Raiders improve to 7-0 with win
By: Bob Nuse
Bill Holup had a feeling his Hun School girls’ basketball team could get off to a quick start this season.
In fact, the Raiders’ coach isn’t overly surprised by his team being 7-0 heading into a nine-day holiday layoff. But what has surprised Holup is the ease with which his team has managed to get to 7-0.
Only one of Hun’s first seven games has been decided by less than 20 points, and that game was an 11-point win over Blair in the opening round of the Rutgers Prep Tournament this past weekend. Hun has won its games by an average of 22 points, with the latest being a 50-30 win over Rutgers Prep in the final of the tournament on Saturday.
"I’m not necessarily surprised that we’re 7-0," said Holup, whose team is off until opening play in the ESCIT at McCorristin on Dec. 27. "But I am surprised by the margins that we’ve been winning by. I thought coming into the season that this could be a special year, but I’m surprised by the way we’ve been winning some of these games. I knew coming in that we had the potential. The girls have been coming through and doing what we need to do to win."
The Raiders had their toughest test of the season on Friday when they topped Blair, 65-54, at Rutgers Prep. Shantee Darrian led Hun with 22 points, while Mary Stinson and Emily Gratch added 15 points apiece.
"Blair was a very tough team," Holup said. "They have a post-grad guard who is a very good player and two other kids that are tough. Emily Gratch had a couple huge three’s for us against Blair. Her shot was on and that was a huge lift. Blair would take a five- or six-point lead, then she would hit a three and get us right back in the game. Every time they got a little bit of a lead, Emily would hit a big shot for us.
"Emily is only a freshman, but she’s given us a great spark. The first four games she came off the bench and the last three she’s been starting for us. She gives us a big lift offensively and defensively. She’s able to score 15 to 17 points a game, but it’s on defense where we have really needed her. She’s done a great job for us on defense."
In the championship game against Rutgers Prep, Darrian led the way with 21 points, while Stinson added nine and five other players had four points. In getting off to a 7-0 start, Hun has used balance on offense and a stingy defense.
"We’ve won our first seven games and we have two tournament titles," Holup said. "Now we’re looking to defend our championship in the McCorristin ESCIT tournament, which we won last year. This is the first time we’ve won the Rutgers Prep tournament since I’ve been here. And I don’t know if they ever won it before this.
"Three of the four teams in this tournament were pretty strong. We had to win two good games to get the championship."
So far this season, the Raiders have played about as well as they could have hoped. And they can’t do any better than a perfect record and a pair of tournament titles.

