By: John Powers
The South Hunterdon Regional High School girls basketball team is building something special for the future.
And last Thursday night, the Eagles unveiled some of that promise in a preliminary round Hunterdon-Warren Tournament game.
The Eagles, the No. 8 seed, routed No. 9 Phillipsburg 50-35, limiting the Stateliners to just nine baskets and two 3-pointers. Phillipsburg finished its season at 1-18, but the record wasn’t something the young Eagles cared about.
"They (the Stateliners) play in the bigger division (the Skyland Conference Delaware Division)," South coach Jack Kelly said. "We did well. We played very well. They had only nine baskets. We did a good job defensively. The kids that formed the trap were outstanding."
The Eagles, who improved to 9-12, were scheduled to play No. 1 seed Voorhees Monday night in Lebanon Township. Voorhees is the defending tournament champion.
Against Phillipsburg, sophomore Breanne Fulper had 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Jess Hewitt had a game-high 15 points. Seven players scored for South.
"We tried to press in different forms," Kelly said. "We went from man-to-man on the miss to a zone when the team made the basket. We have to score that way (off the turnover) since we don’t shoot the ball that well."
Freshman Chelsea Fulper, at 5-foot-11, was one of the 10 players who played.
"We just ran them in and out," Kelly said. "I think that way everybody will play, and they played well. We told the reserves that they were going to go in as a unit in the first period, and they were really fired up about that."
Voorhees was going to be a different challenge. The Vikings, the Skyland Conference Raritan Division champions, were 20-1 after a 47-36 win against Montgomery on Saturday. Vikings senior Sara Best had 14 points.
"Their (the Vikings’) backcourt is bigger than our frontcourt," Kelly said. "They have great athletes. They don’t have people who really can hit the 3, but they have excellent defense and are quick. Best is one of their guards, and she’s 5-10. We’re going to play a lot of kids against them."
