By: Justin Feil
Trailing Villa Victoria by three points at halftime Tuesday, Bill Visokay directed his attention at the five Princeton High girls’ basketball team seniors, and he challenged them.
"He started out the talk by saying it was our decision to turn around the season," said Erin Walters-Bugbee, a senior guard. "In other games, I don’t think we had as equal a chance (to win). But this was an unusual circumstance when we were evenly matched. We weren’t at a disadvantage at all. We were better."
Princeton emerged from the locker room and proved it by holding Villa Victoria to six second-half points to pull ahead and cruise to their first win of the season, 44-26.
"It was a pure team effort," Walters-Bugbee said, "We came out in the second half and he put all the seniors in. He was trying to prove a point. And I feel like our season started in the second half (Tuesday) night."
PHS, which was scheduled to face Lawrence on Thursday night, is hoping it can piece together a few wins after moving to 1-11 with the victory at least to repeat the feeling of Tuesday night.
"We talked about it at practice," said Visokay, whose team plays at Hamilton 1 p.m. Saturday. "We talked about how it felt going to school and going home and saying that you won. And we want to do it again."
That effort showed in the second half. PHS held Villa Victoria to two points in the deciding third quarter while scoring 16 points in those eight minutes.
"The difference, especially in the second half, was our defensive intensity," Visokay said. "It created so many opportunities at the other end. It’s what we’ve been preaching all season.
"We have shown it at times. Last week against West Windsor North, it was 9-5 after the first quarter. We just didn’t maintain it. It’s been coming in bits and pieces. It’s just a matter of getting it for more lengthy time periods. There have been several occasions, especially since the first of the year, where it’s just a matter of getting it consistent enough. It’s showing at the defensive end and we’re finally taking care of the basketball at the offensive end."
For one, the Little Tigers’ inexperienced players have 12 games under their belts plus four scrimmages this season alone. An unforgiving first half of the schedule gets a bit easier as PHS returns to the Colonial Valley Conference against several Valley Division foes.
"It’s hard to have such a late start with 11 losses, but a new season can start any time," Walters-Bugbee said. "It doesn’t have to wait until next winter. We have 12 more games to make up for our losses. It doesn’t mean we’ll make the state tournament, but we can play better against teams. Our next two or three games are winnable games."
It’s all that Walters-Bugbee is hoping for in her final season of high school basketball. She’s one of five seniors left from a class that started out with as many as 20 girls four years ago.
"Most of us, we can’t imagine giving it up," said Walters-Bugbee, who will try to play field hockey or basketball at Skidmore College next year. "The hardest part of this senior year is I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to play my last game… All my teammates would say that we owed it to each other to stick together and play."
The Little Tigers have been playing better by the week. Some of their best performances have come against stronger teams, and Walters-Bugbee is hoping that PHS can put those same performances on display against more evenly matched teams.
"It’s so nice on the rare occasion that we do come away with a win," she said. "It would be really nice to beat Lawrence and some other teams we’ve played well against but fell short. We play so well against the teams that are better than us."
In the minds of the Little Tigers, the season started Tuesday with a win, and it was the sort of win that could help lift PHS’ confidence.
"The win was more inspiring because it did happen in the second half," Walters-Bugbee said. "It took more of a team effort, a concentrated effort in the second half to make things happen. Turning around the second half made us realize we’re in charge of our destiny. We might still feel unevenly matched in some games, but we can improve our mistakes. I’m excited about the next few games."
Walters-Bugbee had four points as the Little Tigers received what’s become a typical balanced attack. Marisol Cruz had eight pints to lead PHS, Katie Bliss and Arica Randall had five each, Shara Cook and Cranbury’s Whitney Brunner had six each, Zoe Sarnak had two points, and Val Davison and Eliza Stasi (both of Cranbury) had four points apiece. Together, they pulled away from a Villa Victoria team that had five wins coming into the game.
And with the win, the Little Tigers have a second breath on this season.
"We can choose how this season turns out," Walters-Bugbee said. "I feel like our season started in the second half (Tuesday). Not only did we outscore them, we only had a couple turnovers and we forced 20-some turnovers in the second half. I just think the intensity was way up. Not only did we want to win a game, mostly we wanted to prove to ourselves that there’s a possibility of winning other games."
That sense of confidence took on new life with the first win of the season for the Princeton High girls’ basketball team.

