(Photo by Bill Allen/NJ SportAction) caption: GOING ALL OUT: Hun School girls’ basketball senior Cyndra Couch drives up the court in Hun’s 43-35 win over Blair in the state Prep A semifinals. Last Wednesday, Couch scored a team-high 20 points but it wasn’t enough as Hun fell 64-53 to 13-time champion Peddie in the Prep A title game. The defeat left the Raiders with a final record of 19-7.

Couch Gives Her All for Hun Girls’ Hoops but Raiders Fall Again to Peddie in Preps

Bill Alden

As Cyndra Couch and her teammates on the Hun School girls’ basketball team took the court last Wednesday for the state Prep A championship game at 12-time champion Peddie, there was no reason to hold anything back.

“We had nothing to lose so we just wanted to leave everything out on the court,” said senior forward Couch. “We came out and we wanted to play aggressive.”

The 5’11 Couch certainly achieved that goal. From the opening tipoff, Couch was a thorn in Peddie’s side, relentlessly driving to the basket and hitting shots from a variety of angles.

With Couch scoring 12 points, Hun went into the halftime with a 31-27 lead.

The slight cushion combined with Hun’s obvious hunger gave Couch the feeling that the Raiders could make some history.

“We thought we had it,” recalled Couch. “But Peddie is a really good team and they know how to win games.”

After the break, Couch kept taking it at the Falcons, scoring six points in the third quarter as Hun took a 44-40 lead into the last period.

But with the game tied at 46-46 midway through the quarter, Peddie showed its championship pedigree, reeling off a 12-2 run to break the game open.

With Couch and her teammates physically drained from their intense effort, they couldn’t respond as the Falcons pulled away for a 64-53 win and their 13th straight Prep A crown.

In reflecting on the defeat, Couch acknowledged that once Peddie forged ahead in the fourth quarter, she knew the Raiders were in trouble.

“When you are up in a game like this against Peddie you try to keep your lead because once they come back, you know it’s the end,” explained Couch.

“Usually their strongest quarter is the third quarter and we were still up at the end of the quarter. In the fourth quarter, they came out really strong and we didn’t play as hard as they did.”

Hun head coach Bill Holup conceded that there is no room for error against Peddie.

“You have to play such a high level of perfection against Peddie, even when you are with them, they will eventually find a weakness somewhere and exploit it,” said Holup, whose team had fallen 58-39 to Peddie in regular season play and then lost 66-50 to the Falcons in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League (MAPL) title game.

“I think we played great for 26 minutes and the last six minutes we suffered. I think a lot of it dealt with fatigue. We played so hard for so long and then we just kind of broke down. We weren’t finishing on the lay-ups or getting back on defense.”

Holup did enjoy the way that Couch broke down the Peddie defense for much of the contest.

“We tried to set something up yesterday in practice to see if she was able to go one-on-one with whoever is guarding her and spread the floor a little bit,” said Holup, whose team finished the season with a 19-7 record. “It worked through the first half and a little bit in the third quarter.”

Couch gave the Raiders good work after being sidelined briefly in late January.

“I think maybe she thought to herself, this is my senior year and I just missed a couple of games and I want to play as hard as I can and do what I can to help the team and have a great senior season,” surmised Holup.

Hun certainly got a great season from its group of seniors which included Megan Rigous, Cara Fiori, Jah-Leah Ellis and Arielle Collins in addition to Couch.

“They followed the steps from last year’s senior class,” asserted Holup, who got 10 points from co-captain Fiori in the loss to Peddie with co-captain Rigous chipping in eight.

“The effort, the attitude and the spirit that they have is so positive, they are so much fun to be around. Obviously it helped with the talent they brought but I enjoyed the fact that they are great kids and that is really important to me. I’ll certainly miss that and everything that they brought over the years.”

Couch, for her part, worked hard to bring her best to the table for the Raiders.

“This summer I worked out with my dad,” said Couch. “I got stronger. I worked on my outside game and I worked on my moves to the basket.”

Last Wednesday, Couch showed Peddie how much her game had progressed, displaying all of her moves and more.

“I did everything I could to try my best,” said Couch. “I looked for my teammates. I took it hard to the basket. I played hard.”

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