting the fouls,” said Bowman. “That was one of the main focuses in what we had to do; they had a couple of players who had two or three fouls.”

Stuart was clinging to a 22-19 lead heading into the fourth quarter and Bowman had to be benched due to a gimpy ankle. But with the game knotted at 30-30 in the waning moments, the senior guard re-entered the fray to help the Tartans pull out the win.

“My ankle has been sprained for a while,” said Bowman, who took over the ballhandling upon her return and hit a free throw with 9.7 seconds to give Stuart its final margin of victory.

“We just had to calm down; we were too flustered. We just had to slow the ball down and pick up and look for the guards. We were rushing for no reason.”

Bowman remained calm as she came to the free throw line looking to give the Tartans some breathing room.

“I just focus on making my shots; I don’t think about the score,” said Bowman. “I just go through my regular routine and follow through.”

For Bowman, coming through in the clutch is part of being a veteran leader for Stuart.

“It is a part of being a senior and the expectations that we have to go through,” said Bowman, who ended the afternoon with a game-high 14 points. “We know what we have to do and we have to get it done.”

Stuart head coach Tony Bowman, Amber’s father, liked the way his team got things done in pulling out the win.

“I think this is a big win for us; we needed this win because we had some hard losses,” said Bowman, whose team improved to 5-6 and ended the week on a high note after earlier losses to Lawrence and Hill. “This was a good game because we did so many things good together.”

Bowman pointed to the play of sophomore forward Ramsay-Burrough as one of the best things about Stuart’s performance.

“I am pleased with Summer Ramsay-Burrough; she made some nice plays,” said Bowman.

“I said the game ball today was to Summer because she did the best job. She played at the level that we think she should play at. She played against a person bigger than her and put her elbow in there. She was strong.”

The Tartans also benefitted from a strong effort turned in by senior stalwarts Jasmine Smarr and Amber Bowman.

Jasmine had a good game; I wanted her to run the point more and and she is starting to do that,” asserted Bowman, whose team plays at Academy of New Church on January 26, hosts Pennington on January 28 and Holy Cross on January 29 and then plays at Notre Dame on January 31.

“I was happy Amber got off the bench in the fourth quarter. We thought she was hurt and she said I am going to come in. We just need her to stabilize things; she is our stabilizer.”

For Bowman, things are a lot better after seeing the total team effort he got Saturday.

“Everybody played well; everybody stepped up,” said Bowman, who also cited the clutch shooting of Julianne Carson and the solid defensive work produced by Parris Branker.

“I thought today we all played well together. We all looked for the other person and we were smarter against a bigger team. We wanted the win.”

The coach’s daughter concurred with his analysis. “I think we can definitely be better; now that we got this win I feel like we know what we have to do,” asserted the younger Bowman.

“We have already played a wide variety of teams that are strong in different areas. Therefore we know what to do against certain teams. I think this was a good win and we needed it.”

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