By: Rich Fisher
With the Monroe and Princeton High basketball teams both coming off tough opening-night losses, each side felt Monday night provided the perfect opportunity to gain that all-important first win of the season.
The Falcons were recovering from a 64-19 loss to Colonia and the Little Tigers were coming off a 47-32 loss to Hamilton.
When it was all said and done, Princeton took its second win in as many years over the Falcons, as it slugged its way to a 38-34 victory in what has come to be known as The Cranbury Press Classic. Well, it’s not really known as that, but since it’s the two teams we cover, we’ll call it that.
Monroe is seeking its first win since the 2003-04 season, but the Falcons are looking for positives in little bits and pieces. Monday night would have been a good way to start, as Princeton was beatable.
"Starting out with Colonia was definitely a very difficult game for us to start off the season with, after the season we were coming off of last year," said first-year Falcon coach Leigh Vogtman. "They’ll be the top team in the division. I really can’t base our season off of that one.
"This one here, I would consider this to sort of be more our first game. It was a well matched game. But we needed better shot selection and we needed to crash the boards. We’re small on the inside, we have to work on crashing the boards and getting hungry and getting putbacks."
But it was the Tigers 47-36 rebounding edge that made the difference in a sloppy but intense game. Monroe’s Lindsey Curran and Marissa Allamby had eight apiece, but the Falcons had trouble converting their offensive rebounds into points.
Princeton did not do much better in that area, as the Little Tigers shot 12-for-45 while Monroe was 13-for-57. Turnovers were just as bad, with PHS committing 38 and Monroe making 36.
Because of the turnovers, neither team could pull away, although Princeton started fast and took a 13-4 advantage. Monroe chipped away as Allamby scored six of her nine points in the second quarter to pull MHS within 19-18 at halftime.
Buckets by Lisa Cosentino, who also had nine points, and Allamby gave the Falcons a 22-19 lead early in the third quarter before PHS rallied for a 29-25 edge by quarter’s end.
The Falcons took one final lead when Cosentino and Carly Keane sandwiched buckets around an Allamby foul shot to make it 30-29. But a 6-0 run put PHS up by five and Monroe could not come back despite making it close.
With the score 36-32, Mai’Lee Paselio nailed a jumper to cut the deficit to two. Monroe then had a chance to tie it or win it after forcing a turnover with 22 seconds left. But Paselio’s baseline drive went off the bottom of the backboard and Princeton ran all but three seconds off the clock before getting fouled. Cook made both free throws to clinch it.
"They wanted to win today’s game so bad, they were jittery and the adrenaline was going," Vogtman said. "We should have pulled it out at the end and worked it for one last shot, but they let the intensity of the game kind of push them through, and unfortunately it didn’t work out for us."
But the Falcons are progressing, despite their record.
"The assistants and I have seen improvements with this team since day one," Vogtman said. "The girls know they’re battling day in and day out. Every game is going to be a battle. They played very hard today, it just didn’t work out at the end."

