Girls basketball: Isa Ibarra ices Princeton win over Hall

Isa Ibarra pronounces her first name E-sa. At the free throw line, you can call her Ice-a.

The Princeton senior was as cool as a cucumber sinking two free throws with only 14 seconds left to play to put her team back on top. Hall missed two free throws at the end, and the Tigresses escaped with a 42-41 win over the rival Red Devils on Thursday at Prouty Gym.

Ibarra said she never felt any pressure with the game on the line.

“That’s one of my favorite spots to be in in the game. It’s my time to be in my own space. Kind of drown out everything else. Glad it was me at the line because I have a lot of confidence,” Ibarra said.

Freshman teammate Camryn Driscoll and coach Darcy Kepner were glad it was Ibarra, too.

“I told her, ‘thank you, thank you, thank you,’” Driscoll said.

“If I had my pick, she would probably be there in that spot. She came up clutch for us,” Kepner said. “You can tell she was confident. And I was confident she would knock them down for us.”

The Tigresses led by as much as 12 points in the first half when senior reserve Gen Tiaro banked in a 3-pointer, leading to a 29-19 halftime lead.

Princeton still enjoyed a 38-29 lead at the end of three quarters when Driscoll beat the buzzer with a deep 3-pointer from the right wing.

Then Hall (3-3) went to work making it a ballgame.

Kennedy Wozniak opened the fourth quarter with a give-and-go pass from Jayden Jones, and Promise Giacometti followed with a hoop to make it 38-33.

Jones found the bank still open for a 3-pointer to pull Hall within 40-38 with 3:15 left. A step-up by McKenna Christiansen brought the Devils all the way back with a tie at 40-40 with 1:03 remaining.

A free throw by Wozniak gave Hall its first lead at 41-40 since late in the first quarter.

Ibarra came through with her heroics, and Hall nearly found some of its own from Christiansen. During a timeout, Hall coach TJ Orlandi drew up a play for his top gun and got the ball to Christiansen, who drove and was fouled on a runner in the lane.

Christiansen went to the line, but was unable to hit either shot, and the Tigresses held on for the win.

“I told her she was why we were in that position in the second half,” Orlandi said. “She just plays so hard and wants to win so bad and perform. Those things happen.”

Orlandi said it was a heartbreaking loss.

“I feel bad for our kids because they played hard, especially in the second half,” he said. “We kind of challenged them at halftime, it was still 10 [points]. It was manageable. I’m proud how we came out in the second half and how hard we played to get us in position to get the lead.”

Driscoll had 10 points and Ibarra had eight for the Tigresses, who improved to 6-0 with the win in their Three Rivers Conference East Division opener.

“We needed that. We really haven’t experienced that much pressure. Going in, sometimes we get a little cocky, but it’s great competition. Props to them for being a great team against us,” Ibarra said.

“We talked about just trying to repeat a conference championship, we’re going to get everybody’s best game and we know that,” Kepner said. “I think close games like this make us more ready to come in to practice tomorrow and work a bit harder to get better.”

For Hall, Christiansen and Giacometti both had 13 points, and Wozniak had 10.

Orlandi praised Giacometti for her game, scoring nine of her 13 points in the second half while battling an ankle sprain.

“She wouldn’t have taken those shots last year or even this summer,” he said. “It gives us an added threat that we didn’t have last year.”

Christiansen hooped twice and Wozniak scored from the top to give Hall a 6-2 lead with just three minutes left in the first quarter.

Princeton closed the quarter on an 8-2 run, including a 3-pointer by Driscoll, a drive by senior Erin May and a putback by Olivia Gartin, to go up 10-8 at quarter’s end.

The Tigresses stayed hot with the first six points of the second quarter on a shot by Ibarra, a putback by Fox and a hoop on the break by Keighley Davis from a feed by Fox to go up 16-8.