Lentine lights it up for Knights

Senior guard takes turn as high scorer for girls’ hoops

By: Bob Nuse
   Lauren Lentine could always shoot. She had just never been a big scorer for the West Windsor-Plainsboro High North girls’ basketball team.
   That changed on Tuesday night, as Lentine connected on six three-point shots and finished with a game-high 21 points as the Knights topped Hightstown, 67-30, to improve to 2-0 on the season.
   Lentine scored 14 of her 21 points in the first quarter, making all five of her shots as the Knights opened up a 21-8 lead and never looked back.
   "I was really surprised," Lentine said of her hot start. "It really got me going. The zone really helped out because when it’s man, it is sometimes hard to get an open shot. But in the zone, they weren’t marking me too close and I was able to get some open shots.
   "That’s what is great about our team. We keep swinging the ball around and eventually you’ll get an open shot. We have a very good team across the board. We don’t have that one scorer who stands out. Last game it was Kathy Ruiz who scored the most points. The next game it could be another person."
   Lentine scored 21 points just one game after scoring four in a season-opening win over Hopewell Valley. Last year, coming off the bench, she averaged four points a game for the Knights. As a senior, she knows this year she has to contribute more on the offensive end.
   "This is my first year where I have really stepped it up," Lentine said. "I’m going to try to keep it going."
   Lentine’s effort was an example of the kind of balance the Knights have this season. In their opener, Ruiz led the way with 16 points, while Liz Tang and Brooke Wiener added 11 each. Against Hightstown, Wiener added 14 points as all nine players scored.
   But it was Lentine who took the lead role for North, which has the offense clicking already.
   "It was no coaching on my part," said North coach Brett Charleston, whose team was scheduled to face South Brunswick on Thursday. "She’s just a good basketball player and she was really on. She hit her shots. In fact, she probably passed up some shots when she was open that I would have liked her to have taken.
   "We have a lot of talent and we can spread it out offensively. Last game it was Kathy Ruiz who had 16 points to lead us. Lauren scored today. We’re a very good, athletic team."
   The offense feeds off a pressing defense, which even when it’s not at its best can help get the offense going.
   "We’re very solid on defense," Lentine said. "Today, our full court press wasn’t working real good. So we dropped back to half court and did as well as we normally do. I think we’re going to have a great season. I can’t wait.
   "We’ve come out fired up for both games. It comes down to the whole team because we all want it really bad."
   Last year the Knights had eight players average between four and eight points a game. This year, the offense looks like it will be balanced again, but possibly higher scoring than it was a year ago.
   "Our girls are strong and they’re able to make that skip pass against the zone," Charleston said. "When teams go zone on us, it helps us to be able to get wide-open shots. And that opens the inside for Brooke, Regina and Kathy, who are three very good post players. They’ll go get it and get after it. If we miss a shot, I feel good about our odds of getting a rebound with those three going after the ball."
   On this night, when it was Lentine taking the shot, there weren’t many misses to grab.
   "I don’t always feel real comfortable about shooting," she said. "But today, in the first quarter, I really found out it was working. My shot was going in, so I just kept shooting. When I hit a few shots it left the inside wide open and then Brooke hit a few shots."
   The solid start the first two games should help the Knights next week when they host their War of the Worlds Tournament. The eight-team tournament is loaded with a strong field that includes Hillsborough, Bishop Ahr, East Brunswick and Hunterdon Central.
   "It’s a good group of teams and we do that on purpose," Charleston said. "We want to play against the best competition. We want to challenge ourselves all the time. That’s why we go out and get those good teams for the tournament. That’s why we go out and get games against teams like South Brunswick, Montgomery, Cherokee, Marlboro. We’ll play anybody at any time. We just care about getting better and constantly being challenged."