(Photo by Frank Wojciechowski) caption: BOWING OUT: Stuart Country Day senior basketball star Amber Bowman heads to the hoop in action this winter. Although plagued by injury, guard Bowman produced plenty of highlights in her final campaign for the Tartans as they went 6-11.

Despite Getting Hit With Rash of Injuries, Stuart Basketball Never Stopped Battling

Bill Alden

Things started on a high note for the Stuart Country Day basketball team this winter.

Utilizing a stifling defense and an efficient offense, the Tartans routed Lawrenceville 39-18 in their season opener.

Stuart head coach Tony Bowman believed that performance portended good things to come.

“We blew Lawrenceville out of the water,” said Bowman. “They were taller than us at every position except point guard. We held them and ran our offense well. I was very optimistic after that game.”

Bowman’s optimism faded as his club was hit with a series of injuries and limped home with a 6-11 season.

“This is where you find out that coaching can be difficult,” said Bowman reflecting on the season in which nearly every player missed time due to injury with stars Amber Bowman, Jasmine Smarr, Jen Diaz, and Parris Branker missing several games.

“We had more talent than our record indicated. It was a work in progress. We really only had our full lineup for three games in the beginning.”

The players, though, never stopped working. “We still fought; the girls enjoyed playing,” said Bowman. “We just couldn’t overcome the hurdles.”

The work ethic was illustrated in the team’s finale, a 54-41 loss to Pennington in the opening round of the state Prep B playoffs.

“We gave a good effort; we were shorthanded and Amber went out in the second quarter,” recalled Bowman, who got 18 points from Smarr and 12 from Carson in the setback. “Smarr and Carson did really well against Pennington.”

The improvement of senior guard Carson exemplified the team’s effort.

“Julianne really picked it up the last few games,” asserted Bowman.

“She started looking for her shot and played more confidently. She was more aggressive offensively. She was always like that defensively; I wished she had done that earlier.”

One of the biggest hurdles for the team was the lingering ankle injury that sapped senior guard Amber Bowman’s aggressiveness most of the season.

“Amber played hurt the whole season,” said Bowman, referring to his daughter.

“We had her sitting more at the end. She played hard for us, she never wanted to sit. She played hurt for a long time.”

The graduation of Bowman and Smarr is going to hurt the program.

“They came together,” asserted Bowman of the high-scoring guards.

“They were brought in to help Diamond [Lewis] and they did. It is a big void; we don’t have anyone right now to replace them.”

The Tartans do have a good foundation in place with the return of Diaz, Branker, and Summer Ramsey-Burrough.

“They are the three key players coming back,” said Bowman. “Jen does a lot of things that don’t show up in the box score. She hustles; she is mentally and physically tough. She gets rebounds; she is our best defender. She plays the other team’s biggest kid. Parris is good off the bench; she gives us scoring. She is a good reserve to put in there; she gives us a lift.”

The returning players will need to lift their work ethic in order to get Stuart back on the winning track.

“I told the kids coming back for next year that they have to do the work in the summer if they want to succeed in the winter,” said Bowman.

“If you work on your individual skills, you can help the team. I think they will be going to summer camps and playing in summer leagues.”

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