By: Kyle Moylan
The Allentown High School girls’ basketball team came into the 2004-2005 season coming off a year in which it went 11-13 and played with a lot of underclassmen.
Going into last night’s game at home against Hightstown one it was favored to win Allentown was 10-13.
"We were 11-13 last year and we’ll probably 11-13 this year," noted Allentown Coach Bob Dubina. "I was hoping for something like 14-10 at the start of the season, but we had a few close losses."
While 11-13 wasn’t the goal at the start of the season, it would be a great finish for a team that was 7-12 just three weeks ago.
"All five of my starters are seniors, so this will be a nice way to go out," Dubina said. "We’ll have won four of five (five out of six if it beat Hightstown). That would definitely be a nice way to end the year."
Allentown had hoped to end the season with a solid run through the Mercer County Tournament. And following an upset against one of Mercer’s top teams before the tournament started, it was a possibility.
Following a loss to Hopewell in the MCT opener, however, Allentown was faced with playing a pair of consolation games. To their credit, Allentown played them like they were championship games.
On Wednesday, February 16, Allentown opened up a big lead early and then held on to defeat Princeton, 37-30.
Barbara Jones led Allentown with 14 points in this low-scoring game. Amie Ballo put in seven points, Liana Hernandez five and Lindsey Leck four.
Two days later, Hernandez had a breakout game, scoring 23 points in a 61-46 win against Ewing. Jones and Leck scored 13 points each. Hernandez added five.
"We’re playing well," Dubina said. "The difference is other kids are scoring besides Jones. We’ve relied on her (Jones) for her whole career. Everyone defers to Jones a lot."
It’s natural to want to pass the ball to a player who has scored over 1,000 points. It’s also natural for opposing players to try and find a way to deny her the ball.
"Someone else had to step up," Dubina said. "Sancilio and Leck started looking for their shots."
Last night was the last game for senior starters Lindsey Leck, Barbara Jones, Lauren Van Hise, Lina Sancilio and Liana Hernandez.
"I keep 13 girls on varsity, so there will be seven back with some varsity minutes," Dubina said. "We also have the J.V. and some talented eighth graders coming into the school next year."
That being said, everyone associated with Allentown was hoping for a better season. They were hoping for Allentown to play the way it has the past three weeks.
The ball might not have always bounced it way, but the team certainly did bounce back.

