Girls basketball: Princeton tops Newman in fast-paced TRAC game

STERLING – A track meet broke out Thursday night in the TRAC East game between Princeton and Newman in Sterling.

With both the Tigresses and Comets playing an up-tempo style against a pair of athletic, aggressive defenses, it was nip-and-tuck for most of the game before Princeton finally pulled out a 56-50 victory.

The Tigresses (10-2, 3-1 TRAC East) locked down on defense over the final four minutes and hit enough free throws down the stretch to pick up the road win.

[ Photos from Newman vs. Princeton girls basketball ]

“I think it was communication, and definitely just getting the ball out quick and pushing it down the floor,” Princeton senior guard Miyah Fox said. “That definitely helped us a lot, and our drives to the basket did too. We knew that if we took it to the basket, we could daw fouls and shoot free throws, and that was our best chance.”

Fox scored six of her 13 points in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, and helped Princeton build a bit of a cushion after taking a one-point lead into the final period.

The Tigresses built a lead to start each quarter, but the Comets (5-7, 3-2) just kept coming back. Trailing 20-10 after the opening quarter and 26-17 midway through the second, Newman got fast-break baskets from Elaina Allen and Jess Johns around a pull-up jumper by Helen Papoccia to ignite a 16-5 run to close the first half and grab a 33-31 lead going into halftime.

“I think our attitude helped a lot. When you get down in the game, you can’t get down in your mentality and just think you’re going to lose. We were just moving the ball, finding open shots, not forcing things. That really helped out,” said Johns, who finished with 22 points and 16 rebounds. “It was a lot more comfortable being able to get everybody down the court and set up to run something on offense, instead of going too fast and having one person attacking the basket and three people are trailing behind. You can’t work together if everybody’s not in the right spots.”

Johns’ putback gave Newman a 31-30 lead with 39 seconds left in the half, the Comets’ first lead since 3-2. After a free throw by Princeton’s Olivia Mattingly tied the score with 17.6 seconds to go, freshman Brooklyn Smith chased down a loose ball in the frontcourt and connected with classmate Allen on a cross-court pass before Allen found Papoccia wide open for a layup to end the half.

“We started breaking their press, and we started calming down a little bit and playing under control, and that’s how we started to score more and come back,” Newman sophomore Lucy Oetting said. “We’re a young team, and early in the season we worked a lot on playing together, and now we’re starting to come together and be more of a team.”

Fox’s putback to open the third quarter tied the score, then Keighley Davis scored the next five points as the Tigresses went up 38-33.

“I think we just worked well as a team together, and really slowed each other down and had a lot of confidence going into the second half,” said Davis, who finished with 23 points, three rebounds, three assists and five steals. “It’s nice to have so many people who can come in and out who just know what to do and how to fit in everywhere. We just worked together as a team, and we knew how to play with each other and slow the pace down to get each other confident in what we were doing.”

But again, Newman battled back. Johns scored six straight points to push the Comets back ahead 39-38, before Davis went coast-to-coast for a layup off her own steal with 8 seconds left in the third to make it 40-39 Princeton and set up the final surge to start the fourth quarter by Fox and the Tigresses.

Fox finished with 13 points, five rebounds and three steals, Mattingly scored seven points, and Camryn Driscoll added five points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists for Princeton. Reese Reviglio scored four points, and Paige Jesse chipped in three points, four rebounds, four assists and six steals.

“We know that we’re going to get everyone’s best game. We’ve won conference the last two years in a row, so every conference game, we’ve gotten every team’s best,” Fox said. “We knew that this one wasn’t going to be easy either, and we definitely came out and executed, which is exciting for us.”

Oetting added her own double-double to Johns’, finishing with 12 points, 12 rebounds and five steals for Newman. Papoccia added 10 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals, and Allen chipped in six points, five assists and four steals.

“Our effort and our attitude has really improved,” Johns said. “I think there’s more confidence, and we’re capable of a lot more, and we’re starting to see it with our scoring going up and sharing the ball and everyone playing together.”

“We played a lot better, but I think we just need to slow down our pace a little bit – especially against a defense like that when they trap,” Oetting added. “But I think all the way around we played well together, and we’ve just got to keep working so we can get them next time.”