Senior guard part of season-opening Tip-Off win
By: Justin Feil
When Tony Bowman came to Stuart Country Day last year, his coaching philosophy wasn’t the only thing he brought with him from the Mercer Christian Academy girls’ basketball team.
Adie Sullivan decided to come along as well.
"I’ve played for him since I was in eighth grade," said Sullivan. "It was a new change for everyone, his whole idea of intensity and playing harder. Coach is new. We’re all getting adjusted to that."
Sullivan is more accustomed to it than any of her Tartan teammates, but the entire Stuart team looked comfortable as it opened Bowman’s second season with a 48-29 win over Princeton Day School in the second game of its Stuart Tip-Off Tournament on Wednesday.
The Hun School defeated Abington Friends, 58-36, in the first game of the tournament behind a 25-point fourth quarter. The Tartans were scheduled to face the Raiders for the championship after Thursday’s deadline.
"I had confidence," said Sullivan, who scored 13 points through three quarters in the Tartans’ win over PDS. "We’re a good team. We’re new and we’re young, but we have talent."
Sullivan was part of a balanced attack as the Tartans opened their season in encouraging fashion. Kathryn Kitts led Stuart with 19 points, while Ellen Cook had nine points to pace the Panthers.
"It was a very good start," Bowman said. "We lost a few girls who didn’t come back. But we have Adie, Kitts, Kelly (Bruvick) and Caitlin (Spratt) and Elizabeth (Van Itallie) who have been here since my first year. So we have a core who were here last year.
"We’re a more guard-oriented team. They’re running well. For their first game, I thought they did well. The defense did well. This team was big. After the first quarter, we boxed out well. They looked for each other. That’s what guards do."
Sullivan is one of those guards, the Tartans’ point guard. Her role has grown each year she’s played for Bowman.
"When I met her," Bowman said, "she was a defensive player. She didn’t start, but she moved up for us. She was our defensive guard. When I came here, she became our point guard and handled the ball and handled the offense. She’s like a second coach for me. She knows all the plays.
"She’s disciplined. She won’t give up ever. And she’s a player who if she’s hurt, I have to tell her to get off the court. I have great respect for her, as a player and as a person."
Sullivan had four of her points on foul shots in the first quarter as Stuart took a 17-3 lead on PDS. By halftime, they had built it to 32-7.
"That was our plan, just jump on them from the beginning," Sullivan said. "We’re always saying we want to roll out. We were mentally and physically ready. We wanted to win."
Stuart has reason to believe it’s the first of many to come this year. The Tartans return five of their six leading scorers from last year’s team that went 7-8. Sullivan is determined to make it a better year.
"Being a senior," said the Yardley, Pa. resident, "I want this to be the year I give it everything I have all the time. Hopefully this team will too."
Being a senior has its advantages, particularly for Sullivan who’s in her fifth year in Bowman’s system. He’s noticed differences in her game even from last year to this year.
"She’s going to the basket under more control," Bowman said. "She’s keeping the ball low. She’s looking for her teammates more, being smarter and taking more responsibility."
"My confidence has gone up which helps my all-around game," Sullivan said. "It goes from confidence to my mental game. I make sure I don’t get down on myself. I’m trying to stay strong as a leader and encourage our team. I’m trying to be a team player."
Wednesday, that meant doing a bit of everything, from coming up with a steal, to a rebound, to an assist to Kitts. Her job was made easier by a group of starters that is accustomed to playing together and some additions who are catching on quickly. The veterans are hoping to deliver the best season in recent history.
"We still have some new players," Sullivan said. "I think we should do better than last year. We have a fast, small team."
That lineup created several opportunities against the Panthers until they settled down in the second half. PDS actually outscored Stuart, 22-16, over the final 16 minutes.
"Our timing in the first half was just all wrong on offense," said PDS head coach Sue Repko, whose squad was scheduled to face Abington Friends in Thursday’s consolation game. "We went into halftime, and we were not upset. We know we have a young team, we had a lot of freshmen and sophomores out there. There were a lot of kids going from being second string to first string. There’s a whole lot of difference from second to first string. I think they had the jitters, and they just settled down in the second half. They played more relaxed."
Repko expects her team to continue to improve by every quarter this season. The second-half showing gave the Panthers something to build on, and some sort of starting point for the season.
"We were untested; we hadn’t had a scrimmage," Repko said. "I’m excited by what we saw in the second half. All our kids got to play, and I liked what I saw out there. Not everyone did what they could today. We could have four or five offensive threats by the end of the season. That just wasn’t there today."
The second-year head coach of the Panthers was looking forward to the chance to return to the court quickly to build on the second-half performance.
"I think that this team will learn more by playing," she said. "We have 11 people on varsity, and we haven’t had the full complement yet. At this point, I’d like them to get experience and play, and play against good competition."
PDS certainly got that in a confident and determined Adie Sullivan and the Stuart basketball team.

