Tigresses, Lady Cavs coming of age

Princeton's Molly Stephens gives it the "that's mine” look after grabbing a rebound against LaSalle-Peru's Kelsey Carey and Josie Cain Tuesday at Prouty Gymnasium. The Lady Cavs captured a 62-46 win in the NCIC crossover game. (BCR photo/Kevin Hieronymus)

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PRINCETON — The Princeton and LaSalle-Peru varsity girls’ basketball teams are both enduring major rebuilding projects this season. Three of the girls met just a year ago playing for Princeton Logan Junior High or the LaSalle-Peru feeder schools, and several more girls met the year before that. On Tuesday, they found themselves playing on the varsity stage of Prouty Gymnasium.

L-P, with two sophs and a freshman in the mix, outdueled a Princeton squad starting two freshman and two sophomores Tuesday, 62-46.

PHS was led by its freshman hotshot, Brittany Mueller, who scored 16 points with three three-point shots. As the norm, the Tigresses (1-8) got the majority of its scoring (31 points) from its underclassmen; L-P (2-8) got 11 points.

“We’re real young, a freshman and two sophomores moved up. We don’t have any returning starters. So we’re kind of like Princeton,” said L-P coach Gina Anglavar, a former Lady Cav standout from the class of ’91. “We’re in the rebuilding stages right now. So every day of practice, every game, we see positive things in every player and everything kind of falls together.”

PHS coach Spencer Davis also sees his team making strides each night.

“When you have a freshman score 16 points, we’re pretty excited what’s coming up,” Davis said. “We played hard for four quarters tonight, which is what I’m looking for. I’m optimistic. We’re starting to play a lot better, and we’re getting some kids scoring. I see a lot of girls shooting the ball with confidence in their shots.”

After a slow start, Princeton made a run in the second quarter to get back in the game after falling behind 22-10 at the end of the first quarter.

Sophomore Molly Stephens hit a baseline jumper and classmate Sarah Maynard connected for a three-pointer to pull the Tigresses within 26-18 at the 3:45 mark. Stephens scored again with a pop on the break, Mueller and Sarah Schlund each hit 1 of 2 free throws, and Mueller finished the quarter with a three-pointer as PHS closed within 25-20.

Davis said his Tigresses played well in spurts, but are still struggling to find some continuity with players in and out of the lineup.

“It seems to be a continuity thing. Some girls work real well together, and some don’t,” he said. “In the second quarter, the group seemed to have a little more confidence together and moved into some open spots and hit some open shots.”

The Lady Cavs smelled like roses to start the second half with junior Alyssa Rose scoring three-straight hoops to push L-P’s lead to 36-25. The Lady Cavs also turned up the defensive pressure, which Anglavar said allows them to hang with most teams.

“Our girls love to pressure the ball, they love to get out their scrap and force turnovers,” Anglavar said.

The Tigresses made another charge back with Schlund scoring a basket and Woolley two fee throws to make it 36-29 at the 3:05 mark. Woolley kept PHS within nine with a steal and layup to make it 40-31. L-P scored five more points, but PHS managed only a layup by Schlund to finish the third quarter with a 45-33 L-P edge.

L-P put the game away with the first five points of the fourth quarter. Mueller finished strong with four free throws and another three-pointer, but the Tigresses could not recover from that initial L-P surge.

• Tiger tales: PHS won an overtime thriller in the sophomore game. Woolley hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 47 at the end of regulation, and later sealed two free throws to ice a 56-52 in OT. Woolley finished with 13 points, Stephens had 12 and Molly Harmon 10. ... Junior Leah Shaw is out with a knee injury and may face surgery. Layton did not practice the past week, and Davis said she will be undergoing nose surgery in January. ... Two members of last year’s Sweet 16 team, Brooke Jensen and Amanda Prostko took in Tuesday’s game, home on Christmas break. Jensen is playing basketball for Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky.; Prostko is a volleyballer for North Park. Jensen’s sister, Lacey, is a sophomore for the PHS varsity. ... The Tigresses will face Hall Thursday for the make-up of the Dec. 11 game with the sophs tipping at 5 p.m. PHS heads out to the Lady Bruins Classic at St. Bede at 3 p.m. Saturday against Earlville/Leland.

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