Raiders hope to react well to first loss
By: Justin Feil
The feeling after the game may have been the same, but there was a much different feeling for The Hun School girls’ basketball team heading into its showdown with Peddie on Tuesday.
"We definitely felt a lot more confident," said Hun head coach Bill Holup, though his squad dropped a 50-37 decision. "We felt we had a pretty decent chance. And we still do (feel that way). Maybe some of their shots won’t go in next time. Maybe we’ll be more composed."
For just over 20 minutes, Hun hung right with the Falcons, who haven’t lost to a Prep A opponent in nine years. The Raiders trailed by five points after the first quarter, and pulled within four points, 25-21, by halftime.
Hun came out of the halftime locker room and opened the third quarter with its best stretch of the game. Emily Gratch’s runner cut the deficit to two points and Shantee Darrian scored on layups three straight times to give Hun a 29-29 lead with 5:46 left in the quarter. But the Raiders didn’t score again until 1:39 remained in the quarter, and even as Mary Stinson’s layup brought them within five points by the end of the quarter, they could get no closer as Peddie opened the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run.
"I had expected that it would be our toughest game," said Holup, whose team fell to 11-1 going into Thursday’s scheduled game against Rutgers Prep. "We’ve played some solid teams, but nobody of Peddie’s caliber.
"The team’s challenge was to see how they’d react. They did it fine for two and a half quarters, but not four. Peddie is used to being in these type of games. We weren’t."
Hun had not played a game decided by less than 11 points this season. The Raiders, though, hope to learn from their Tuesday experience against Peddie for their next potential close one.
"This was a good test for us," Holup said. "The next challenge is how we come back (Wednesday) in practice and in the game against Rutgers Prep Thursday. That will measure how good a team we are by how we bounce back."
Hun hosts Hightstown 1 p.m. Saturday before going on its weeklong exam break. While Hun may not have aced its test against Peddie, it did find out a little more about itself in its toughest game. Darrian lived up to her reputation as one of the area’s best with 15 points to lead the Raiders. Stinson had 10 points and Gratch had six points.
"It’s a team game," Holup said. "All the girls played extremely hard. I thought Emily played extremely hard as a freshman. Everyone was very up for this game."
Hun was right with the Falcons for over a half of play, but Peddie’s defensive pressure made the difference when it pulled away in the second half. The Raiders had two scoring droughts of more than four minutes, once after Darrian’s steal and layup gave them the three-point lead in the third quarter and a 4:30 stretch to start the fourth quarter. It was in those moments when Peddie showed its experience.
"That was definitely the difference," Holup said. "They took us out of our offensive scheme some. We could not get the ball where we wanted to get it.
"Peddie is more experienced in these games. Their players knew how to handle themselves in those situations. We didn’t compose ourselves as well as we needed to."
Having faced Peddie every year, Hun was plenty familiar with what was in store for them. But the Raiders also expected that they would bring a much greater challenge than most Garden State teams have in the past.
"I knew they had lost a few games, but they play a national caliber schedule," Holup said. "It was only their second game in 11 in the state of New Jersey. We tried to prepare for them as much as we could, for the pressure defense and their outside shooters and inside players. They’re so balanced."
Hun, too, has a team that is as deep as it’s been in recent seasons. The Raiders are looking forward to a chance to meet Peddie again, and despite Tuesday’s loss, Hun will have plenty of confidence after pushing the Falcons for almost three quarters of the game.
"We did not back down from them," Holup said. "It just didn’t come out in the end for us. We were aggressive, not intimated. We took it to the basket strong and we were not intimidated. That’s one of the things in the past, our teams have been intimidated. Our girls were not this year."
And that is why the Hun girls’ basketball team expects a better feeling after the next time they play Peddie.