By: Sean Moylan
A general "good feeling" has surrounded the Florence Township Memorial High School girls’ varsity basketball team since Vince Cipriano returned to coach the team again last year.
One of the reason for the positive nature of the club is Cipriano often rewards players with starts or extra playing time for their hard work in practices or in games.
In the class room and in three sports (soccer, basketball and softball) no one has worked harder of been more conscientious than senior Kim Ostrander. She has worked so hard in practices that Cipriano rewarded her with a start in Tuesday’s 55-11 home victory over New Egypt.
Ostrander rewarded her coach with an excellent all-around effort on her part.
"Kim Ostrander (two points) had a good floor game in her first start," remarked Cipriano.
"She’s a good kid."
However, everybody was "on" on Tuesday. Anna Cook played very well with 12 points. Caitlin Fitzpatrick had a dozen points too. Brittany Spence scored seven while Lauren Jacobsen, who Cipriano shifted over to the power forward spot, had five. Felicia Bonsanto scored a half a dozen points and Stephanie Muni tallied five points. Stefanie Borota, Carly Blanton and Jessica Foulks each had a field goal for Florence.
Defensively the Flashes shut down the Warriors with their pressure defense. Every player who stepped on the floor for Florence had a good defensive game.
"They (the Warriors) weren’t going to get 20," said Cipriano, whose team allowed only three points in the second half.
"We played well in spots. We played silly in spots. But we hustled all the time."
The defensive effort was also there in the Flashes 47-31 victory over Moorestown Friends last Friday at Florence.
Florence held Moorestown Friends in single digits in three out of the four quarters. The Flashes’ only blemish came in the second quarter when they were outscored by four (13-9).
"I thought some of that game was textbook," said Cipriano.
"We just have to work on continuity."
Jacobsen led all scorers with 17 points. Florence, however, truly got contributions from the entire squad. Cook (five points), Blanton (six points), Muni (four points), Bonsanto (four points), Caitlin Fitzpatrick (four points), Borota (three points), Spence (two points) and Foulks (two points) all tallied in the game.
Although Florence is currently sitting pretty at 6-2, Cipriano would like for his unit to give some of the bigger schools more of a run for their money.
"We have to make some headway on Thursday (today). Holy Cross will be a big challenge," said Cipriano, who feels his team can improve in its on-court decision-making.
On Saturday Florence is scheduled to play a game at McCorristin. Then, on Tuesday, it is scheduled to host Medford Tech.
